Golden nine silver ten, the number of inquiries for car escort and sparring on many online platforms continues to rise. The "native family" who want to regain their driving skills, the "rookie family" who has just left the driving school and dare not drive, and the new car owners who are not skilled in road conditions all hope to find a professional "driver", which can not only accumulate driving experience, but also ensure driving safety. However, although the car escort is not a new industry, it has not formed a clear industry norm and standard. So, what chaos and legal risks may exist in the process of providing escort services?
Chaos 1: Sparring is unreliable
Judges: A unified regulatory system should be established
Choosing a driving escort service is intended to be safer on the road in the future, but if you encounter an unreliable escort instructor, it will bring more potential safety hazards to consumers.
In order to buy a car and get on the road smoothly, Xiao Chen found a car driving sparring center, and the two parties verbally agreed that the service fee for sparring per hour was 150 yuan. After Xiao Chen paid 1,200 yuan at one time, the sparring center assigned Wang to guide Xiao Chen to practice the car. On the way, Xiao Chen was driving over the speed limit and accidentally overturned into a roadside ditch when turning, causing a traffic accident in which he was injured and his vehicle was damaged. It was later found that the sparring partner Wang had only obtained a motor vehicle driver's license for two years and had not obtained the qualification of a car instructor.
For consumers, whether it is an instructor provided by a driving company or a part-time personal sparring partner, the most difficult thing to determine is whether they are qualified and qualified to engage in the job. Some escort companies recruit instructors who only require more than one year of actual driving experience, and a large number of individual part-time sparring partners have even lower entry thresholds due to the lack of management and constraints of escort companies. In general, many escort instructors in the market do not meet the relevant requirements in the "Regulations on the Administration of Motor Vehicle Driver Training", and those who are not qualified may not be able to provide professional driving guidance and safety guarantees.
In fact, Article 10 of the Provisions on the Administration of Motor Vehicle Driver Training clarifies the conditions that institutions engaged in the training of ordinary motor vehicle drivers should have; Article 24 stipulates that motor vehicle driver training institutions shall establish instructor files, and submit the main information of instructor files to the county-level transportation authorities as required. The Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Transport, and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Announcement on the Self-study Direct Test Center for Motor Vehicle Driver's License", which stipulates that the on-board instructor shall obtain a corresponding or higher quasi-driving driver's license for more than five years, have no record of drug use, and have not had a traffic accident that causes the death of a person by driving a motor vehicle or a traffic accident that causes serious injury to a person and bears the main responsibility, and there is no record of 12 points or the driver's license is revoked, and there is no record of illegal on-board guidance.
Therefore, the relevant departments should strictly control the identification of escort qualifications, and minimize the "two eyes and one smear" faced by consumers when receiving escort services, especially for a large number of individual part-time companions, a unified regulatory system should be established. The escort company shall establish an entry threshold for qualified instructors to restrain and manage the escort personnel. When choosing a driving escort service, consumers should check whether the instructor has obtained a driver's license, how many years he has obtained the license, and whether there has been a traffic accident.
Chaos 2: False propaganda for low-cost solicitation of customers
Judge's advice: It is necessary to conclude a written contract
The author searched on the "Tianyancha" website and saw that there are tens of thousands of registered companies whose business scope includes "escort service". Many shopping platforms and live streaming websites also have stores that can provide "training" and "escort" services, and there are many part-time individuals who are also soliciting business.
The author found that the price of accompanying drivers is uneven, according to whether you need to provide a car, what kind of car to use, or for parking and relocation, urban commuting, night driving, long-distance driving and other special courses are divided, ranging from tens of yuan to hundreds of yuan per hour, and there is no standard for pricing. On a certain platform, the highest sales volume is a two-hour experience class of more than 100 yuan. But the low price may just be a "bait". There have been media reports that some escort companies advertise "10 kilometers free" and "100 yuan for 5 hours", etc., using low prices to attract customers, but in fact, they have been promoting packages or charging in disguise during the escort process. These behaviors not only damage the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, but also disrupt the normal market order.
Article 14 of the Mainland Price Law stipulates that business operators shall not engage in the following unfair price behaviors: colluding with each other, manipulating market prices, and harming the legitimate rights and interests of other business operators or consumers; Using false or misleading price means to induce consumers or other business operators to trade with them; providing the same goods or services, and discriminating against other business operators with the same trading conditions; Violating laws and regulations for profiteering. Article 8 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law stipulates that business operators shall not make false or misleading commercial promotions about the performance, function, quality, sales status, user evaluation, honors, etc., of their goods, so as to deceive or mislead consumers. Business operators must not help other business operators carry out false or misleading commercial publicity through methods such as organizing false transactions. Article 20 stipulates that if a business operator violates the provisions of Article 8 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law by making false or misleading commercial promotions of its goods, or helps other business operators to carry out false or misleading commercial promotions by organizing false transactions or other means, the supervision and inspection department shall order it to stop the illegal acts and impose a fine of not less than 200,000 yuan but not more than 1 million yuan; where the circumstances are serious, a fine of between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 RMB is to be given, and the business license may be revoked. Where proprietors violate the provisions of article 8 by publishing false advertisements, they are to be punished in accordance with the provisions of the Advertising Law.
In addition, some escort companies and platform stores also have prepayment behaviors, such as setting the threshold of "booking a driver for 3 hours", or the inducement method of "paying 10 hours in advance and giving 1.5 hours of class hours for free", but some escort companies or individual escorts mostly agree verbally, which has the risk of reducing service quality and arbitrarily increasing prices, and it is difficult to protect the rights and interests of consumers.
Article 22 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests stipulates that where a business operator provides goods or services by receiving an advance payment method, it shall conclude a written contract with the consumer, stipulating the specific content of the goods or services, the price or fees, the method of returning the advance payment, the liability for breach of contract, and other matters. After collecting advance payments, proprietors shall provide goods or services in accordance with the agreement with consumers, and must not reduce the quality of goods or services, and must not arbitrarily increase prices. Where proprietors fail to provide goods or services as agreed, they shall perform on the agreement or refund the advance payment in accordance with the consumer's request.
Therefore, escort companies or individual sparring partners should strictly follow the relevant laws and regulations when promoting the provision of escort services and collecting fees, so as to avoid false publicity and disguised fees. Consumers should also insist on entering into a written contract when purchasing services, and retain evidence in the event that their rights and interests are damaged, so as to effectively protect their legitimate rights and interests.
Chaos 3 "Black escort" private cars and modified cars are charged
Judge's advice: Attention should be paid to the determination of responsibility for traffic accidents
As we all know, driving on the road is most afraid of problems with car conditions. However, in order to reduce costs, many chaperones use crooked brains in the sparring car. Regular company sparring cars need to be regularly maintained or replaced, which is expensive, while private cars, modified cars, and even second-hand cars, scrapped cars, etc., have become the first choice for some "black escorts" because they do not need more car maintenance costs. However, these cars are difficult to meet the needs of teaching in terms of safety performance, and may also cause traffic accidents due to the failure of the braking system.
When the author searched for "escort" on an e-commerce platform, I saw that in terms of vehicle use, you can choose your own company car or student's own car. If it is a self-owned car, the sparring center or sparring partner is equipped with auxiliary brakes, and the installation can be completed in 5 minutes without changing the vehicle. Upon inquiry, the so-called company cars of many stores are not standard training vehicles, and only emphasize that the vehicles have installed auxiliary brakes. According to the provisions of the national transportation industry standard "Qualification Conditions for Motor Vehicle Driving Training Institutions", the technical condition of the coach shall meet the requirements of GB 7258 and the technical conditions of the second class vehicle or above stipulated in JT/T 198, and be equipped with secondary mirrors, auxiliary brake pedals, fire extinguishers and other safety protection devices. The road driving coach is also required to be fitted with a sub-accelerator pedal and a sub-clutch pedal.
At present, the mainland road traffic safety law does not have a special identification for those who have obtained a driver's license to seek sparring partners, and the law does not specifically stipulate the responsibility of accompanying instructors and students.
If the driver has obtained a driver's license and uses the driver's private car in the process of accompanying the driver, and the driver is at fault, the responsibility of the party shall be determined in accordance with Article 45 of the Provisions on the Handling Procedures for Road Traffic Accidents, according to the role played by the party's behavior in the traffic accident and the severity of the fault. If the driver is using a car provided by a driving company or an individual driving instructor, and the driver is at fault, according to Article 1209 of the Civil Code, if the owner, manager and user of the motor vehicle are not the same person due to leasing, borrowing, etc., and the damage caused by a traffic accident is the responsibility of one party of the motor vehicle, the motor vehicle user shall be liable for compensation; If the owner or manager of the motor vehicle is at fault for the occurrence of the damage, he shall bear the corresponding liability for compensation. If the accompanying instructor is at fault, if there is an act that causes an accident such as obstructing the driver's normal driving, instructing or forcing the driver to drive illegally, etc., it also needs to bear corresponding responsibility, and if it causes more serious consequences, it will even constitute an accomplice to the crime of causing a traffic accident.
Therefore, when choosing a driving escort service, consumers should pay special attention to whether the accompanying vehicle has a safety technical inspection certificate. When signing a written contract with the escort company, it should clarify the service content, escort time, mileage, charging standards, liability for breach of contract, determination of traffic accident liability and other matters.
Judge's tip: The entry threshold for escort drivers should be clarified
After the rise of escort services, there are still a large number of legal risks, which require the coordination of regulatory authorities, enterprises and individuals to jointly ensure the market order of the escort industry and work together to maintain road safety.
First of all, we should actively promote the establishment of industry norms and standards. Relevant departments should clarify the entry threshold for escort companies and individual part-time escorts, establish a quality assessment system for escort vehicles, and ensure that escort coaches meet the requirements of safety, technology, environmental protection and other aspects. Intensify the supervision and crackdown on the use of private cars, modified cars, second-hand cars, and scrapped cars for escort services, and if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility must be investigated in accordance with the law. At the same time, students and the public are encouraged to evaluate and supervise the qualifications of the accompanying drivers and the quality of the accompanying vehicles, so as to jointly maintain road traffic safety.
Secondly, the escort company shall publicize the charging items, service content, charging standards, complaint telephones, instructor qualifications, coach evaluation certificates and other information in prominent positions such as business premises and publicity pages, formulate qualification standards for escort instructors, and regularly organize professional skills training. Individual part-time escort instructors should actively register and record, take the initiative to participate in professional training, and provide effective guidance and protection for students.
Finally, consumers should try to choose a formal driving school and check whether the vehicle with the co-pilot brake installed without permission has a safety technical inspection certificate. When signing a service contract, it is necessary to carefully check the business qualifications and contract terms of the escort company, fully understand the service content, charging standards, escort instructor qualifications, and the quality of the escort vehicle before signing a formal written contract.
This article was published in the 10th edition of Beijing Daily on September 18, 2024
Contributed by: Shijingshan Court
Editor: Ren Bingyu Wang Xi
Review: Wang Fang