Emir Bardakçı
Recently, a story about the purchase of a second-hand Xiaomi SU7 electric car became very popular among Chinese netizens on Weibo. The topic “Man bought a used car and the original owner remotely locked the car” became one of the hottest searches.
The Incident
On September 7th, Mr. Gong from Zhengzhou, Henan saw a second-hand Xiaomi SU7 for sale online. He went all the way to Shijiazhuang, Hebei to finish the purchase and paid 205,000 RMB for the vehicle. This so-called smooth transaction had encountered a turn because of disagreement over the payment, the original owner remotely locked the car.
The Contention:
It is reported that Mr. Gong had paid 201,000 yuan, then agreed to rest 4,000 yuan upon the formal ownership transfer of the vehicle. However, after Mr. Gong drove the car home, the original owner asked for a higher price. Mr. Gong refused, then the original owner used the remote management system of the car to cancel the authorization of the car for Mr. Gong.
Conflicting Claims
The original owner insisted that there was no written contract, but only an oral agreement, so that the deal was not completed because Mr. Gong had not paid all the money. Besides, he denied his asking to raise the price. However, records of chat between the two parties showed that they had agreed on a price and most of the money had been paid by Mr. Gong.
Confronted with the chat records, the original owner changed his stance and alleged Mr. Gong tampered with the records. Mr. Gong has decided to resort to law to defend his rights, seeking help from the court for the original owner to execute the contract and pay the losses.
Legal Perspective
Lawyers involved in the case underlined that, since both parties agreed on a price via WeChat and part of the payment had already been made, there was partial performance of the contract. A vehicle had also been delivered, meaning the original owner may face liability for a breach of contract if he does not facilitate the transfer.
It also enables a lesson to both the second-handed buyer and seller. Experts suggest that a transaction should be encouraged where both parties sign formal contracts and record the transactions they made. It will enable clear agreement and avoid probable disputes. The buyers shall always make sure that their rights and obligations shall be defined properly in whatever kind of second-hand deal.
