CCTV News(Reporter, Wang Jiazu) On November 11, six departments centralized "reminder interviews" with 8 online ride-hailing platform companies to remind and supervise the safety production, maintenance and stability of each enterprise. The reporter found that since the second half of this year, many traffic control departments across the country have issued risk warnings to online ride-hailing business services.
Experts say that government departments’ interviews with online ride-hailing platforms and risk warnings can help guide enterprises to standardize their operations and focus competition on how to improve the safe travel experience of ordinary people, rather than seeking profit margins at the policy edge.
Interview warning: online car-hailing is risky, so you need to be cautious when entering the market
According to the news released by the Ministry of Transport on the centralized interview, since the second half of this year, there have been many new situations and new problems in the development of online car-hailing and ride-hailing markets, involving various aspects such as industry safety and stability, which have attracted extensive attention from all walks of life and the media. Based on this, before the interview, many transportation authorities across the country have issued business service risk warnings to enterprises and individuals engaged in online car-hailing.
On June 11 this year, the Xi’an Taxi Administration Office reminded companies or individuals who are willing to engage in online car-hailing business to pay close attention to vehicle ownership to avoid conflicts and disputes or economic losses. In mid-October, the Xi’an Municipal Transportation Bureau also clearly stated that it is necessary to "prevent the online car-hailing market from being controlled by interest groups, break through the market boundary, over-dump vehicles, cause market competition to deteriorate, and ensure market supply and demand balance."
Sanya City, Hainan Province, also issued a "warning" for online car-hailing on September 5, saying that some cooperative companies that join the online car-hailing platform have "rental purchase", affiliated operation, guarantee car purchase and other situations… It is very likely to cause unclear vehicle ownership, difficulties in rights protection in the process of canceling the contract, and joint and several liability in the event of business risks.
In addition, Nanning, Sichuan, Suining, Mianyang, and Cangzhou, Hebei have also issued online car-hailing risk warnings this year, indicating that engaging in and riding online car-hailing pose certain risks.
Case: "Purchasing by rent" makes drivers feel uneasy
So, what are the risks of engaging in online car-hailing? The reporter found that in the risk warnings issued by these cities, the phenomenon of "rental purchasing" was highlighted. "Rental purchasing" means that the leasing company comes forward to buy the car with a loan from the bank and rents it to the driver. The driver repays the principal and interest to the bank for the leasing company. After the contract expires, the driver redeems the ownership of the vehicle from the leasing company. In fact, this model has great risks.
In August this year, dozens of car owners were deceived by a trading company in Chengdu. According to local media reports in Chengdu, the dozens of drivers "bought" vehicles of different brands in the company to engage in online car-hailing services by "renting and purchasing". They paid a down payment and agreed on a monthly repayment amount. However, before the vehicle was transferred, the company boss suddenly lost contact and left the building empty.
In July this year, a number of online car-hailing drivers in Changsha, Hunan reported that because their company had promised that the vehicle was "certified" and was a compliance car, more than 100 drivers signed contracts in the form of "rental purchase". But after more than half a year, due to illegal operation on the road without a license, many drivers were detained by the relevant departments and fined tens of thousands of yuan. They originally wanted to make real money, but they were brought into the scam.
Master Zhang, who has been engaged in online car-hailing operations in Xi’an for two years, told reporters on the afternoon of November 12 that the phenomenon of "renting and purchasing" in the industry is very common. "This business is not as profitable as when the platform gave subsidies at the beginning. Xi’an’s requirements for online car-hailing are basically B-class cars, and few people who can afford it will work hard." Master Zhang said that many online car-hailing drivers are sports cars to earn money to pay off car loans. The owner is not himself, and the heart of running a car is not at ease.
Expert: Don’t seek profit margins on the policy fringes
Li Mingtao, dean of the China International E-commerce Center Research Institute, told CCTV that when online car-hailing first appeared, people regarded it as a representative of the "sharing economy". Through the matching of Internet platforms, idle vehicle resources can be optimized to meet the diverse travel needs of ordinary people. However, in actual operation, relying solely on the information matching of network platforms has indeed caused many safety hazards and bad cases involving safety.
"The six departments’ recent interviews with online car-hailing companies are also mainly to prevent online car-hailing companies from relaxing the control of the entry threshold for online car-hailing and ride-hailing for their own business interests. At the same time, the local authorities’ strengthening of risk warnings for’purchasing by rent ‘is also based on a large number of complaints about this model, reminding drivers to prevent and control related risks and protect their own interests." Li Mingtao said that these measures are necessary to help guide enterprises to standardize their operations and focus the competition on how to improve the safe travel experience of ordinary people, rather than seeking interest space at the edge of the policy.
In addition, in response to the characterization of "Hitch behavior must not be for profit" proposed by the six departments during the centralized interview, Li Mingtao believes that the future Hitch platform profit model will be gradually adjusted to collect member value-added service fees through information docking.