March 15, the China Consumers Association released the “Top 10 Consumer Rights Protection Public Opinion Hotspots in 2023”, among which the new power brand WM Motor was criticized by the CCA for the halt of its after-sales service, which raised concerns among car owners.
Currently, the degree of automotive intelligence is constantly increasing, and the vast majority of functions of many electric vehicles are concentrated in the vehicle-mounted system. Locking the vehicle can also be achieved through a mobile phone. To some extent, it can indeed improve the convenience of consumers’ use of the vehicle, but the resulting problems are also numerous. Now, the auto industry is accelerating the reshuffle, and marginal automakers are facing the risk of being eliminated, and after-sales services have not been properly resolved.
In October 2023, WM Motor Technology Group Co., Ltd. applied for bankruptcy reorganization, and the handling court was the Third Intermediate People’s Court of Shanghai. After applying for bankruptcy reorganization, WM Motor experienced “network service outage”, resulting in owners being unable to use the vehicle-mounted system, mobile apps, and the official website normally, which has brought inconvenience to the travel and life of many owners. This means that owners who spend more money to buy higher intelligent configurations can only enjoy an experience similar to that of entry-level models. With the semi-paralysis of the “WM Smart Drive” APP, currently, WM Motor can still maintain basic operation, but problems such as the operation lag of the vehicle-mounted system still occur from time to time.
When a car company goes bankrupt, the biggest impact is actually after-sales, with difficulties in maintenance and high maintenance costs. A WM Motor online car-hailing driver said that he spent 116,000 yuan to buy the EX5 in 2021, and now he often has a headache with after-sales problems. Previously, after experiencing a minor accident, the left and right headlights needed to be repaired, only to find a repair shop. The repair price of a single headlight is as high as 3,000 yuan. He said that whether it is under warranty or not, WM Motor basically does not provide after-sales service, and can only find a repair shop by itself. However, most repair shops can only solve small problems. Once they encounter larger repair problems, such as those involving the powertrain, they are basically at a loss. Therefore, many WM Motor owners are very cautious when driving, for fear that an accident will occur, and a car will directly become a pile of scrap iron.
WM Motor owners are not an exception. From the early days when Skycar and Future checkAnswer to the recent announcement of the suspension of work and production by HiPhi, car owners are facing varying degrees of after-sales problems. Car owners believe that since the hardware of new energy vehicles is mostly customized smart devices that are not universal, and the three-electric system of automobiles also involves consistency issues, if the company does not disclose relevant technical information, maintenance cannot be carried out. Therefore, once a car company falls into operational difficulties, the after-sales service of the owners will face many obstacles, and even fall into a predicament of no after-sales service. Many car owners called on car companies to fully respect consumers, effectively do a good job in after-sales service, and provide “backup” guarantees for consumers.
