Relying on zero - kilometer used cars to achieve explosive sales: It's true that you'll get scolded, and it's also true that it's really great.

A Reuters report has once again pushed the "zero - kilometer used cars" into the spotlight.

The reason is that the report pointed out that Zeekr and Nezha Automobile insured their vehicles before they were sold. According to industry practice, this allows car manufacturers to record these vehicles as sales in advance.

Zeekr responded very quickly, stating that the vehicles involved in the report are all exhibition cars available for normal sale. Although they have been insured for compulsory traffic accident liability insurance, they have not been registered or licensed as new cars at any vehicle management office, which is fundamentally different from "used - car" transactions and is a normal business practice.

Zeekr also clearly stated its attitude, firmly opposing actions that disrupt the industry order, such as "selling zero - kilometer used cars".

Compared with Zeekr, Nezha seems to be giving up. Reuters reported that from January 2023 to March 2024, it inflated its sales by more than 60,000 vehicles through unconventional means such as "early insurance registration", accounting for more than half of the officially announced total sales (117,000 vehicles) during that period.

01

What are zero - kilometer used cars?

If you open a relatively mainstream used - car platform, it's not hard to find a phenomenon: there are many "nearly new cars" that were licensed in the past two months, with a mileage generally between 0.01 and 0.1 million kilometers, and the prices are significantly lower than the official new - car prices.

Especially at the end of a quarter, when new and old models are being replaced, a large number of nearly new cars appear. When you call the dealer to inquire, the shop owner will probably tell you that it's a "resource car" or a "channel car". Although it has been licensed, it's still in new - car condition. In the words of some used - car dealers, the only difference between this type of car and a new car is the licensing procedure.

You can even see the "license - and - tax - included cars" in the sales copy of some car brands.

Actually, whether it's a resource car or a license - and - tax - included car, they generally belong to the same category, which are the "zero - kilometer used cars" currently in the spotlight.

According to the established rule, the so - called "zero - kilometer used cars" refer to those vehicles that have been registered but have hardly been used in practice, with extremely low mileage, usually close to zero kilometers, and have entered (or are about to enter) the circulation channel.

There are many sources for this type of car, mainly including old - model products from car manufacturers to clear inventory, "performance - boosting cars" launched by dealers to meet sales targets, vehicles damaged during transportation, and vehicles used for display and test drives in showrooms.

For example, the so - called "resource cars" are mostly high - inventory - age cars and old - model vehicles. The key account managers of the automaker will inform dealers before model iterations, and the latter will purchase these new cars in bulk at a relatively low price to alleviate the inventory pressure of the automaker.

Then these licensed "new cars" will be sold downstream at a price lower than the market price.

With the rapid development of the domestic new - energy vehicle industry and the intensifying price war, the volume of new - energy "zero - kilometer used cars" is also expanding rapidly. Data from the China Automobile Dealers Association shows that in the national used - car market in 2024, vehicles with a "registration date ≤ 3 months and mileage ≤ 50 kilometers" accounted for 12.7%, of which new - energy models accounted for more than 60%.

Wang Meng, a member of the Expert Committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, also predicted that the volume of zero - kilometer used cars may reach one million this year.

Previously, this type of vehicle was a product that had long been in the shadows of the automotive industry. With Wei Jianjun of Great Wall Motors publicly criticizing "zero - kilometer used cars", this "gray area" for car - manufacturer sales growth has been brought to the surface.

02

The "Mine" Has Appeared

The impact of "zero - kilometer used cars" can, to some extent, relieve the financial pressure on automakers. However, more seriously, it can lead to seriously inaccurate sales data, causing consumers to make wrong judgments when buying cars.

For example, Nezha Automobile, which was the sales champion among new - energy vehicle startups three years ago, has now become a negative example in the new - energy vehicle manufacturing industry.

According to Reuters, from January 2023 to March 2024, it inflated its sales by more than 60,000 vehicles through unconventional means such as "early insurance registration", accounting for more than half of the total sales (117,000 vehicles) announced by Nezha Automobile at that time.

That is to say, Nezha Automobile actually delivered fewer than 60,000 vehicles to customers through official channels. But on the premise that many consumers use sales volume as the primary criterion for buying a car, perhaps many Nezha Automobile users bought the car because of the apparent sales data.

According to the documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with dealers and buyers, Nezha Automobile insured these vehicles before selling them to buyers. The manufacturer recorded these vehicles as sales in advance to meet monthly and quarterly sales targets.

Before selling these cars, Nezha Automobile sent a record book to the dealers. The records included detailed information about each car and the purchased insurance policies, and also listed the names of insurance agents. After finding a buyer, the dealer can transfer the insurance policy to the new owner with reference to this information and handle the policy transfer.

At the same time, the dealers were informed that these vehicles had been insured in advance, so they were considered sold. They also concealed the purpose of insurance from potential car buyers, fabricating the reason that the compulsory traffic accident liability insurance was a free - gift insurance, and reminding the owner that the insurance would expire early and needed to be renewed in time.

The total number of new cars that Nezha recorded as sales in advance in this way was 64,719.

Some dealers said that Nezha started this practice at the end of 2022 to obtain the new - energy vehicle purchase subsidies that were about to end that year. Some of these types of Nezha cars were even left in the warehouse. And Nezha Automobile's attitude at that time was: "Just do it. Everyone else is doing it".

However, this document does not cover the sales volume in 2022. Before that, Nezha Automobile had a cumulative sales volume of more than 152,000 vehicles in 2022, not only winning the sales championship among new - energy vehicle startups that year but also becoming the first new - energy brand to exceed 150,000 annual sales.

So, was there any exaggeration in the sales of this new - energy sales champion at that time?

03

Impure Motives, Great Impact

On the surface, it seems to be a "win - win - win" situation. Automakers clear their inventory and relieve financial pressure, car dealers meet their sales targets and get subsidies and rebates.

For the end - users, they can buy a new car at a used - car price, which is indeed quite tempting. But behind the seemingly "good quality and low price", the risks are also quite high.

Firstly, it will cause the sales data to be inaccurate, and the reference value of sales data for consumers' purchases will be weakened. Nezha Automobile is a typical example. The root cause of the spread of zero - kilometer used cars in the market is also the excessive pursuit of sales volume by car manufacturers.

Moreover, "zero - kilometer used cars" disrupt the real supply - and - demand relationship in the market. The real order volume of enterprises cannot be truly reflected, which will then affect the annual production plan. Automakers use "wrong" sales data to derive wrong production plans, resulting in more quasi - "zero - kilometer used cars".

For consumers, most domestic new - energy vehicles offer lifetime benefits such as lifetime warranty and free charging to attract customers. However, most of these benefits are tied to the first - owner.

Once the vehicle is transferred as a "zero - kilometer used car", these benefits will become invalid. Even worse, most "zero - kilometer used cars" cannot enjoy the complete warranty of the three - electric system (battery, motor, and electronic control) provided by the manufacturer. Once a core component fails, the owner will face high maintenance costs.

From the perspective of vehicle registration and transaction management regulations, there are currently no systematic regulations specifically for "zero - kilometer used cars" in China.

If car manufacturers or dealers deliberately conceal the fact that the vehicle has been registered as a used car during the sales process, allowing consumers to complete the transaction without knowing it and thinking they are buying a "new car", this will undoubtedly violate consumers' right to know.

According to a report from China Securities Journal, Zeekr has already received a large number of customer complaints. Users only found that the "new car" they bought had already been insured for compulsory traffic accident liability insurance and even had completed the transfer registration, becoming a "used car", when they paid the deposit and were about to pick up the car. When they demanded rights protection and compensation, they were often shuffled off or refused compensation.

In addition, "zero - kilometer used cars" also provide room for subsidy fraud.

Some used - car dealers take advantage of the "trade - in" policy before taking over this type of vehicle. They use scrapped cars to exchange for "zero - kilometer used cars" to obtain 15,000 - 20,000 yuan in national subsidies and then sell them at a low price.

Although both the scrapping - and - replacement subsidy and the trade - in subsidy are for individual consumers, and it is clearly stipulated that a consumer can only enjoy the subsidy once in a natural year, some used - car dealers still obtain subsidies through multiple transfers after purchasing zero - kilometer used cars.

Actually, a simple "zero - kilometer used - car" transaction is not illegal, but the compliance of the transaction depends on the specific operation method. If the motives are impure, it's hard to say where the bottom line is.

‍ ‍This article is from the WeChat official account "Ultra - Electric Laboratory", author: Wang Lei, editor: Qin Zhangyong. It is published by 36Kr with permission.