Author | Real Story Projects

Title Map | Visual China

From 250,000 vehicles in 2000 to 13.82 million vehicles in 2018, the transaction volume of China’s second-hand car market increased by 55 times. The huge market prospects have attracted countless practitioners, such as sponges absorbing water. They have also caused many people to turn over several times, climbed to the top second-hand car dealers, and created the wealth myth of “making a house a year”. Those who made a lot of money thought that this golden age would not end until a strange, invisible rival emerged.

01

Used car dealer Zhang Yue always remembers those busy days. At 5:30 in the morning, Zhang Yue stopped the car on the road. As soon as the car door was pushed, forty or fifty people surrounded him. In the bombardment of “what year, how much money”, Zhang Yue did not panic to get off the bus, reported his own reserve price, and began to fight back and forth with those who surrounded him. Negotiating and selling cars is Zhang Yue’s daily job. For more than 100,000 second-hand car dealers in China, it also means the starting point of a fortune.

50 meters away from the transfer channel where Zhang Yue is located, is the main entrance of the Beijing Huaxiang Second-hand Car Trading Market. This is a 500-acre car supermarket. Unlike other places, nearly 10,000 products here are used to hiding price tags. The price depends on negotiation. When Zhang Yue parked his car in Huaxiang, business opened at the same time, and there were nearly a thousand second-hand car dealers in the market. In 2012, thousands of customers poured into Huaxiang every day to watch cars, and Huaxiang’s used car sales accounted for half of Beijing’s.

Zhang Yue, a junior high school graduate, was originally a truck driver. He heard that the income from selling a used car exceeded his monthly salary. He borrowed 30,000 yuan from his relatives and entered this ocean of benefits. Initially, Zhang Yue went to an offline auction company to take a relatively cheap accident car, watched the car on the spot, traded it with a license plate, and then wholesale it to foreign car dealers who came to Beijing to collect the car. After the vehicle source is stable, Zhang Yue is considered to have crossed the threshold of the industry.

In the first two months, Zhang Yue sold more than 20 cars and tasted the sweetness of this big cake in the market, but something happened to Zhang Yue’s heart like fishbone. On the day of the thirteenth year of the throne, Zhang Yue packed his luggage and was ready to drive home. He was receiving an unfamiliar phone call while parcels were being loaded onto the car. Hearing the accent outside, Zhang Yue understood that business was here. He drove the car to Huaxiang and the buyer walked aroundAfter looking around, the offer was “120,000”.

Zhang Yue’s eyelids didn’t lift, and he spit a cigarette at his back: “123,000.” The buyer hesitated and touched the lamp, and said, “Below again.” Zhang Yue was impatient: ” It’s not cheap for a penny. I packed my luggage in the car. If you don’t want me, I’ll drive back to my hometown. “Ten minutes later, the two parties closed the deal. Zhang Yue acted deliberately indifferently, but she was particularly excited. The “Buick” that he just sold cost him a little over 100,000. If he didn’t sell it before the Spring Festival, the price of the car would have to drop by 10,000 or 20,000, making Zhang Yue worried, and now it finally turns into gold coins and falls into his wallet.

Picture | “Buick” sold by Zhang Yue

“Selling without a car” has become an iron rule that Zhang Yue believes in. As long as you keep the car, you can make money quickly. After driving into Huaxiang, Zhang Yue could sell one as soon as 10 minutes. On average, a car earns 2,000 yuan. Sometimes, these notes are bloody. During the car sale, different forces robbed Che Yuan of the incident. Zhang Yue saw one or two piles every day.

He is wary of going in and out without offending others. In the chain of interests, the experience of second-hand car companies is not shared and the sands are scattered. When the newcomer Zhang Yue just stood firm, Lin Hongliang, an “old man” doing business in Taiyuan, had been in business for 8 years. One morning, Lin Hongliang was about to drive into the auto market, and the Jetta in front of him suddenly stopped.

A black fat young man holding a “high price car closing” sign rushed to the right of “Jetta”, pulled the car door and squeezed into the co-driver’s cab. Immediately afterwards, the second stranger opened the left rear door. The third person saw this and turned in time to get in from the right rear door. It was full, but the car didn’t go. Across the car window, Lin Hongliang faintly heard a “sell”. At the gate of the auto market, only new talents go to the plate to collect their cars, and their status is lower than “old people” like Lin Hongliang who have parking spaces.

Bypassing the “Jetta”, Lin Hongliang came to his territory. His parking space has increased from the original five to 15. Cars are not uniformPrice. Within a few minutes, Lin Hongliang received a call. A car owner wants to sell his “Fit”. After he said the style, year, and kilometers, he quoted 70,000. Lin Hongliang listened to his heart sinking, but his mouth quickly agreed with the owner to see the car. At the end of the call, Lin Hongliang’s plan was formed. He picked the BMW with the highest value in the parking space and called on a younger brother.

When meeting with the owner, Lin Hongliang was intentionally silent. The younger brother quickly opened the cover of the car and checked the chassis. Sure enough, as Lin Hongliang expected, this “Fit” was well maintained, and not only was it coated with car membranes, there was no garbage in the tire texture. Lin Hongliang and the younger brother looked at each other, and the younger brother agreed and said disdainfully, “I have played this car, the oil leaked, it is a common problem, and the new cars are all cheap!” .

When the negotiations approached the freezing point, Lin Hongliang slowly said: “In this way, I have a little more than others, 50,000.” Owners cherish the car and have high expectations for the price. Then arrange the younger brother to sing a black face and constantly suppress. He understands the rules of the rivers and lakes and understands that every information barrier that separates buyers and sellers is a stepping stone to the door of wealth. The strategy came into effect, and the owner sold the car in Matsuguchi. Lin Hongliang reaffirmed that the means of getting rich was the adventure of “daring to tear his face.”

This kind of adventure is rampant between ordinary car dealers and huge wealth, and it has also become a catalyst for many gray secrets. Lin Hongliang remembered that there were people playing with burning cars, blister cars, flat cars, and cars with injured engines. Some people rigged the crashed car into a new car and stopped at the market to hire someone to sell it. When the buyer came over and asked whether the bumper had been hit, he casually replied, “If you hit it before, this car will be for nothing.”

A normal “fit” is 20,000 to 30,000 more expensive than a major accident. At that time, the market did not talk about after-sales, and buying a car relied on eyesight. Afterwards, buyers came to defend their rights. Generally, they could not find the lord. Even if they found them, they would not take advantage of the car market. In Lin Hongliang’s memory, some car dealers were retaliated. The buyer was unwilling to suffer. At night, he deliberately called for a car to be sold. The car dealer hooked up and went out with hundreds of thousands of cash in a hurry. As a result, he was injured and lost his life.

In Caomangjianghu, different people have different ways of living around the word “li”. Seeing the wealth bubble rising one after another, Lin Hongliang didn’t notice. At the same time, the advertisements of second-hand car e-commerce are quickly covering the elevator rooms, subway exits and bus stop signs of large and small cities.

02

“It’s impossible” is the first reaction of Lin Hongliang when he saw the slogan “No middleman makes a difference” in the elevator.

Out of the elevator, “Let sellers sell more money and buyers spend less” still stuck in the heart like a needle, making Lin Hongliang feel uncomfortable. In his view, sellers want to sell cars at high prices and buyers want to buy cars at low prices are natural desires, if not restricted, the psychological expectations of both parties will only get further and further away. Over the years, used car dealers like him have acted as middlemen, seeking a balance between the two. But now, this kind of e-commerce that advocates that the car owner sells the car directly to the buyer wants to wipe out everything.

Opening the circle of friends, Lin Hongliang knocked a lot of words and satirized the paradox of this e-commerce model. His words were like bombs thrown into the public opinion. One after another in the comment area stood out and questioned. Lin Hongliang does not believe that this model can be successful. He also determined that as many car dealers as there are as many enemies as possible.

He later learned that second-hand car e-commerce platforms have sprung up since 2013 and have been favored by capital. In 2015, more than 20 second-hand car e-commerce platforms received investment. When the war in the industry was ignited, the anger of traditional car dealers became more and more intense. One day, Lin Hongliang found that his circle of friends was swiped up by car dealers.

He opened the article, and after a cursory look, his finger moved to the upper right corner and forwarded directly. Lin Hongliang knows that this must be negative news for an e-commerce platform. Car dealers are looking for stubble on the e-commerce platform with a magnifying glass. He heard that someone in his heart who is particularly resistant still pretends to be a car owner to sell cars on top of it, so that the e-commerce staff can run for nothing. When Lin Hongliang spoke online, Zhang Yue was unaware of the Internet wave.

Zhang Yue, who is focused on collecting and selling cars every day, only finds that he has fewer and fewer cars. He still gets up early and runs frequently, but his business is still not moving. When he was anxious, Zhang Yue heard that someone had auctioned used cars online and made a lot of money. Although it was incredible to get the source of the car from the Internet, Zhang Yue’s mind came alive.

Picture | Vehicle photos saved by Zhang Yue

The first time he stepped into the offline auction room provided by the platform for car dealers, Zhang Yue was surprised to see twentyMany car dealers stared at the computer intently. One or two people glanced at Zhang Yue improperly, then quickly looked away and continued to focus on the screen. As the mouse is pulled down, photos of the vehicle flow over the display like a waterfall.

Ten minutes later, Zhang Yue questioned the staff side-by-side: “I took the car when I saw the photos. What if it wasn’t this car?” The other party replied, “The platform will claim.” The answer, Zhang Yue pouted, he thought that spending money is easy to ask for money. Zhang Yue, who has been dealing with people, does not trust the platform, shakes his head and turns away. Zhang Yue, who kept a distance with e-commerce, did not realize that the underlying logic of the rivers and lakes had quietly changed under the impact of capital.

When the flame of the price war burns from offline to online, the price of vehicles that were originally kept secret by each car dealer is gradually becoming transparent. When Zhang Yue became less anxious about the source of the car, Zhao Yong, 1200 kilometers away, also felt that something was wrong. After 7 years of hard work, Zhao Yong has his own second-hand car showroom in Shanghai and will buy one or two cars every day.

Once, someone introduced Zhao Yong to a Skoda car source, and he came to the place to meet the owner. As usual, Zhao Yong first lifted the cover and inspected the metal parts in the cabin. After watching the lap, Zhao Yong stared at the car, while calculating the offer psychologically, while throwing the theme of the car owner directly to the theme: “Do you have a psychological price of 60,000?” Without waiting for the owner’s response, Zhao Yong raised his head in doubt. The car owner caught his eyes, with a bitter smile, and spread his hand: “In fact, it doesn’t count. You can quote me a price. I will compare the prices offered by two or three e-commerce platforms. If they are similar, I will give you priority. Zhao Yong suddenly realized that this answer was not the first time.

The tentacles of second-hand car e-commerce have gradually penetrated into the daily life of car dealers. Gradually, similar price comparison dialogues filled the gap in Zhao Yong’s work. The transparent information brought by the second-hand car e-commerce platform makes car owners have no expectation of car prices and learns to compare prices. The platform is like an invisible funnel that intercepts many high-quality car sources. Zhao Yong had to admit that the tug-of-car process changed from a one-to-one price tug of war to a tug-of-war with himself and multiple forces, becoming increasingly difficult.

Zhao Yong may never know that in the process of buying and selling one by one and accumulating word of mouth, Guazi used car has invested 1 billion yuan a year to promote the platform. One day, Zhao Yong fancy a “Audi” with an estimated price of 200,000, and gritted his teeth and reported 200,000. In the past, he did not even dare to report 195,500, fearing that he would not only be able to recover thousands of profits, but would lose a lot if he could not sell, but at this time he saw that the car was near the year and the mileage was small. Thinking of selling quickly, maybe a mortgage could be made. By collecting money from the buyer for the loan, Zhao Yong was overwhelmed and raised his bid.

After the car prices are transparent, e-commerce platforms and car dealers compete to collect cars.To adapt to this change, even if the profit is like a bread that can’t stand the pinch, the more the pressure is the smaller. As the strength of second-hand car e-commerce has become stronger, the living space of traditional car manufacturers has been forced to shrink. One evening, Zhao Yong returned to the exhibition hall and was greeted by a row of new cars. Zhao Yong, who was car-loving, saw them at this moment, but suddenly he felt heavy.

Because of the pressure of second-hand car e-commerce on customer demands, the diversion is serious, and the number of customers who visit the store to see the car has dropped sharply. The exhibition hall has not been very popular for several days. If the cars cannot be sold, they will fall from the loot into a pile of scrap iron. With a long sigh, Zhao Yong raised his foot to the golf ball on the left-most white body. Because of the smooth model, it used to be a popular star. It can be sold the next day when it is retracted as quickly as possible, but now it seems like it has been forgotten. The basement was left unattended for two months.

Parking in iron grey “Buick Yinglang” next to “Golf”, the car is in good condition and has been here for three months. Zhao Yong glanced past each other and saw familiar faces. Previously, the showroom would change cars for more than a month, and now it seems that the pause button has been pressed. Selling a car is difficult, and the fixed cost of the exhibition hall has become the heaviest burden on Zhao Yong’s shoulders. Staff salaries, store rents and advertising expenses are close to 200,000 a month. Even if the average profit of a car can reach 5,000, he also has Want to sell more than 40 cars.

If you ca n’t make ends meet, you can only close the shop. Opening his eyes, Zhao Yong’s idea was to quickly sell the car. After running around for a day, Zhao Yong returned to the exhibition hall tiredly, but his work was not over yet. After dinner in a hurry, Zhao Yong sat into his office and made tea. In the sound of gurgling water, someone came in one after another, and all the visitors were Zhao Yong’s core partners. After everyone arrived, everyone began to discuss the solution to the crisis, and sat down until late at night. Such a “brainstorm” is Zhao Yong’s courageous struggle against the Internet wave.

03

Compared with the deadlocked Zhao Yong, Zhang Yue, who could n’t receive the car at all, is even more embarrassed.

At the beginning of this year, Zhang Yue, who drove 150 kilometers every day to collect cars, did not go out for a week. At 7 pm, Zhang Yue stared at the computer with bloodshot eyes. On the screen, the numbers keep jumping and refreshing. In recent days, Zhang Yue has been thinking about how to auction used cars on e-commerce platforms. Because the auctions are mostly conducted during the day, Zhang Yue had to hurry up to study at night, boiled to one or two points a day. Fifteen minutes passed and the numbers were frozen. Zhang Yue still didn’t photograph the car in this round.

Not only that, he has not received a car in these seven days. Turning off the computer in frustration, Zhang Yue stared blankly at the calendar and decided to buy a ticket to go home. This day is more than a month before the 2019 Spring Festival. At the end of the year