Why a 15,000 km Ebro isn’t repaired after a crash

The 15,000 km Ebro that won't be repaired

In the case being discussed, repairing the car can cost more than the vehicle itself. And it is a specific case: a one-year-old Ebro with 15,000 kilometres suffers a head-on crash and is not repaired. A circulating calculation puts the repair at around €15,000, compared with the €4,000 or €5,000 that, according to the same estimate, that same crash cost a decade ago. The numbers don't add up, and when the numbers don't add up, the vehicle ends up —according to the account— at the scrapyard.


What the new Ebro really is and what they say about its cost

The resurrected Ebro is not a European car with a Spanish badge. It is claimed to be a tuned Jaecoo: a Chinese-parent product with a recycled Spanish brand. The classic badge —the one from the old F-108— is back on the market, but, according to these comments, the industrial muscle would be elsewhere.

The figures being tossed around in the thread help give an idea of the margin. According to one participant, a Jaecoo J5, with no discounts, costs 105,000 yuan in China, about €13,750 at the exchange rate, and adding RoRo-type sea transport comes to about €400. The rest, up to the final price, would be taxes and commercial structure. Some go further and put the real production cost of such a car at between €6,000 and €7,000; the buyer pays €30,000.

Why Chinese parts are antiestéticared to take months

The problem is not just the sale price. It is after-sales. One participant recounts that a friend waited five months for a Ford Ranger part to be sent. If that happens with a brand with an established network, the reasonable doubt is what could happen with a Chinese manufacturer that has just landed in Europe.

The irony running through the thread is easy to put into words. As one forum user sums up, “the good thing about Chinese cars is that all the spare parts are original... from China.” When the part takes a year or never arrives, the warranty stops being a consolation. And while the workshop waits, the conversation asks whether insurers are ceasing to repair new cars. That is where the new car ends and the problem begins.

The veterans that exceed 800,000 kilometres

Set against the disposable vehicle, the old mechanical school. A Fiat Ducato van would have accumulated, according to a forum user, 854,400 kilometres. One participant states that his 2004 diesel Toyota Avensis is heading towards 400,000 km. A 2003 Volkswagen Passat TDI with 300,000 km can be bought for €2,000. And a 1997 Golf MK3 1.6 naturally aspirated, sold with almost 230,000 km, did not have a single breakdown in eight years, according to its owner.

It is not nostalgia. It is arithmetic. If a €30,000 car is not repaired after a crash, its cost per kilometre shoots up; if a €2,000 car still starts every morning, the calculation holds. It is the comparison that runs through the thread: better a known veteran than a newcomer.

What will happen with the after-sales of Chinese cars

The underlying doubt is whether Chinese brands will fix their spare-parts network or maintain the disposable-product model. Some argue that they can manufacture quality vehicles at a competitive price as soon as they set their minds to it; on the other side weighs the experience of lead times measured in months.

At current prices, every serious crash becomes a profitability analysis. If the repair exceeds a certain threshold, the car is lost. And that hypothesis, sooner rather than later, will be confirmed or broken by the next after-sales campaigns.