Chapter 46: 6.5 Million in Compensation
He thought the compensation plan was quite generous.
He had some wiggle room in his budget and was prepared for Chen Mo to haggle.
After all, you never show your whole hand right at the start.
In any case, he had to do everything he could to satisfy Chen Mo.
When he had stepped out to make a call, one of his employees had given him a piece of information.
The employee had overheard parts of Chen Mo and Feng Yu’s conversation.
It was only then that he found out Chen Mo was a recipient of Modu’s "Model Citizen for Courageous Acts" award!
With that on his record, he didn’t dare try to pull a fast one on Chen Mo.
Otherwise, Chen Mo could just post the video online.
Then he could add a caption about how a certain brand’s 4S dealership made a hero bleed and then weep.
Just the thought of it made his skin crawl.
He absolutely couldn’t handle the fallout.
"That much?"
After hearing the manager’s compensation proposal, both Feng Yu and her colleague looked astonished.
In their heads, they were both silently calculating the total compensation.
A refund of the 1.47 million yuan purchase price, plus 2 million yuan in hush money.
Plus a fully-loaded Laycan for Chen Mo, worth well over 1.5 million yuan.
All told, it was like Chen Mo was getting a fully-loaded Laycan for free.
And he’d still walk away with 2 million in cash.
The total value was nearly four million yuan.
Their first reaction was that it was a lot of money, but on second thought, maybe it wasn’t.
After all, Chen Mo had spent 1.47 million on a brand-new car, only for its brakes to fail and its battery to spontaneously combust before he even left the lot.
Either one of those issues was a major safety hazard that could have easily killed the driver.
And this car had both problems at once.
What kind of insane luck do you need to walk away from a car like that?
So, the brand absolutely should be offering this much compensation.
’In fact, maybe it’s not even enough.’
But after hearing the manager’s proposal, Chen Mo compared it to what he had in mind and simply shook his head.
"It seems you feel your brand’s popularity and reputation in China have been flagging, and you need someone to give it a boost."
Chen Mo said to the manager with a faint smile and a casual tone.
’If they think they can get rid of me with this offer, then I’ll just have to do them a favor and help them become famous.’
"Mr. Chen, we can discuss it, of course."
The manager’s expression froze. A muscle in his cheek twitched, and he quickly forced a placating smile.
Their brand’s sales in China were already down 30% this year compared to the same period last year.
If this incident got out online, the consequences...
He didn’t even dare to imagine them.
"Why don’t you tell me what you have in mind, Mr. Chen? As long as it’s reasonable, we’ll do our best to accommodate you."
Seeing that Chen Mo refused to play by the usual script, the manager decided to just let him name his price.
As long as it satisfied Chen Mo, going a little over budget was acceptable.
"First, the 1.47 million I paid for the car must be refunded to me in full. That’s non-negotiable."
"As for compensation for emotional distress, that will depend on how sincere you are. Let’s just say the number you just quoted did absolutely nothing to soothe my nerves."
"Furthermore, your supervisor and salesperson attempted to tamper with and destroy evidence. That infuriated me, and I want an explanation."
"And about the free car—I’ll accept one, but not another Laycan. If that doesn’t work, you can just give me the cash value instead."
"By the way, I purchased insurance before I was supposed to drive off, and the policy is active. I’ll be filing a total loss claim and letting my insurance company handle it."
’A free car is fine, but I don’t want the model I bought today anymore.’
’I’m sure this car’s issues are an isolated case, but it still feels jinxed to me.’
"Mr. Chen, we have no issue with your first demand. That is, as you said, non-negotiable."
"As for compensation for emotional distress, if 2 million isn’t enough, we can add more. How about 2.5... on second thought, that’s an awkward number. How does 2.6 million sound?"
"Regarding your claim that our sales supervisor and salesperson attempted to tamper with evidence, I was not aware of it. I have faith in the professionalism of my staff and don’t believe they would do such a thing."
"However, their actions clearly caused a misunderstanding and left you feeling unsettled. I will apologize on their behalf and offer you 300,000 yuan in compensation for that."
"If you don’t want the Laycan, that’s fine too. We can offer you a gas-powered car instead—any model we have in stock. We’ll even cover the purchase tax and insurance fees. Or, if you prefer, we can give you 1.5 million in cash."
"As for the insurance..."
The manager responded to each of Chen Mo’s points one by one.
But when the topic of insurance came up, the manager felt a headache coming on.
The insurance policy Chen Mo had purchased was indeed active, so it was perfectly normal for him to file a claim.
But the moment a claim was filed, the insurance company would find out about the incident.
Insurance payouts leave a paper trail. If that record were ever leaked, all their efforts to contain this would be for nothing.
What’s more, once the insurance company learned of this incident, they might reassess the risk profile for this particular model.
In short, it was not in their best interest for the insurance company to get involved.
"How about this, Mr. Chen? Don’t file an insurance claim. We’ll compensate you for the total loss ourselves."
"We won’t just cover the total loss value. We’ll also cover the purchase tax and insurance premium. We’ll pay you the full 1.47 million. How does that sound?"
This was clearly beyond his budget, but he made the call then and there.
He was confident the head office would approve his decision.
After hearing the manager’s counteroffer, Chen Mo didn’t immediately accept or decline.
Instead, he just sat on the sofa, took a sip of his tea, and thought in silence.
As observers, Feng Yu and her colleague were mentally calculating the new total compensation.
The 1.47 million refund, 2.6 million for emotional distress, 300,000 for the attempted cover-up, and another 1.47 million for not filing an insurance claim.
If Chen Mo chose the cash instead of the car, that would be another 1.5 million.
Excluding the refund for his original purchase, they would be paying Chen Mo nearly 6 million yuan!
The figure shocked them both. Her colleague, in particular, couldn’t hide the envy in her eyes.
Six million!
And from the way Chen Mo was frowning slightly as he considered the offer, he still didn’t seem satisfied.
The final compensation amount might be even higher!
"Mr. Chen, what do you think?"
When Chen Mo remained silent, the manager grew anxious and couldn’t stop himself from asking.
"Not good enough."
Chen Mo just gave a small smile and a slight shake of his head.
’The broad strokes are fine now.’
’But there are still some details left to negotiate.’
"What part, specifically?"
The manager understood Chen Mo’s implication and tried to get down to the nitty-gritty.
"I feel my nerves still aren’t quite settled. If I don’t calm down, I’m afraid I might say something I shouldn’t."
Chen Mo rubbed his temples and said, looking troubled.
Seeing this, Feng Yu covered her mouth to hide a smile. ’This guy is something else,’ she thought.
Hearing this, the manager understood perfectly.
"It’s true, one must remain calm. Alright, how about this: we’re prepared to offer 3 million yuan for emotional distress, and another 500,000 yuan on behalf of the sales supervisor."
"That comes to a total of 6.47 million. I’ll round it up to an even 6.5 million for you. How does that sound?"
’When in doubt, just throw more money at it,’ the manager thought.
’If he still doesn’t agree, I’ll just have to add more.’
However, this was already well over his budget, and he was reaching his limit.
If Chen Mo still didn’t agree, he would have no choice but to call his superiors again.
"I feel calmer than I’ve ever been."
A smile touched Chen Mo’s lips as he extended a hand to the manager.
’You can’t let pride get in the way of money.’
’There may have been some friction and problems before, but now we’re all good friends.’