Honest model contract as a mechanism of self-regulation of public relations

Good day! I want to share with the community reflections on how approaches used in IT can help people solve everyday, everyday tasks. And to propose a concrete solution method, the strength of which lies exclusively in its use by a wide circle of people. The following approaches and tools will be discussed:

• Code reuse
  
• Semantic versioning
  
• Github
  
• LaTeX
  

As the subject area will be considered "the purchase of a car", however, the proposed method is applicable in solving other problems. Who cares - welcome under cat.

Having decided to buy a car, I, wanting to save time and nerves, turned exclusively to official dealers and still faced with the specifics of the Russian car market. Below, when describing contacts with dealers, I actively use the word “some” in order not to offend anyone (since there were differences in the attitude even of official dealers of the same brand).

Brief description of the problem

When you call, as a rule, you are trying in every way to lure into the salon (some, even stating that cars are available, although this is certainly not the case). In the salon, none of the managers are particularly in a hurry, and time flows through their fingers: either the contract is not printed, the power of attorney is overdue, it is not issued for the conclusion of contracts for the sale of cars, etc. etc.
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Having received this experience, I decided not to waste time on the formal part (everything related to the contract), but to clarify this at the first telephone conversation. However, it turned out that problems with the contract (oddly enough) are characteristic of very many official dealers:

1. Some firms refused to send a standard sales contract.
2. Some of the name of the Seller has no relation to the declared official dealer. Just another firm.
3. Some had an agreement, to put it mildly, “no”. Or even offered to sign a contract with a number of blank fields (including VIN! Ie, they entered the wrong VIN and buy second-hand at the price of a new one!).
4. For some, the contract is adequate in form, but the buyer's rights are minimal. Or the rights of the seller are exorbitant.
5. When trying to discuss dubious contract clauses, a specially trained person, as a rule, enters the conversation, whose sole purpose is to explain to you whether you are an camel in an hour? And that they have the right agreement, and they are not the first year on the market, etc.

Problem statement and proposed solution

So, my task as a buyer is to save time and buy a car .

The charter to explain the absurdities in the contract of the next dealer, I realized that I no longer even want to read their contracts, because I’ve already understood what I need and “I guess what and how I’m deceived” ©. So I realized the first step to solving the problem.

First step to resolve: code reuse

I need my version of the contract, which I know and do not need to reread it . This contract is typical for a transaction of this kind, so I can contact him at any dealer. This version of the agreement protects (legally) me from possible frauds of an unscrupulous dealer, but it does not put me in the awkward position of an honest dealer. Therefore, this contract is fair.

So, the first step to the decision is the Honest Model Treaty . Obviously, such an approach will not work head-on: just ignore the contract alone. And the first step is naturally followed by the second step.

Second step to solution: Share the solution found to the community.

The power of the Semantic Versioning will manifest itself only if it is accepted by the community. The same mechanism works for the Fair Contract, only with an even greater effect. Using the proposed approach, the person himself receives an advantage, and at the same time strengthens those who already use it and endows those who will use it later. In fact, it turns out a system with positive feedback, which is closed to itself.

In the case of the Semantic Versioning "By clearly defining and formulating the idea of ​​versioning, it becomes easier to communicate intentions to users of your software." In the case of an Fair Contract, it is easier to understand the dealer's intentions: simply ask the question: “Are you working under an Fair Contract?” (Possibly with the version number indicated).

However, just talk about the solution found is not enough. It is also necessary to organize joint work on an honest model agreement. And this is the third step.

The third step to the solution: the organization of collaboration.

To work together on the Fair Sample Agreement, a repository has been created on Github with the source text of the contract in .TeX format .

Help in finalizing the contract can be anyone. Here are the main directions:

• Finalization of the text of the contract. Especially if you are a lawyer or dealer representative . The contract must take into account the risks of the seller, but the buyer should not share these risks. Knowledge of the business processes of the Seller will help to improve the contract, it is even possible to prepare several versions depending on the specific conditions.
  
  Example : if the car is already in the cabin (in stock) the delivery time cannot be 1.5 months. Otherwise, in the case of an unscrupulous dealer, the Buyer already bears the risk that the percentage of the full prepayment will simply be “twisted”. And, on the contrary, if the car is only in delivery, and even from abroad, 1.5 months is an adequate period.
  
• Styling contract. In the current version, not everything is smooth with LaTeX markup.
  
• Improved usability.
  To add the opportunity without changing the source code of the contract to create a pdf-file, including the data of the Seller and the Buyer (presented, for example, in two json-files). Creating instructions on how to compile a ready-made pdf-document from source (for example, I used an online service, but I think that there must be an offline option).
  
• Popularization of the idea of ​​an honest contract.
  
• Actualization of the Fair Standard Contract. For example, in case of a change in legislation.
  

Economic justification of expediency

I would like to believe that with the implementation of the Fair Model Treaty, relations between people will change for the better. And that the quality of service will increase.

In addition, the contract can be a good illustration when studying the subject area, if you provide for comments on each item: how important it is and what risks a person bears when changing the wording or deleting this item.

However, the main thing that can be obtained when using the Fair Model Agreement is time saving. Saving time is achieved in the following areas of activity:

• The study of the pitfalls of this subject area.
• It is not necessary to deduct separately the contracts of each dealer (if the problem was in one or two dealers, this article simply would not exist).
• No need to propose and coordinate corrections to the contract of each dealer.
• If something goes wrong, then with the correct contract (and clear deadlines in it), you can quickly initiate a trial and return the prepayment amount earlier.

Under the spoiler, my estimate of the time saving effect with the massive use of the Fair Sample Agreement. The assessment is very approximate , so if someone can offer a more adequate assessment, please bring it in the comments.


In short: let the buyer spend on average 50 minutes analyzing one contract and he has to study the contracts of at least two dealers. With 1'000'000 transactions per year will be ~ 951 working person-year.

When using an honest model contract, we get a savings of 950 working man-years!

How it works

As soon as the version of the Fair Model Treaty is ready, each person will be able to use it. The original text of the contract is publicly available, you only need to add data about the Seller and the Buyer.

Most likely the dealers are satisfied with their current version of the contract, so the initiative to use the Fair Model Agreement will come from the Buyer and will pass through the following stages:

1. Dealers do not know about the honest model contract. But from their potential customers regularly receive references to it.
2. Dealers are already in the know, but do not know how to react and pretend that they are “not in the subject line”.
3. Someone from the dealers decides to use the Honest Model Treaty as their trump card. And loudly stating this gets a competitive advantage.
4. Now other dealers regularly hear the question from their potential customers: “Why do you not use the Honest Model Contract? Here is the dealer_from_punkta_ above uses! Don't you want to work honestly? ”
5. Other dealers are forced to use the Fair Model Agreement.

At stages 1-3 in the arsenal, the potential buyer has such arguments:

1. Buying a car is a typical operation, and an Honest Model Contract is already provided for it.
2. You want to sell a car? Please read this version of the agreement. If your company is not satisfied with something in it - send me a protocol of disagreements.
3. If your contract is approved by the official representative of the brand, where is the link to it on the site of the official representative?

Current version (0.0.1) of the Fair Standard Contract:

• source in .tex format
• pdf document