Page 14 The Daily Express today , article by David Lancaster .

Basically it says that a new EU regulation just passed means all smaller garages will no longer be able to repair/service any car as they will not be allowed access to the information needed.:confused::confused:

The AA expect garages to close in their 1000's and motoring costs will rise steeply.

Bloody awful that but not necessarily the end.

The equipment for connecting up these cars is too expensive for most of the little family garages anyway. The independent I have used (and will again when my free servicing is finished) puts the cars to the franchises when computer work needs done. He's got the kit and software to look at Citroen but no others.

The article suggests that all independants will close,the daft thing is the EU passed a ruling a while back, (one that many are unaware of) stating that independant garages can carry out servicing during the warranty period and that providing they use genuine parts and follow the manufacturers manual the work does not affect the warranty.( Non service parts under warranty still have to be replaced by the main dealer.) Now they want to shut everyone down.

Fill the tunnel with cement or water and get rid of the EU would be the best possible plan.

Sounds like a few bungs have been paid to keep the dealer networks in the cash.

Ohh we can't afford not to have the work.

I use a dealer for the work, but then I get a good pricing too due to the fact they know I could just go to an indy.

im sure if this is the case lummox will be on to confirm or dispute it.

im sure if this is the case lummox will be on to confirm or dispute it.

I had not realised Lummox is an MEP;)

Open Europe - independent think tank calling for radical reform of the EU

EU ruling will mean higher car repair bills

The Telegraph reports that the EU Commission plans to scrap the so-called “Block Exemption”, which requires car manufacturers to provide parts and computer codes to independent, often smaller garages. It is noted that the changes, to take effect in 2010, could force up the prices for car repairs and services. The hourly charge of an independent garage is £55.63 compared with £94.70 in a dealership workshop.

Fill the tunnel with cement or water and get rid of the EU would be the best possible plan.

How does fire sound?

It's sensationalist headlines again. For a start there is no way that franchised dealers will stop selling parts to other garages, look at VW in particular who have invested an awful lot of money in their Trade Parts Specialist (TPS) scheme. This was developed specifically for the trade where each branch supplies the parts for VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat and VW commercial vehicles. Not to mention that the major manufacturers Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot, Toyota etc. all run trade club schemes, where the garage can get additional discounts.

For information the maunaufacturer cannot state that their parts are used during warranty period servicing, they state that the parts must be of equivalent quality and in the event of a problem it will be upto the customer to prove it.

With regard to the manufacturers providing information, yes they do, but usually at the cost of a premium rate phone call, so few garages will follow this route. Alot of places will just phone a mate who works at the dealer. Also the computer information isn't really any good if you don't have £1000s of diagnostic kit to make use of it. They are also making increased use of data links to their headquarters for certain jobs which will always be dealer only work. Then again there are always the specialist auto electricians and diesel fuel system companies out there.

The only thing that I see changing is the requirement to have the car serviced at a franchised dealer to keep the warranty in place, which will be for the first 3 or 5 years of the cars life, thereafter you are not tied to the dealer.

I had not realised Lummox is an MEP;)

Open Europe - independent think tank calling for radical reform of the EU

but as a self employed mechanic/garage owner he might have heard a bit more through the trade.

So the EU which is trying to encourage competition is passing legislation to close down smaller business'

If this article isnt to big can this be scanned in?

My mechanic sends cars to other garages if the fault computer needs to be read or anything.

Its a trade barrier World !

Definitely, an Anti-competitive and restrictive move and utilmately inflationary - Against the ethos, principle and intent of EU and UK trade and competition law.

Don't worry though, the big hitters have probably been lobbying and lubricating the appropriate legislators, thus bringing foward the day when only one huge conglomerate remains to serve all customers, for all their needs and you can be rest assured it will do it very badly and very expensively.

This sh*te first started with the spares side and was co-incident with the 1990's economic downturn. I'm sure that, at this time, distributors placed publicly undeclared restrictions on dealers regarding the selling of genuine parts to any old bod visiting the dealers. In the case of my local VW dealer, who had, up to that time, maintained an old fashioned dedicated spares counter, they suddenly started having difficultly supplying stock service items which were previously available on demand.

At the same time, very strangely, the pattern part suppliers seemed to start disappearing from the scene !

So, just as the economic circumstances were seeing more people start to do their own servicing again, because they were out-of-work or on reduced income, the dealers were being encouraged to force people to bring their cars in for servicing, which these customers couldn't afford have done anyway. But they could afford the parts and do the servicing themselves.

So, eventually, the spares counter disappeared during a re-modelling on the show room and the dealer lost both streams of income in respect of this group of customers. You guessed it, not long afterwards the showroom closed down - dciking brilliant !

Nick