According to a report in TimesLive, written by #CarsAwards judge and consumer champion Wendy Knowler, the new regulations come into effect from the 1st of July 2021.
What does this mean? Up until the 1st of July 2021, owners of new vehicles had to service their vehicles at dealerships. An attempt to get the vehicle serviced at an independent outlet would result in the vehicle's warranty being voided. An organisation called Right2Repairhas taken on the motoring industry and the organisation represents around 2 500 independent workshops, parts manufacturers, and aftermarket distributors. The goal was to ensure fair competition in the supply chain and give the consumer freedom of choice, as well as levelling the playing field betweenmanufacturers, parts suppliers and workshops, including the manufacturer-approved workshops.
As it stands, owners of new cars have no alternative when it comes to vehicle servicing and Knowler says South Africa is the only car market where customers are 'locked into using a manufacturer's service centres via embedded motor and service plans.' The Competition Commission's ruling means customers can take their brand new vehicle to any service centre for its first service, without fear of a compromised warranty. There's also the impact of service plans and motor plans being removed out of a car's list price. These plans will continue to be sold, but as optional extras. Customers will be able to decide if they want to service the vehicle at the dealership they purchased the vehicle from, or go to an independent service centre.
The full ruling can be found here, but here's a quick summary.
OEMs must recognise and not obstruct a consumer’s choice to seek service, maintenance, and mechanical repair work for their motor vehicles at a service provider of their choice, regardless of whether that service provider is an approved dealer or independent operator;Maintenance plans and service plans will be separated at the point of sale from the purchase price of the vehicle, allowing consumers to exercise choice regarding whether to purchase the maintenance plan or service plan. This is intended to make and will make servicing a more affordable option for South Africans, while allowing for more players to provide car maintenance products for consumers whose motor vehicles are in-warranty;OEMs must adopt measures to promote and/or support the entry of new motor-body repairers, with a preference for firms owned by historically disadvantaged operators;Consumers can fit original or non-original spare parts, at a service provider of their choice, whether that be an approved dealer, approved motor-body repairer, or an independent one, during the in-warranty period, without voiding their warranty.The quality of these will be carefully dealt with in line with consumer protection laws as well as existing warranties;OEMs must make available to independent service providers the OEM-technical information relating to its cars, including security-related information that permits access to cars' security systems, including coding and programming, software, and safety systems. Such access must be subject to OEMs' intellectual property and data privacy rights and the independent operators meeting their accreditation requirements; andOEMs and/or approved dealers are required to provide training to access to training to employees of independent repairers who request training, at a reasonable cost that may not exceed that imposed on employees of approved dealers.
The OEMs are not happy with the ruling, citing concerns over the quality of workmanship and whether genuine parts would be used.
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