The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has lost patience with the Australian car industry, declaring a voluntary commitment to share technical information with independent repairers had failed and the only way forward was to make it compulsory.
Speaking at a meeting of the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association, the Chairman of ACCC, Rod Sims said the voluntary system had been tried and failed.
“Consumers benefit from competitive aftermarkets and by having a choice of providers to repair and service their cars,” Mr Sims said.
“A mandatory scheme to share technical information is the only way to achieve this.”
He said few car manufacturers had provided equivalent access to the technical information provided to their authorised dealers and preferred repairer networks.
“On this basis, we concluded that voluntary commitments to share technical information were unsuccessful and would not work.”
He said the ACCC would now recommend that a mandatory scheme be introduced compelling the sharing of technical information with independent repairers.
Mr Sims also highlighted a range of other findings from the ACCC’s market study into the new car retailing industry, including that car manufacturers should update their complaint handling systems and improve their approach to the handling of consumer guarantee claims.
He said they should also update their logbooks and service manuals to remove any misleading statements that their new car must be serviced only by an authorised dealer in order to maintain the warranty, when no such condition existed.
“The ACCC has seen numerous examples of practices by a number of car manufacturers that raise concerns,” Mr Sims said.
“We found that there is a dominant ‘culture of repair’ underpinning systems and policies across the industry based mainly around the manufacturer’s warranties, when enhanced remedies may be available under Australian Consumer Law.”
He also discussed the progress of the Takata airbag recall, which he described as the “largest and most significant recall in Australian history”.
“The compulsory recall requires all suppliers of vehicles with faulty Takata airbags to replace them as quickly as possible and by 31 December 2020, unless varied by application to the ACCC,” the Chairman said.
“The recall affects a range of businesses, including around 15 large vehicle manufacturers, the second-hand vehicle market, auto-recycling businesses, salvage yard operators, auction houses and Registered Automotive Workshop Scheme operators,” he said.
