With BP hogging the headlines last week you may be surprised to hear that last Tuesday a new piece of EU legislation crept in which should result in car servicing and repair costs being slashed.
If like me you are in no way mechanically minded and begrudge being screwed by franchised garages this is great news.
At the time WhatCar? reported that the ‘’new EU legislation … could slash the cost of servicing and repairs at independent and franchised garages.
Although current EU law states that your warranty won’t be affected if your car is serviced outside of the franchised dealer network, it is subject to the work being carried out to manufacturer specification and using approved parts.
Until now, those parts were available only from the manufacturer or their dealers, while independent garages had also been critical of car makers restricting access to technical information about cars to enable them to service them effectively.
The new legislation allows parts makers to sell ‘approved’ parts directly to independent garages or franchised dealers, potentially cutting the cost of servicing and repairs in the process. Manufacturers are also being told to make technical information available to independent garages.
EU anti-trust chief Jaoquin Almunia claimed these new regulations would have ‘tangible benefits’ to consumers, saying that they will cut both repair costs – which can account for 40% of ownership expenses – and distribution costs.’’
(For tips on how to cut the cost of motoring see my post Lunchtime Money Makeover #2 – Cut the cost of motoring)
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