New car servicing rules legislated

Legislation that guarantees a wider choice of automotive servicing options and potentially lower costs for car owners has passed federal parliament today after a decade of campaigning.

The amendment to the Competition and Consumer Act mandates access to vehicle service and repair information for independent repairers and will come into effect from July 1, 2022.

The amendment is a victory for the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA), which represents the independent vehicle repairers who were being increasingly shut out by automotive brands and their authorised dealers.

“As a function of the technology we now have on vehicles with each model year we were getting more and more technology control functions and more and more that gave the car industry the power to build in electronic lockouts,” explained AAAA CEO Stuart Charity.

“It was getting harder and harder for independent repairers to do basic repair functions. It would have got to the point where the independent repairers would have been confined to older vehicles and that obviously has huge implications for car owners through choice of repairer and keeping the cost down through choice.

“If everyone was forced to go to the dealership then every single car owner would pay the price of that and it would decimate the viability of the independent repair channel.

“What this legislation essentially delivers is a level playing field for repairers and car owners. It will deliver competition and choice for Australian car owners.”

Along with the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA), the Motor Trades Association of Australia (MTAA) and the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), the AAAA will form an industry body to manage access to the scheme and provide dispute resolution.

These five were previously signatories to a failed voluntary data sharing scheme.

There has been a fair amount of opposition to mandatory information sharing. For instance, the AADA cites data security as one concern, while it also questions whether lower pricing will be an outcome.

“It’s irresponsible to claim that this legislation is going to lead to lower servicing costs,” said AADA CEO James Voortman.

“Independent repairers are clearly going to have to pay for this information and that’s been made clear in the legislation.

“I am not predicting what the future looks like in terms of cost, but what is very clear in the legislation is this information will be obtained on a commercial basis. They are not going to get it for free.”

FCAI chief Tony Weber said the peak industry body representing the car-makers “supports the intent of the data-sharing legislation and will continue to work with all relevant industry participants to achieve its implementation”.

“[But] we remain concerned that the real costs of the new scheme have been underestimated and hope that customers do not have to bear unreasonable increases in the costs of maintaining their vehicles to cater for a legislative decision that makes a minor change to what has always occurred,” he said.

Charity said the legislation’s passage would deliver an “enormous amount of pride” for the AAAA, which has led the campaign for more than a decade.

“To put this in context, this is the first ever industry-specific amendment to the Competition and Consumer Act and no other industry has specific set of competition rules,” he said.

“I think we now have the best set of competition rules globally.”