Thursday 17 June 2010

Good Garage Scheme welcomes ruling that could see servicing costs drop by half

New legislation from the European Commission is set to tackle the abuse of warranties by manufacturers, ruling that mandatory links between manufacturers and dealerships are to be severed.

The new regulation, which was implemented earlier this month, means car manufacturers will no longer be able to make the warranty conditional on having the car serviced in networked dealerships or by using expensive branded parts during repair. As a result, consumers will have a wider choice of garages and parts to choose from, and could see servicing costs eventually drop by as much as half.

The move will see increased competition between dealerships and independent garages, as the new rules will make it much easier for non-franchised garages to obtain alternative parts and technical information for repairs. Changes are most likely to affect owners of new cars; however costs of servicing vehicles such as BMWs and Mercedes’ could be reduced as the data needed by specialist diagnostic machinery will be made more available.

It is expected that dealerships will compete for business with price-matching and changes in labour costs, resulting in a lower end cost for the consumer. However, with soaring overhead costs for large dealerships, small independent garages are still the best cost option for consumers.

To find your local independent Good Garage Scheme member, visit http://www.goodgaragescheme.com/

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