Independents still lack easy access to parts and data

David Higgins, general manager of aftermarket parts supplier Motaquip, said the position is unclear. He said there are widespread industry misconceptions about where the boundaries of the regulations lie and the amount of power carmakers have when it comes to giving non-franchised repairers specialised access to elements such as intranet or closed data-sourced service and repair information. Additionally, the leverage manufacturers retain when it comes to saying where and from whom parts are supplied, whether these are hard parts for regular servicing or specialist, crash repair items is also not always clear. Where progress has been made, Higgins said it has been slow. Warranty work For vehicle servicing, Higgins cited the curious case of a Scottish independent garage owner who bought a new Citroen C2. He then drove it 200 miles to a franchised dealer for booked maintenance, not realising that his own business could carry out the work without invalidating his warranty. He suggested that the diffuse nature of the independent trade has hindered promoting what it can do to the public. “Efforts of individual trade bodies are commendable but the sector needs a single voice if it is to get the message across clearly and effectively,” said Higgins. He said many drivers who might use a non-franchised service provider do not realise that it is qualified and legally entitled to carry out such work without invalidating their car's warranty. Higgins complimented the current regulations, which came into force in 2003, as being more market driven and intended to increase competition in the servicing and repair markets. He suggested they were genuinely slanted to generate cost savings, greater choice and the possibility of opening up “a new, exciting market opportunity for the independent aftermarket”. However, this has been the promise of each successive round of block exemption negotiations stretching back to the 1990s. As with many laws impacting on huge, powerful industries which employ a large number of people, incremental rather than revolutionary change has been the order of the day. Profit from aftercare In recent years carmakers, finding profits from new sales ever harder to come by, have been keen to extract profit from peripheral activities such as aftercare. Keeping vehicles in the franchised network for longer has been one way of achieving this. It is therefore perhaps no surprise that they have not always bent over backwards to help independents lay hands on relevant technical data that would share out work to businesses outside their immediate sphere of influence. When it originally launched the Boxster, Porsche fitted the car with an electronic engine cover lock, intended only to be activated by franchised dealers. When one owner complained that he couldn't see the car's engine, he was told that he “didn't need to”. Critics of the block exemption process claim many of the same nostrums can be applied to the crash repair sector, where insurers have signed up approved bodyshops, dictated the equipment they have bought and in some cases the parts they can use – something carmakers themselves have often been accused of doing. Safety and warranty issues have often been invoked for these moves, and this has sometimes extended to the use of used, bolt-on body panels, rather than more obvious items such as brake parts. One Essex-based independent crash repairer who spoke to Motor Trader complained that it was still almost impossible for independent/non-approved specialists to get onto some carmakers' vehicle repair information websites, name checking brands such as Jaguar and DaimlerChrysler as being guilty of this. He added that being beholden to approved parts suppliers could also slow down repair jobs. Items such as model-specific clips to hold on exterior trim parts were often hard to source and that meant cars that were otherwise repaired had been marooned at his workshop waiting for parts that took only minutes to fit and cost just a few pence. Higgins said another reason for the slow pace of change driven by block exemption has been the increased interest of both manufacturers and their dealers in the market for vehicles over three years old, causing them to develop links with independent repairers to undertake repair work. “Prices for OE products have become more market-related, the differentials with credible aftermarket brands narrowed, and with them some of the reasons to select an aftermarket brand over the original equipment,” he said. “However, lower prices alone are unlikely to enable franchise dealers to develop their independent motor trade businesses, if their service levels are not comparable (with independents).” Building credibility As for creating public confidence, and extra business, Higgins thinks the broader independent sector would gain credibility with the creation of a self-regulating, recognised national repair code, although he is not convinced that adopting a BSI Kitemark is the answer. “The introduction of a self-regulating code of practice would encourage more consumers to consider this sector for the servicing and repair of new vehicles,” he reckoned. Overall, Higgins' views seem to mirror wider independent industry perceptions that things have moved on in the past five year but there remains plenty of room for improvement.