MOTORING [STUDIO]: Car owners may soon be able to service their cars where they like if the Competition Commission gets its way. The Commission released draft guidelines on how the automotive aftermarket industry should work. We’re joined in studio by Pogiso Dibakoane, Motoring expert.
The rules also seek to make it easier to use generic spare parts. Where a specific part's warranty has expired, the document suggests, the owner should be able to fit a "non-original" spare "without losing out on the remainder of the vehicle's general warranty".
The Competition Commission also seems intent on ending the dominance of what industry insiders have described as "Taj-Mahal-style" dealerships: vast and opulent showrooms for new cars, the cost of which ultimately fall to consumers.
Any requirements manufacturers impose on their dealers "must be reasonable and have an economic rationale, particularly in relation to the size of land, show-rooms, furniture, fittings and finishes," the draft rules say.
Though it is only at the start of a likely long period of public input, the draft guidelines could "fundamentally change the current nature and structure" of motor retail and services in South Africa, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) said in a statement on Monday.
Naamsa stressed – twice – that it has no objection to "the substantive reforms" proposed by the Competition Commission, but accused it of acting in bad faith and implied the rules could imperil billions of rands of investment in SA due from its members.
The automotive industry was already moving in the direction the Competition Commission would like, Naamsa said, albeit slowly, "creating a fertile environment upon which these reforms can be implemented without harming the economy".
The draft guidelines are open to public comment until 16 March.