Repair boost

14 September 2007  

/>Today, the EU told DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, General Motors and Fiat that they are legally bound to commitments to provide information to all vehicle repair

/>The news comes after an in-depth investigation by the Commission into whether the four companies were complying with existing ru

/>It said the commitment to provide access to data was binding until existing Block Exemption Regulations expire in May 2

/>EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said the decision was good news for independent workshops and consum

/>“Consumers benefit from competition between repairers, through lower labour charges and cheaper spare pa

/>“These decisions provide a concrete and timely solution to the problems faced by independent repairers, who might lose their ability to compete without access to the relevant technical informati

/>The four VMs’ commitments to providing information that were made binding by today’s decision are based on three core eleme

/>The first commitment is that information provided to authorised repairers must also be made available to independent repairers on a non-discriminatory ba

/>Secondly, although VMs are allowed to withhold information related to anti-theft or performance-limiting functions of on-board electronics, they must ensure this does not stop independents from performing repairs that are not directly linked to these functi

/>Thirdly, the commitments ensure that independent garages can obtain information that is priced in a way that takes into account the extent to which they use