Block Exemption

[television]

A report in the telegraph 02.10.06 highlighted that the car giants are still bocking the indies the right to manufactures info, and the the government has done nothing about the situation.
When it comes to spare parts, there are some new regulations on the way.
What it means is that the rugulation BER (block exemption regulators) will be eased so that repaires who choose to remain indipendent from specific brands have all of the access to information and the necessary technical back up,technical training and equipment, further more the regulation forbids clauses which seek to prevent authorised repaires from supplying original spare parts or parts of matching quality to independent repaires and stressed that the customer has a choice as to where his vehicle is repaired.

The regulation also gives the consumers a choice as to which spare parts are used. Any clauses from a manufacture to restrict the supply of parts will not be allowed.

Therefore the new regulation permits manufactures of OE spare parts the right to call and sell their parts as OE under their own name, and that parts of matching quality will not invalidate manufactures warranties.

This will also allow independents the right to work on cars which are under a warranty without invalidating that warrenty, Some firms like Toyota already states that they will not deny a warrenty repair even if work has been done on the vechcle by a non official repair outlet.

All of this can only be good news for our cars it means that we can buy our Mintex brake pads for example from our local car parts outlet.

Some people on this forum,who insist on only using OE parts are going to have a shock when I publish the list in the near future. well I have given you Mintex to kick off with.

Malcolm

 

[GSM1]

Excellent post Malcolm,
Us, who have been in the motor trade always knew the manufacturers always used mass productors for components, mintex as you mentioned.
My time was with peugeot/talbot and chrysler/hillman in your days malcolm, anybody who had one of these will remember the cost of parts.
There is many who put their trust in a dealership that don't know better.
Think yourself lucky that you have the knowledege.
Gary

 

[television]

Excellent post Malcolm,
Us, who have been in the motor trade always knew the manufacturers always used mass productors for components, mintex as you mentioned.
My time was with peugeot/talbot and chrysler/hillman in your days malcolm, anybody who had one of these will remember the cost of parts.
There is many who put their trust in a dealership that don't know better.
Think yourself lucky that you have the knowledege.
Gary

I think that the saving in cost for all four wheels to change the brake pads on say an E class is around £60.

malcolm

 

[davidsl500]

I think that the saving in cost for all four wheels to change the brake pads on say an E class is around £60.

malcolm

Think you will find that the oe is more likely to be Textar than Mintex Malcolm - all part of the same group though - TMD Friction. Nice know that the restrictive practises are being slowly whittled away...

 

[television]

Think you will find that the oe is more likely to be Textar than Mintex Malcolm - all part of the same group though - TMD Friction. Nice know that the restrictive practises are being slowly whittled away...

Actually it was Mintex who started the thing off and they are keeping the pressure on. I do not know about Textar, The Mercedes OE was on the Mintex paper, that's all I know. Sadly the government is very good at bring out new bills, but they are never followed up or enforced, I think that things will come to a head by September when the next new laws come into force compelling all traders to register, the idea being to get rid of cowboys

I hope to find out a lot more on Tuesday when I visit the trade show.

Malcolm

 

[davidsl500]

Actually it was Mintex who started the thing off and they are keeping the pressure on. I do not know about Textar, The Mercedes OE was on the Mintex paper, that's all I know. Sadly the government is very good at bring out new bills, but they are never followed up or enforced, I think that things will come to a head by September when the next new laws come into force compelling all traders to register, the idea being to get rid of cowboys

I hope to find out a lot more on Tuesday when I visit the trade show.

Malcolm

Its all very convoluted Malcolm! I used to work for Mintex many moons ago in the late 70's to mid 80's when it was part of the BBA Group. Most of the friction material for the German Car ranges came in direct from Textar,Germany which was also part of the BBA Group. In fact alot of it came through in the distinctive yellow Textar boxes with Mintex labels stuck on.

I reckon if you opened a box of mintex branded pads for your merc you will see Textar stamped on the friction.

Of course there are downsides to the removal of block exemptions - its happening in lots of different industries. Manufacturers spend millions and millions on developing a vehicle -and then find they do not have the luxury of retaining sales on parts for it within the warranty period ! Although Manufacturers should not have the right to hold their customers to ransom on parts prices they must be really miffed about the looming situation !

 

[television]

Its all very convoluted Malcolm! I used to work for Mintex many moons ago in the late 70's to mid 80's when it was part of the BBA Group. Most of the friction material for the German Car ranges came in direct from Textar,Germany which was also part of the BBA Group. In fact alot of it came through in the distinctive yellow Textar boxes with Mintex labels stuck on.

I reckon if you opened a box of mintex branded pads for your merc you will see Textar stamped on the friction.

Of course there are downsides to the removal of block exemptions - its happening in lots of different industries. Manufacturers spend millions and millions on developing a vehicle -and then find they do not have the luxury of retaining sales on parts for it within the warranty period ! Although Manufacturers should not have the right to hold their customers to ransom on parts prices they must be really miffed about the looming situation !

Ok David, just found the paper, and you are right,Mintex is a division of TMD friction.
Re the downside of block exemption, I had all of these type of scares in my game when RPM came in and many other rules and regs. I do not think that things will change that much.
A garage wanting to service MB's is going to have to purchase all of the jigs and special tools plus the diagnosis gear all very expensive,plus they will have to subscibe to WIS and STAR diagnosis, they will have to pay for the training coarses, add the cost of BMW and Audi, I think it will be way over the top.
What happened in my trade when it all opened up, the manufactures put all their parts out to agents, and at the same time closed down the technical help lines, and we had to scratch around the best we could. The web saved the day with private forums where we shared info and got help from each other. the days of piggy faults are long gone, odd fault comes in, post it, and the answer back in 1 or 2 hours, so in the worst case a 4 hour job is now a ½hour job but we get the same money for it.


I cant see the average mb owner just going to joe's garage, its a different story when it comes to the MB indie, most are fully kitted out.
All of my trade repair articles deal with all of the little cars like fitting a new clutch to a CLIO. I do not know if MB really want to service cars say once they are 10 years old. when I showed my little garage the SL they shook their heads in dispair of the things to come.

Malcolm

 

[television]

Having just returned from the trade show, and this is how the manufactures get around the clauses. By law they have to sell all special tools and fault code readers (star) to independent traders (indies) where the catch comes in, the running data is not updated, so you have a 2005 E class in for repair, and the settings are not listed, at least the ones you need. You ring MB, "are yes,we will get that for you" 4 weeks down the line when the customer has got fed up waiting and taken the car away it comes, but guess what, its the wrong data.
So that is how they are getting around the clauses.
Malcolm

 

[3146bj]

Under the Australian Trade Practices Act, it is illegal for manufacturer's to deny warranty claims on the basis of an owner using an independant service organisation or parts supplier, PROVIDED the parts meet the manufacturer's OE standards and the serviceman uses the correct data and procedures. It is also illegal for the manufacturer to refuse to supply the necessary information. Attempting to force an owner to use manufacturer recognised service or parts is known as third party forcing and manufacturers can be subject to fairly severe fines eg AUD 250,000, if they try it on. Not just for cars, but for anything carrying a manufacturer's warranty, even your computer or washing machine.

Sounds great but easily avoided in practice by putting ridiculous prices on the standards and procedure information needed. Things like circuit diagrams, test procedures etc. Most car manufacturers meet the intent of the law and some don't charge for the info, but Mercedes Australia are notorious for their high charges for "intellectual property". Like AUD150 for the air conditioning wiring diagram for a W124.

So however good the laws appear, some shonk will find a way around them. Good luck and learn from our experieince.

 

[mioba]

intersting post malcolm,

why the governemt havent done anything who knows, this is very similar to the microfoft case thats been goin round in circles for a few years, essentially refusal to supply information necessary to work a product (in this case it was microsoft refusing code for its servers). Indeed this is not allowed under Art 82 of the rome treaty (abuse of dominat position) is anti competitive,

indeed the BER for motor vehicle servicing is a benefit to consumers.

I will have a look round and post more!

 

[television]

intersting post malcolm,

why the governemt havent done anything who knows,

indeed the BER for motor vehicle servicing is a benefit to consumers.


!

This point is what the motor federation is upset on. the government is very good at bring out new legislations, but they are never followed up to see if or how they are working, Tony Blair makes his speeches, saying we did this and that, we introduced this and that, whether or not anything works is another story.

Malcolm

 

[mioba]

This point is what the motor federation is upset on. the government is very good at bring out new legislations, but they are never followed up to see if or how they are working, Tony Blair makes his speeches, saying we did this and that, we introduced this and that, whether or not anything works is another storry.

Malcolm

ahh tony blair and politics, thats one for a few drinks a night of debate and discussion.