Car servicing costs set to rise

[johnydep]

This will be interesting.

http://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news...-to-rise-29860

Motorists to pay more for car servicing under new regulations.

Local mechanics could soon become extinct and motorists may be forced to pay more for vehicle servicing after the car industry blocked independent repairers from getting access to complete maintenance data and specialist tools to fix modern cars.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries — the body that represents car companies — has walked away from negotiations with independent repairers and issued its own voluntary code of conduct on car servicing.

But the Australian Automobile Association, which represents 7 million motorists nationally, says the code threatens to strip away the basic rights of consumers and local mechanics because it blocks access to critical information, computer upgrades and diagnostics equipment....

[Bearman]

Not good. We need good indie workshops to keep the dealers from price gouging.

They could really go to town!!

[Franco Cozzo]

I'm guessing this means we won't be able to get updates on our scan tools etc.

[XD 351 Ute]

It is already happening.

My father has been a mechanic since before I was born.
He has worked for himself for most of those years, and in the last 20 or so,
has invested considerable amounts of time and money in training and gearing up to service the new breed of electronic cars (1990's onwards).
He has worked with a small group of people developing EFI diagnostic software and hardware and up until recently continued this practice.

But it is all about to come to a close.
With the advent of newer and more complicated systems, along with the reluctance of manufacturers to pass on their information via service manuals and the like, there are now certain parts of the new equipment that he can no longer access.

In short, it's game over for his business to be able to fully service his customers' needs.
Given that he is not far from retirement, it's only a matter of time before he shuts up shop, and this latest assault on the small mechanical workshop only leads to hasten his demise....

Ed

[Franco Cozzo]

Unless you own your own business its not worth doing, I completed my apprenticeship and left, was getting paid $19.26/hour as a qualified auto electrician, mate works at a local IGA getting 18.50/hour and he drives 5km to work whereas I was driving 55km.

Would have been better off stacking shelves for 4 years.

The LV Mechanics I went to trade school were getting even less as qualified, everyone was planning to leave once they go qualified.

In Vic around Melbourne forget it, it seems SA, WA and QLD these trades get paid more, one of my other close friends also became an auto electrician, went qualified and left, was up in QLD with his parents on a family trip and got offered $50K on the spot to go back in.

[XR Martin]

All these specialist tools and maintenance data is available from the US and Europe (where the industry is required to supply it to independents)
So if the mechanics are smart they'll just source it from there, which will end up being cheaper anyway.
More and more parts and no longer repairable either, so its becoming less specialised anyway.
If a dual clutch gearbox is faulty you just throw it in the bin and replace it.

[mik]

I suppose car companies are trying to protect their income up to a point as competion between brands gets tuffer and margins get smaller, cant really blame them.

[commodorenutt]

There is a whole "grey" industry already out there - look at the range of aftermarket modules & other stuff you can get for near new cars (and for older ones that are no longer supported).

Some of these tool & part suppliers also invest quite a bit in research to "crack" the dealer stranglehold on information, and support the independent workshops - it's only going to improve their business as more workshops will have no choice but to close or look to them for support. 2 such examples would be Autel & Injectronics - and there are many more out there.

I don't think it's all doom & gloom, but the dealership marketing spin will make it sound like your car will self-destruct if it's not brought back to them exclusively (extended warranties & used car warranties are perfect examples), so the lemmings out there will simply tow the line to the local dealer every time & get reamed. It's up to us "car people" to educate them in our daily conversations.

[Franco Cozzo]

I'm not a fan of Autel stuff, had their maxiDAS scantool at work and aside from clearing SRS lights it was useless, wouldn't tell you what codes were, and another shop with one says they've got misleading results multiple times from it.

[ratter]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

I'm guessing this means we won't be able to get updates on our scan tools etc.

Scan tool suppliers/manufacturers already have to reverse engineer most the data that we get, it does not appear to be openly available to them

[mik]

You could see some people that cant afford to go to dealer X may just decide to not service car X ........ stuff the flashing lights on the dash board, would i be wrong in saying cars are becoming more throw away every day as complexity and the amount of features increases and the the cost to fix old computer cars rises ?

[GASWAGON]

We just bought a new 2014 Toyota Yaris.....I would much rather pay local mechanic to service the car instead of the dealer....Gees it aint that hard on modern cars just filters and oils. Wish I could do servicing myself and still keep the warranty but i'm not allowed to.

[Jastel]

While I agree books and info from manufacturers would be handy it does have a cost...so Ford charging $1000 for a manual would be cheap for someone who uses it a lot, but it would be ridiculous for Joe Average with a once off problem.

Another problem is "bolt on" mechanics who unless a scan tool tells them what to do are totally lost on how to fix a car. Just keep changing things until its fixed. Of course when you charge $100 an hour bolt on is the way it has to be.

The Torque app tells me 99% of any faults I need to fix, but experience usually tells me what is wrong first.

On the plus side modern cars rarely need much more than an oil change...at least until the warranty expires.

Cars like everything else are disposable things these days.

[lucas2]

What? Big corporations influencing laws and policy? No way.

This can only be bad for the motorist and independent mechanics.

[Itsme]

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries & Car Manufacturers should be careful as this may come under "collusion" which is illegal in Australia.

[pottery beige]

roll it out the dealer and flip oil and filters yourself

all it will need

much less head ****s in your life

[Windsor220]

Most independent mechanics dont service the cars properly anyway.

[johnydep]

This is possibly why Toyota are so successful - http://www.news.com.au/finance/busin...-1227096523670

AUSTRALIA’S biggest car maker, Toyota, has broken ranks with the industry’s new vehicle servicing code of practice and will make technical data and recall information available to independent repairers.
Toyota’s decision to open its books to local mechanics means that 20,000 independent repairers nationally can get up-to-date access to online workshop manuals for 2.6 million Toyota across Australia. Other brands are yet to follow.
The breakaway comes as Senator Ricky Muir has asked car companies to reconsider the new voluntary code on servicing announced by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).
“I encourage the FCAI to take another look at this,” said Senator Muir.
“I believe all consumers should have a choice of repairer and I would not like to see vehicles being poorly maintained because of a lack of up-to-date service data for those who can’t afford routine maintenance at a dealership,” said Senator Muir.

[johnydep]

I can see a good proportion of the 20,000 independent repairers across the country advising their customers to buy - Toyota.

Up goes the value of used Toyota's.

[99AUXR]

Originally Posted by Windsor220

Most independent mechanics dont service the cars properly anyway.

Heard my fair share about dealer ships too

<---Independent mechanic

[ratter]

Originally Posted by Windsor220

Most independent mechanics dont service the cars properly anyway.

correct to a point, some will service according to what a customer is willing to pay for

[Bearman]

Originally Posted by johnydep

This is possibly why Toyota are so successful - http://www.news.com.au/finance/busin...-1227096523670

Well done Toyota. Take note other manufacturers - this is how to foster good will among motorists. Good to see Ricky Muir speaking up on this subject too.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by johnydep

I can see a good proportion of the 20,000 independent repairers across the country advising their customers to buy - Toyota.

Up goes the value of used Toyota's.

Pretty much. If a person gets burnt because they have to go to the stealer then they will look elsewhere as the car market is very competitive. Also if you have a good mech you will always go to he should at least point you in the right direction of what to buy.

[Silver Ghia]

I'd rather have an independent mechanic who I know is well experienced on Falcons and other makes, than a dealers apprentice I would not know at all, who will most likely be working on your car largely unsupervised.

There is nothing mentioned about Toyota providing PCM etc. software and updates to independent mechanics, which I think could still be a problem.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Silver Ghia

There is nothing mentioned about Toyota providing PCM etc. software and updates to independent mechanics, which I think could still be a problem.

Not sure of any manufacturer that does that now.

[Maka]

Originally Posted by Bearman

Well done Toyota. Take note other manufacturers - this is how to foster good will among motorists. Good to see Ricky Muir speaking up on this subject too.

Here, here!

cheers, Maka

[2011G6E]

It's a day which, sadly, I've been expecting since first looking under the bonnet of our neighbours brand new XE Fairmont Ghia back in the early eighties with the EFI six.
The first thing that popped into my head was "Wonder how many little service centers will be even able to diagnose a problem with one of these things?"...and cars have only gotten more complicated since then, with computers infiltrating all systems front to back.

Thankfully cars are more reliable than ever...but that said, when they do go bad, holy hell you want to have someone who knows what they're doing with it...

[Windsor220]

Originally Posted by 99AUXR

Heard my fair share about dealer ships too

<---Independent mechanic

I'm not talking about quality of workmanship. More the fact they never seem to do services by the book and use cheap quality parts. The amount of cars we get in that have problems because they never had the factory services is quite a bit. Also you get the problem that when the car's out of warranty, common problems never got rectified because the independents didn't know about it and then the customers have to fork out of their own pocket. Had they got it done at the dealer it would have been picked up.

[ratter]

Every car has the service procedure in a book so it is easy to do the correct service, organizations like vacc can also supply service schedules to member workshops, but at the end of the day most will only do what the customer wants to pay for

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Silver Ghia

I'd rather have an independent mechanic who I know is well experienced on Falcons and other makes, than a dealers apprentice I would not know at all, who will most likely be working on your car largely unsupervised.

There is nothing mentioned about Toyota providing PCM etc. software and updates to independent mechanics, which I think could still be a problem.

All tradies were apprentices once & started from somewhere whether dealer or independent, your comment is ridiculous as I know quite a few good mechanics who originally did their time with dealers.
OBTW I have came across a few apprentices who were hopeless imo who were from independent business, what your comment to this?