The Right to Repair guidelines, which took effect on 1 July 2021, represent possibly the largest change to the way new cars are sold and maintained in South Africa in decades. There are very important new rules and regulations in place which South African motorists and franchised car dealerships need to understand and follow going forward.
Here are some explanations of the new guidelines, provided by Right to Repair South Africa. The Guidelines are now in force and came into effect on 1 July 2021.
Independent Service Providers (“ISPs”) are already allowed to service cars under warranty. Car owners are, however, now empowered to choose where they service their vehicles without risk of voiding the warranty. Previously, motor manufacturers would void the warranty if a vehicle was not serviced at the dealership during the warranty period. The Commission has now declared this practice as incompatible with the Competition Act. Independent service providers can now service cars under warranty and the practice of voiding warranties is now unlawful. This includes cars that were sold prior to 1 July 2021 which were sold without an embedded maintenance and/or service plan.
No. ISPs do not need to be registered with any industry specific organization to service an in-warranty vehicle.
If a manufacturer finds that a warranty related failure is due to inferior quality parts, incorrect service procedures or faulty workmanship they are within their rights to decline the warranty. As stipulated in the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (“the CPA”), the liability in such an instance will lie with the ISP and/or the parts supplier/importer.
No. The guidelines maintain that those provisions of the warranty that relate to unaffected parts remain severable and enforceable. In other words, only the section/s of the warranty that relate to the failure/damage may be voided, the remainder of the warranty must be honoured by the manufacturer.
As mentioned above the consumer is protected under the provisions of the CPA. If there is a warranty dispute, the consumer should refer the claim to his/her service provider and the service provider, which claim should be covered by the service provider’s insurance provider. The guidelines in fact, specify that ISPs must disclose to consumers whether they have adequate commercial insurance cover. We strongly recommend that consumers use only those ISPs who can provide proof of adequate commercial insurance.
No, but as mentioned above if a manufacturer finds that a warranty related failure is due to inferior quality parts, they are within their rights to decline the warranty. It is therefore important that ISPs procure parts from reputable suppliers and use only recognized, quality parts when servicing a vehicle.
To avoid the risk of a manufacture refusing to honour a warranty, we recommend that all services be carried out in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications:
ISPs are required to record the service history in the service book or in the electronic service record of the vehicle to allow traceability should there be a warranty issue at a later stage. A caveat to this is that the ISP must also be given access to previous service history.
ISPs are also required by the Guidelines to disclose to consumers, in clear and explicit terms, the risk of damage that could arise from the ISP’s work, including consequential damage to the consumer’s vehicle, which may potentially void certain obligations of the manufacture in terms of the warranty.
No. Warranty repairs must always be referred to the manufacturer’s approved dealer.
In very simple terms, whoever pays, decides where the work can be carried out.
Extended Warranties:
If a consumer has chosen to purchase an extended warranty and the repair falls under the warranty, then the repair will be undertaken by a repairer approved by the provider of the extended warranty.
Motor plans/Service plans:
The consumer may now choose to purchase a service plan from whoever is offering one, that consumer will then have their vehicle serviced by the workshop specified in the plan.
Insurance:
Where a repair is not covered by insurance the consumer may choose whom will repair the vehicle, while a repair that is covered by insurance will be attended to by a repairer on the insurance company’s panel.
If the consumer is insured, the vehicle must be referred by the consumer’s insurer to a manufacturer approved repairer to ensure that the integrity of the consumer’s warranty is protected while the accident-related repairs are being attended to.
If the consumer is not insured, it is up to the consumer which service provider he/she choses to repair the vehicle, however, we strongly recommend that consumers refer their vehicles to a reputable ISP, who holds adequate commercial insurance to ensure that they are covered should they need to make a warranty claim at a later stage.
First and foremost, the consumer when purchasing a new vehicle, is now armed with the choice of whether they want to include the service plan. Put another way, service plans can no longer be embedded into the metal. This means that other independent providers can also price service plans, making for a more competitive market.
Secondly, the Competition Commission has given guidance around the appointment of motor-body repairers by insurance companies and manufacturers, with the objective of “lowering barriers to entry and ensuring that a greater number of firms, especially firms owned and operated by historically disadvantaged individuals and small to medium enterprises have the opportunity to undertake service, maintenance and repair work of motor vehicles within the period covered by a motor vehicle’s warranty.” For insurance companies, this revolves around a fair appointment process and a fair allocation of work. Similar principles will be applied to the appointment of dealerships which criteria must be reasonable.
Similar to the EU and US, all technical information required to assess, service and repair vehicles must be made available by the manufacturers to the ISPs. The exact methodology needs to be established but will likely take guidance from current practices in both the EU and the US.