Oz Conference Fails to Resolve Auto Repair Conflict

The Australian vehicle industry agrees to disagree and is leaving the issue of access to technical, diagnostic, service and repair information by independent repairers to the federal government to resolve.

A Vehicle Service and Repair Information Conference, the first time all sectors of the auto industry met to debate the topic under one roof, attracted representatives of the manufacturing sector, importers, dealers, service and repairers, insurers and parts retailers, as well as industry associations and governments.

“To have the opportunity to hear so many views and opinions was enlightening, and it is clear that this is a very complex issue,” Victoria Automotive Chamber of Commerce Executive Director David Purchase says in a statement.

The chamber organized the meeting.

“It is also clear – and we thought this would be the case – that it is not possible to neatly wrap the issue up with one outcome or in one sentence,” Purchase says. “There are a number of different angles and each one has merit.”

Interested parties now will focus attention on making submissions to a recently announced federal government inquiry into the issue, he says.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer David Bradbury is leading the inquiry, which has a Sept. 23 deadline for submissions.

“Judging by the debate we had at the conference, the inquiry will have its work cut out,” Purchase says.