Patrick James

I found this worthwhile piece in FOXY Lady Drivers Club and I think many of our readers may be interested:

Apparently in 2010 the EU COULD allow vehicle manufacturers to restrict access for independent garages to get at the information and tools they need to diagnose and/or repair the latest cars and sophisticated on-board technology. The outcome of this would mean the motorist going to a franchised dealership for such services and, as things stand, typically paying more for labour costs than they are likely to in an independent garage.

Naive perhaps (why would the EU want to do this?) if the industry I know best tells me that this is a real risk, then I shall (on behalf of FOXY and UK female consumers of course) support the independent garages’ ‘Right to Repair’ campaign because the consumer must always be the winner, and increased competition is what makes this happen.

In short, leading independent garages must be able to compete fairly with leading franchised garages because the eventual outcome of increased competition is in the best interest of all motorists.p>

Read Article:

I think it is fair to say that the automotive world in general tends to be quite male orientated and anyone could be forgiven for thinking that cars run on testosterone… instead of petrol! While surfing the web this morning I found the exception to the misogynistic rule…. eve Magazine and What Car? have teamed up to produce evecars.com a motoring website for women. evecars.com is a really useful site for all, with articles on topics ranging from the Ideal First Car to Convertibles, Fantasy Cars to Green Machines etc. This is one site I will be Bookmarking!