Right 2 Repair South Africa launches whistleblower hotline

Right to Repair South Africa, the organisation that advocates for consumers to service or repair vehicles at their choice of workshop, has announced a “whistleblower hotline” on its website. 

Some brands have embraced the guidelines since the Right to Repair guidelines took effect on July 1 2021, opening their workshops to cater for different brands.

The organisation marked the first anniversary of the coming into effect of the Guidelines for Competition in the SA Automotive Aftermarket on July 1 2022.

At the time CEO Kate Elliot said: “Significant progress has been made over the past 12 months making the automotive aftermarket a fairer place to do business.

“In the event of any noncompliance, we encourage you to leave as much information as possible as this will enable us to ensure the concern is addressed by the authorities. However, even if you don’t have all the information, any information is helpful so we can follow up on the lead.”

Elliott said examples of noncompliance included voiding of a warranty where the owner had made use of an independent service provider (ISP) for servicing or the fitment of non-OEM branded parts, failure to provide technical information to an ISP or to provide the information on unfair and unreasonable terms and the sale of a vehicle with a compulsory service/maintenance and/or motor plan.

She said consumers were entitled to make an anonymous complaint if they did not want their identities to be disclosed.

“Unfortunately, these complaints will not be forwarded to the commission, but will rather form part of our overall data picture to help direct our actions as an organisation going forward,” she said.

“The more data we have on which brands are not in compliance, the easier it is for us to direct our efforts to achieve widespread fair competition in the automotive aftermarket,” said Elliott.

Consumers who need help or want to check their rights in more detail can visit the R2RSA website or the YouTube channel.