MODERN CON ARTISTS
I WAS interested – and rather pleased – to read that the Competitions Commission is drawing up a new code of conduct for the South African motor industry.
When the new rules come into force, vehicle suppliers will no longer be able to insist that car owners use their own workshops for servicing and repairs. As it is now, I would have to take my car to a dealer many suburbs away to have the routine services done.
If I go to a local workshop (staffed by trained mechanics using standard tools), then my guarantee is no longer considered valid. The same goes for spare parts. Here’s a typical example of the way we’re ripped off. I once owned a German motorcycle and was told it needed two rubber diaphragms for its carburettors.
I phoned the official agents and was told the two parts would cost R70 each, which seemed like a lot if money for two little bits of rubber. They said the high price was because they were “genuine” parts.
My late friend Gordon, who was an excellent mechanic, laughed at the quote and said: “Those are just common diaphragms that are used in many makes of engine. Go and buy a couple at the spares shop in Diep River.”
I went there and the spares man took a box from the shelf, slapped it down on the counter and said: “That’s R7 for a set if two.” Can you believe that? The “genuine” parts cost R70 each (R140 for two) and I was buying the same thing for one-20th of the price. The only difference was the official logo printed on the box.
If that motorcycle had still been under guarantee, the dealer would have cancelled the guarantee simply because of some printing missing from a cardboard box.
Honest mechanics will tell you modern factories specialise in various vehicle components.
The same belts, filters, plugs and electrical bits that are made in China or India are used in vehicles manufactured in Germany, America, Japan or France. Nobody makes a complete car any more.
Modern vehicles are rather like Lego kits. Until recently the dealers could threaten you by saying your car is unsafe if you use a part that comes in the wrong box.
You need to buy the one in the box with the badge on it and pay five times the price of the one without a badge. It’s nice to know there’s somebody up there in bureaucracy-land working at making life just a little bit fairer. I was told by the vehicle dealer that a special diagnostic computer was needed to adjust the “settings” on my new car.
The local mechanic who now does the job in his backyard workshop chuckled and said, “What a load of bull! I can do all the settings on my laptop computer.” And he should know, because he used to work for that dealer. We are such easy prey for modern con artists. Last Laugh
The boss called an employee into his office and told him he was being made redundant and would have to leave the company at the end of the month. “I’ll be sorry to lose you,” he said, “and if it’s any comfort, the computer that is replacing you is costing us R2 million.”