You may have seen that the MVBER will cease to exist on 31 May 2023 due to the United Kingdom exiting the European Union.
As a result, consultations have been undertaken by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to establish whether any changes need to be made before the deadline is reached. They reviewed the current regime quite rigorously and established several areas of improvement to streamline the new regime to be marketed towards the UK.
One topic which comes up most often in the motor trade are the restrictions of manufacturers’ warranties/extended warranties when consumers chose to service and maintain their vehicle outside of the network. In some situations, this has resulted in the warranty being void despite the block exemptions preventing companies from enforcing vertical agreements such as this.
Thankfully, the respondents to the consultation have agreed that more needs to be done on this area of regulation with the CMA reiterating that consumers should have the right to use independent retailers without the risk of voiding their warranty.
Although the CMA are not adding anything extra into the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Order (MVBEO), they have stated that they will be producing additional and updated guidance to ensure the warranties provided to consumers clearly state that they are able to use independent retailers without losing the benefit of their warranty. This new MVBEO is recommended to be in place until 31 May 2029 and will be reviewed again towards the end of its term.
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