Government proposes standalone automotive franchising code

Automotive franchisees and other stakeholder groups have less than a week left to respond to the federal government discussion paper on automotive franchising.

The discussion paper, which considers a series of reforms to the regulation of automotive franchisers, was released on August 10 and the submission deadline is September 13.

It is a consultation process that follows a detailed inquiry conducted by a senate committee on regulating the relationship between car manufacturers and car dealers in Australia.

A series of problems were raised with the committee that arose from a power imbalance that exists between manufacturers and new car dealers.

Key concerns raised by car dealers were that manufacturers did not work with them to find ways for dealers to recoup capital investments, nor did they provide sufficient reimbursement for recall and warranty work.