Right to Repair Legislated in the Automotive Industry
The Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme is a groundbreaking new law that has far-reaching implications for Aussie car owners.
It is now illegal for car companies to withhold information from qualified independent mechanics. The service and repair information that car manufacturers share with their own dealership network must also be made available to independent repairers.
What this means for car owners
Consumers are the ultimate winners. The legislation enshrines consumers’ rights to choose who repairs their vehicles, by ensuring that all technicians have access to the information they need to safely and effectively carry out their work.
This will increase competition and choice about where you can have your car serviced and repaired, keeping the cost of replacement parts, vehicle maintenance and repair affordable.
The old days of mechanics using workshop manuals and tinkering with a spanner have long gone. A typical car today contains about 2,000 components, 30,000 parts, and 10 million lines of software code.
Former ACCC Chair Rod Sims said “[the Scheme] enables motorists to shop around for the repairer that offers the best price, service and convenience, knowing they will all have access to the information needed to complete the servicing or repair.”

Manufacturers and authorised dealers generally earn higher profit margins from the sale of parts and servicing than from new car sales:
“Previously, only car manufacturers and their affiliated repairers could be confident of getting access to important service and repair information, preventing many independent repairers from competing fairly for car servicing and repair work. This created additional costs for consumers, as well as inconvenience and delays,” Rod Sims said.
How the laws will be upheld
The new scheme will be monitored for compliance by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The day-to-day operations of the Scheme are being overseen by the Australian Automotive Service and Repair Authority (AASRA), an industry-led body established and run by representatives of the key industry stakeholders: the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association, the Motor Trades Association of Australia, the Australian Automotive Dealers Association and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. AASRA will be responsible for operations such as managing an information sharing portal, the dispute resolution process, and reporting on the Scheme to government.
Various protections enshrined in the legislation ensure that information is only provided to professional technicians for appropriate purposes. All technicians requesting information from manufacturers must prove their connection to genuine automotive businesses, and information involving vehicle security systems can only be accessed by fit and proper persons who undergo a national police check. Technicians accessing information for the repair of electric, hydrogen or other high voltage vehicles must also have completed appropriate safety training to ensure they are qualified to safely work on these vehicles.
Importantly, a maximum penalty of $10 million for a body corporate and $500,000 for an individual will be imposed in circumstances where data providers fail to comply with the new law.
What’s next?
This legislation is a significant step towards promoting consumers’ rights across a range of products in Australia and abroad. Given the international and domestic interest, the Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme can provide a platform and a model for other right to repair campaigns.
The next to benefit in the right-to-repair fight could be those in the agricultural field. Increasingly tractors and other sophisticated farm machinery are only supported by the manufacturer. The ACCC has recognised this issue and recommended that agricultural equipment be rolled into future data-sharing schemes relating to the motor vehicle industry – and it has also highlighted it for inclusion in broader right-to-repair legislation.
What’s happening with the Right to Repair in Australia?
After a 12-month inquiry, the Australian Productivity Commission handed down its Right to Repair report in December 2021. The report found that there are significant and unnecessary barriers to repair for some products and proposed a suite of measures that aim to enhance consumers’ right to repair. Read more here.
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