DoCA asks automobile industry to ensure robust ecosystem for after-sales service and repairs

The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) on Saturday stressed on the need to foster robust ecosystem for third-party repair services in a meeting with automobile industry stakeholders.

The meeting was held to ensure automobile players onboard onto the Right to Repair Portal India , which provides consumers easy access to information for repairing their products and enabling them to reuse it, thereby contributing to the circular economy as well as reduction of e-waste in a hassle-free manner.

A meeting was convened with industry stakeholders, which was led by Nidhi Khare, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA).

The meeting was attended by representatives of ACMA, SIAM, ATMA, EPIC Foundation, TATA Motors, Mahindra, TVS, Royal Enfield, Reynolds and Bosch, Yamaha Motors India, Honda Car India.

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“In the meeting, it was emphasized that products that cannot be repaired or are subject to planned obsolescence—designed with an artificially limited lifespan—contribute to e-waste and compel consumers to purchase new products due to lack of repair options or extremely expensive repair options for reuse,” an official statement added.

The Ministry said obstacles such as restricted access to tools or repair information should be eliminated.

The Ministry also pointed out concerns about repair services being increasingly constrained due to significant delays in service and absence of repair documentation for vehicles. High repair costs and limited repair options were also discussed.

“A major constraint highlighted was also the lack of availability of genuine spare parts at affordable prices, forcing consumers to purchase counterfeit spare parts from the grey markets,’ the statement added.

Khare emphasized on the need to enhance efforts towards democratization of repair manuals/videos accessible to all, fostering a robust ecosystem for third-party repair services, and establishing standards for them.

She also laid stress on measures such as roadside assistance to consumers on highways and information on the life of the product, easy repair ecosystem, availability of spare parts, detailed manual on self-repair, warranty on different parts among others. T

“All companies were urged to onboard the unified Right to Repair Portal India which facilitates and works as a catalyst for providing relevant repair-associated information to consumers by companies,” the statement added. 

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