- No rules broken
- No charges to answer
- UK car market is open and transparent
The Office of Fair Trading today confirmed that the UK car
market is operating in a fair and transparent way in accordance with the Supply
of New Car Orders 2000. After a year long investigation John Vickers, the director
general of fair trading said, ‘None of the suppliers investigated had discriminated
unfairly between fleet and dealer discounts for the purchase of new cars.’
SMMT chief executive Christopher Macgowan commented, ‘The investigation
proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that the market is operating in a competitive
and fair way and we are delighted that the OFT has made this view public.
‘In the days before the publication of the draft rules on
Block Exemption, car buyers should be heartened to know that after rigorous
examination the industry has been shown to be operating in an open and transparent
manner.’
The OFT investigation focussed on car suppliers following
complaints from the National Franchised Dealers Association and the Consumers’
Association. On every count the OFT agreed with the industry that there was
no case to answer.
ENDS
