Vehicle information specialists Autodata have become the victims of counterfeiting.
The company was recently contacted by a car manufacturer following a complaint made by a customer.
The customer was furious when he was faced with a repair bill for £3,500 for an engine re-build, after the garage who had recently serviced his vehicle neglected to inspect a vital component which lead to a catastrophic failure.
The garage was then discovered to have been using a counterfeit Autodata CD to acquire the vehicle information.
Autodata has said that it aims to make sure none of its data CDs fall into the wrong hands. But the fact remains that some workshops could potentially be using counterfeit CDs.
An Autodata spokesperson said: “We are concerned that the general public may not be aware that a workshop could be using out of date and counterfeit information to service their vehicles. We are working hard to ensure that all the relevant agencies, repair standards, and enforcement bodies are aware of the safety and cost issues associated with using counterfeit software.
“Independents must also be aware that if they are offered technical information from a suspicious or unlicensed source and it seems too good to be true then it probably is, as the Warwickshire workshop found out by having to cover the repair itself rather than risk potential court action against it.â€
Can only guess that the vital component missed must have been a timing belt if the damage was £3,500 worth!
OUCH!
That said – some of the servicing schedules are now quite confusing to understand with time, mileage, variable, fixed, etc etc segments to identify. Long gone are the days of the small, medium & major services and good ridance! Unless you’re a fast-fit centre….!
Chris Meredith
ABP Motorsport