Service centres and workshops may soon need to obtain a licence to continue operations, as the automotive maintenance and repair service bill is set to be tabled in parliament in March.
According to Berita Harian, minister of domestic trade, cooperatives and consumerism (KPDNKK) Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin said that the laws are intended to assure consumers and protect their interests without neglecting industry players. He said that its enforcement will enable the industry to progress in line with the rapid development of technology whilst protecting consumer rights and interests.
“The ministry will produce a special licence to owners or operators of service centres and workshops,” said Hamzah. “This special licence will only be produced if certain requirements are met, such as employing accredited mechanics. We’ll treat mechanics as doctors, who are given licences according to their specialisation, and who would be committing an offence if they provided services without a valid licence.”
The bill was created after KPDNKK received consumer complaints regarding the service of workshops and service centres. It will also, among others, ensure these businesses operate according to their category and specialisation, said Hamzah.
“The three categories that have been finalised are engine repair, maintenance service and accessories such as tyres, while other categories will be defined in the near future, he said. “The regulations will need to be flexible and will be upgraded from time to time, in line with the ever-changing technologies in the automotive sector. For example, vehicles used to have fewer electronics, but now more and more are using them.
“Hence, when [the bill] is passed in parliament, we will call up service centre and workshop owners and operators to to explain it,” Hamzah said, adding that the ministry is being understanding regarding the change and does not intend to take away their livelihood or to inconvenience them.
“We will provide a timeframe. For those that already have a business, but do not have mechanics or workers with the right accreditation, they would need to send them for certain courses,” he said.
Hamzah said that KPDNKK will take action against those that fail to comply. However, it has yet to decide on the form of punishment, and is still in the discussion process. “Currently, there are around 30,000 workshop operators across the country. The enforcement is expected to raise the level of professionalism of mechanics, on par with other career fields,” he said.
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This is to collect GST from the hundreds of thousands of Bengkel in the country
Konon only they want to maintain standards
What is important is 1.Detailed price list on display2.Cleanliness…someworkshops ,the mechanic wears no shirt with cendol flowing from his nose3.Enforcement by surprise
Somehow many bawah pokok woksyop, mekanik abang more knowledgeable than locar car SC…
Abolish bawah pokok and non-standard ah chong workshop. Don’t even know how to calculate labour charges, don’t even know what is standard flat rate time. Simply charge customers, especially those in desperate.
This would mean hundreds of thousands of mechanics and ketuk uncles will be out of jobs. Where got ketuk uncle with accreditation????
No EV or hybrid owners will allow unaccredited ketuk unkers to ketuk here and there their EV systems. Later car kena KO and the owners kena ketuk harga by these ketuk unkers. So this bill comes at the right time.
Yeah, send your C350e for an hybrid battery replacement at CCB or HSS – you will pay a decent 60K (excluding labour) for peace of mind.
Your so called unkers can do it for less and have more competent workers instead.
Pls also pass a law for all the food mamaks in Malaysia to have culinary and food and beverage skills and licence too. That is also vital
Finally
Also limit how many cars a technician can service in a day. Even among official centers, many of them are taking too many cars in a day and causing bad quality service due to overworking. There should be a huge penalty for workshops that exceed a certain complaints threshold from customers. BMW, VW and Honda service centers, do take note of your low quality service.
Spot on – include Mercedes and Ford authorised service centers into the list.
when GST was introduced the cost for repair and maintenance of cars and motorcycle already increased. Now want to implement only certified mechanics for workshops and licences etc…Workshop owners have nothing to loose. We consumers pay for it…and yes coincidentally the GST also increased proportionately as well la…another menteri punya KPI met to increase the gov’s income.
BRAVO…..
Professionalism is a cost. Even for workshops. Nothing is free in this world.
Cost is king. Everything need to be cheap as possible.
U sure u want the cheapest doctor to work on ur heart?
Gud car no cheap. Cheap car no gud, proton
What BS logic – because of monkeys like you who associate doctors with pricing, hospitals like Assunta and Columbia Asia can charge 5k to 10k for a normal viral flu.
Then those bawah pokok mechanic will go fly kite lah??
thank you gov for making plans to increase the cost of car repair.
Government should follow Singapore which requires all car dealers to remove restrictions on warranties effective 2018.
Car dealers can no longer force customers to service or repair their vehicles exclusively at the respective dealers’ authorised workshops, to ensure that the warranty remains valid.
In the past, such restrictions had deterred car owners from using independent workshops and thus the ability to compete effectively with authorised workshops.
The restrictions also allowed dealers to void warranties if the car had been serviced or repaired previously at an independent workshop.
With the changes, car dealers are only allowed to void warranties or reject claims only if the damage to be claimed under the warranty was in fact caused by the independent workshops.
Mati lah bengkel Ah beng. Macammana bolih dapat lesen.
Used to send my old wira already out of warranty to ah pek workshop. More reliable than any bloodsucking proton service centre. Now can rip off customer even more by suggesting all sort of additives or spare parts from ‘accredited mechanics’ konon (even PhD also can be bought) and no where else to go since all these decent ah pek workshops already closed down.
What about those EXPERIENCE mechnanics without Paper Qualifications.
My own Mechanic is DAMNED good in his diagnostics and repairs. But dont have Paper Qualifications. Already in his Fifties.
Do you expected him to go thru all the paper work, etc ?
This looks like the BIG companies to removed these LOW cost Mechanics.
Looks like the COMMON Rakyat is GOING to SUFFER !!!
new license means more money into gov pocket.
No experience mechanics? send them for courses. Gst is there. Money goes into gov pocket too.
In the end service centres need to pay more and add up fees for labour and parts.
From TVET perspective, it’s the right move. The technicians are skilled workers to be able to deal with car technology nowadays, and should be compensated accordingly based on competency. Accreditation is the way to go.
kinda ‘not smart’ to bill it first before talking to the shop owners.
Actually, government should investigate into shitty design of transmission systems and performance devices of car manufacturers. Some after only 3years exhibit failures. Normally despite warranty these so call 4s or 3s SC companies do not want to honour the warranty. Please make compulsory for each car manufacturer to include repair manual for each car sold. At least the owner would See figures of auto parts n sub parts when referring to warranty guarantees so as not to allow the SC to cheat them. Consumer rights is often neglected!
“licen$ing”.. “certain cour$e$”… and from “approved” (cronified) companies. Another money-grab. Unless they can make sure any qualified company, affialited with any political party or NOT, can certify and give courses.
I actually trust the old, seasoned mechanic than some “certified” pay-money technician.
Have seen similar regulations put in place for my profession, supposedly only “educated” personnel to be licensed to practice. They even implemented a “grandfather clause” where old timers without recognised certification will be given a licence, with the provision that this clause only applies for 5 years after enactment of the law.
Now 20+ years later, there are still unlicensed, unqualified persons practising with impunity. Enforcement carried out can be counted on 1 hand over these 20+ years. But licensed practitioners must renew the license yearly. The law also has not been updated to reflect the increase numbers of overseas universities that conduct this course, hence those that graduate from these new universities are not recognise by this law nor the council responsible for registering, monitoring & enforcement. Local universities are MQA approved but not recognised by overseas government.
In short, this new Auto Maintenance bill will be another law that in theory will regulate the good practice but in reality will be another money making licensing for the gomen. I don’t expect it to make any impact on the improvement of good practice in this profession.
Would this eventually mean no more servicing at authorised dealers is required to keep the warranty? Fair enough?
THANK GOD! Finally, my cries+prayers answered!! Terima kasih, KPDNKK. For 30yrs I hv been ripped off. Cukup lar. Hopefully there will be a standardised schedule of fees & most all, SEVERE penalties for those hardcore unscrupulous workshops mushrooming everywhere.
Your service bill will rise as a result since more red tape is introduce , the G is killing small business owners , so only big franchise can provide services , another ripped off of sme business
Pomen bawah pokok is unaffected by this. U can still go if u so wish, but dun ask him to try diagnose the error code that pops up from ur meter panel. He wud probably dun have the right tools or expertise to do it correctly. And thats what this bill is all about.
Its to ensure those doing servis to every increasing complex cars, have the right capability to perform the job. Something like assurance of servis quality like in other countries.
No doubt it will raise prices for these places, but u get better quality & professional work done and no ripping off u. The most important thing is, the bawah pokok pomen is still there if u cheapskate.
if the primary aim is to lift professional/workmanship standards, have no issues with it. In fact, I think it is timely with EV and autonomous vehicles coming.
Hamzah said – We’ll treat mechanics as doctors by giving licences according to their specialisation.
WOW. I didn’t know KPDNKK are more knowledgeable than john to certifies & accredits too ??!!
U certainly want a certified heart surgeon to treat ur heart instead of run-of-the-mill GP, right? So why…
Yup. In many developed countries, even massage centres must hire certified massagers. So why…
Becoz when they r certified, u get professionals to do the job, a practitioner, that means a certain standards or quality of work. And this is mostly applied to servicing industries (consultants, expertises, even F&B), even lawyer & doctors need to be certified for their practitions. Surely u want a professional to do that surgery, no? So why…
A human anatomy hasn’t changed since the advent of man while a car is like you gf buddy; always changing thru time.
Don’t make apple to orange comparisons and look like an imbecile.
One of they very important aspect is the parts that should be scrutinize as many oem packaging as ori. in fact to the layman like us, one will never know if its ori or not. a layman can change oil filter but if the oil filter is lousy quality, it will cause problem to the engine and the case of mechanic whom also not aware they getting the genuine parts, they would be blame.
many mechanics overcharge by adding those unnecessary items to balloon up the repair cost. for example, if you go to align and balance your wheels, the mechanic will ask you to change valve and change your chamber and change brake pads…. end of the day, a RM80 job will cost you RM500.
many times i will tell these mechanics off right at their face.
Meanwhile at a Mercedes SC – brake pad replacements (4) sums to 3000 while outside workshops do it for 750.
Petronal Syntium 3000 at Mercedes is sold for 602 for 7 litres while it can be purchased outside for 280 for 8 liters.
So who’s the one overcharging huh?
Is time to learn how to DIY.
Minor and periodic maintenance, have to learn from Youtube
Ya most of the people don’t have garage space (some people don’t even have covered car park) or tools. If can afford to have nice garage, the cost of paying someone is not an issue.
Jalalludin has a good point i.e. to collect gst from the thousands of small workshops. Also to collect annual fees from the licencing and income from the crony-organised training courses. For sure a lot of small workshops will close shop. I have stopped sending my cars to the car companies service centres where I have been overcharged like crazy. My neighbourhood ahping workshop though low on cleanliness certainly do a better job in diagnosing and repairs and at a friendly very reasonable cost.
Try bringing an XC90 PHEV to ur ahping and get him to diagnose error code message on the meter panel. I dun think u dare to. U wud prefer a slightly more exp but certified technician to do the job with the right tools, no?
Who are these fellows to dictate whether the mechanic is qualified or not? Are they highly qualified mechanics themselves?
This is long overdue. So many cheating cases. So many steal parts from customers or use stolen parts on customer cars. So many pump out minyak while car left for repair.
Yeah- should start off with the authorised service centers itself. That would cost many of the big ones to close shop.