The launch of a new customer information parts and services website by Peugeot could signal the start of greater access to a freer flow of technical information in line with the new block exemption changes.

But the new website, INFOTEC, which is scheduled to go live in the UK later this month, could also represent a major public relations challenge to the service and repair. For repair time schedules, and other sensitive business information which would previously have been out of the public domain, will now be brought into it. Customers will be able to find out how long repairs should take – and what they cost.

“There will be no way that we will be able to differentiate between a member of the public who wants this information and a bona fide repairer,” says a Peugeot spokesman, who adds that the core technical information – which has up to now been chargeable to the industry – will be contained on a special extranet section on the site. But provided that person pays the subscription – and it will be on a pay-by-the-hour basis – anybody can access the information, including independent repairers.

MVRA managing director Mike Monaghan says: “Any initiative of this kind that makes information more widely available to repairers and the consumer has got to be a good thing.”

The site – www.public.infotec. peugeot.com – will also include information on replacement parts, repair methods, operating instructions and vehicle maintenance.