Cheaper car repairs in France as court slashes manufacturer monopoly on spare parts
Change in ruling means garages now able to source parts from shops that have opened all over the country
There are lower prices of car parts in countries where manufacturers do not have a monopoly on parts
Iryna Inshyna/Shutterstock
Vehicles over a certain age can be repaired using significantly cheaper parts following a new time limit on the original manufacturer’s monopoly on supply.
This now ends after 10 years, rather than 25 previously, according to a ruling from France’s highest court, the Cour de Cassation. It follows a European directive on the matter dating from October 2024.
The change means that garages are now able to source parts from shops that have opened all over the country in anticipation of the ruling.
Savings can be considerable, as an estimate prepared by a Citroën garage in Charente to replace a clutch and bi-mass flywheel combination on a 2006 Citroën C5 shows.
The most expensive part was the bi-mass flywheel, for which Citroën wanted €1221.98, before tax.
Buying the same part from a shop down the road, a network called Barrault which has outlets mainly in the west of France, cost €858,18 before tax – a saving of €363.
The clutch replacement kit, which would have cost €769 through Citroën, was also cheaper at €604.77.
Savings continued down the line: a drive shaft seal which cost €53.72 from Citroën cost €26.90 from the car part store; screws for the flywheel which cost €13.6 from Citroën cost €6.90 from Barrault; and two more seals totalled €38 from Citroën and €31 from the car part store.
The mechanic who prepared the estimates and supervised the repair said the parts were identical. He added that he had never experienced a part sourced from outside the Citroën network fail.
Barrault did not reply when asked how it sourced its parts more cheaply. However, articles in the French motoring press have long pointed to the lower price of car parts in countries where manufacturers do not have a monopoly on parts, as they do in France.
Motoring statistics organisation SRA estimated that prices for spare vehicle parts rose by 29% between 2020 and 2024.
Its figures for August show that 461,837 cars were bought, of which 81% were secondhand. Of these, cars older than 10 years made up 51% of sales.
The high price of car parts is believed to be a factor in the rise of car part theft in France.
Figures released by the interior ministry showed 96,000 incidents were registered with police and gendarmes in 2024, a 4% rise compared to 2023.
Headlights, catalytic converters, wheels and wheel rims were most likely to be stolen.
There has also been an increase in rear seat thefts affecting the Citroën C3, most probably to convert commercial utility versions back to five-seaters, which can then be sold privately as family cars.
