It seems that car manufacturers in Europe have been keen to create their own individual Monopoly Areas and have colluded by drivers means to restrict repair, maintenance and supply of parts to their own individual channels. The object being to force Joe Public to purchase new cars from and to take his/her car only to franchise dealers for repair etc. As the car makers have forced franchise dealers to invest in very grand premises at the dealers cost, that has to be paid for and emerges in the hourly rates, parts costs etc that Joe Public has to pay. Relief from much of this was achieved in the UK but I understand that some of it may be re-introduced in 2010 if carmakers have their way. (Fronted of course by their lobbying of our dear friends in Brussels). The carmakers are not strangers to the art of obfuscation either. Forget any idea you may have had of trying to set up in business maintaining/repairing cars unless you have lots of money saved. Why? Because the car makers have set about making their cars so complicated that a huge investment in electronic and diagnostic gadgetry is required plus the cost of annual up-grades and of course, the magic boxes to house it all. This puts the small independent garage at an enormous financial disadvantage and I suppose they will all quietly expire as a result. This brings us in sight of the end-game: MONOPOLY. Monopoly means high prices, expedited scrapping of older cars because of the cost to maintain and a premature visit to the car sales department. What say you?