While drivers are angry at the high cost of car parts across Europe, major auto brands have bought a complex software showing how to raise prices on spares.

Between 2008 and 2013, global consulting firm Accenture worked for five big auto manufacturers, with software indicating how to increase prices by up to 25 per cent on their captive spare parts, which are design-protected.

This is revealed by confidential documents from Accenture, obtained by French online newspaper Mediapart and analyzed by The Black Sea and its partners in the media network European Investigative Collaborations, in collaboration with Reuters and De Standaard.

Our investigation shows that the Accenture software called Partneo, designed for Renault (owner of the Romanian brand Dacia), was also used by Nissan, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Chrysler and Jaguar-Land Rover. Their total gains from the price changes amount to at least 2.6 billion Euro, financed by consumers looking to repair their motors - and paying a hefty price.

This operation raises serious legal issues. The confidential documents obtained by EIC have been filed in a civil lawsuit in front of the Paris Commercial Court by the inventor of the software, Laurent Boutboul, who sold his company to Accenture in 2010.

Boutboul's allegations include the claim that the system has been used to coordinate price increases in spare parts between different car brands, in violation of competition rules.

Renault distributes around one million parts and accessories to 160 countries every day, and sells both new and reconditioned parts.

The group is especially active in eastern Europe, employing 12,000 centred on the Dacia factory in Mioveni in Romania, and 6,400 in Turkey, where it makes the Clio 4. In Russia, the group now owns the leading automaker Avtovaz, with the Lada brand.

In response, the group argued: “Renault strives to provide its customers with a wide variety of quality spare parts, the amount of which is calculated based on parameters that Renault considers fair and equitable.”

After its success with a few big names in auto, Accenture tried to sell the Partneo software to 31 of the top car brands in Europe, Asia and the USA. The consulting firm informed these leaders that several important competitors had already raised their prices between ten and 20 per cent thanks to its software, and proposed they could also benefit.

This means that Accenture seems to have informed the industry that a signifiant price increase was underway and created an incentive to follow the trend.

Accenture hit back at the anti-competitive allegations in a statement, declaring that it considers Boutboul’s accusations are “unfounded”, and that “the Competition Authority in France found that the evidence presented did not justify any further action.”