Evidence of oligopolistic collusion? In recent years there have been repeated allegations that British consumers are paying much higher prices than their European counterparts on a wide range of goods. The car industry, the large supermarket chains and the banks have all been charged with 'ripping off' the consumer. Such was the level of concern that all three industries were referred to the Competition Commission, one of the predecessors of the Competition and Markets Authority (see section 14.1 in the textbook) at the turn of the twenty-first century. In this case study we consider what has happened following those referrals. Car industry The clearest evidence of anti-competitive pricing behaviour in the UK car industry came with the admission by Volvo in July 1999 that it had entered secret agreements to keep British car prices high. This appeared to be just the tip of an iceberg, with car manufacturers fixing prices through the system of selective and exclusive distribution (SED). In other words, manufacturers would only supply through 'official' dealers who would sell at the list price (or at small agreed 'discounts')