Right To Repair Bill Deserves Passage
News that GM and Chrysler would close up to 3,000 dealerships across the U.S. in a bid for survival was obviously very bad news for the tens of thousands of workers who will lose their jobs. That vice tightened with GM formally filing bankruptcy on June 1.
But the planned consolidations also throw a wrench at consumers who aren’t buying many new cars these days but whose auto repairs are still highly controlled by car manufacturers through their dealer service shops. If GM and Chrysler fail altogether, who then possesses the diagnostic repair data for your car that these auto giants and other car manufacturers maintain?
Digging The Data
The question comes as manufacturers line up in opposition to pending legislation in Massachusetts that would provide independent auto repairers equal access to computerized diagnostic information.
Mostly unseen by consumers who bring their cars into their neighborhood mechanics for repair is a growing battle over who owns that information and how accessible it ought to be.
Ultimately, the question boils down to whether the owner of that vehicle also owns the rights to the repair data that controls sensors for everything from engine diagnostics to tire pressure to electronics.
Our member repairers, many of whom once worked as lead repair technicians in dealer service shops, are increasingly frustrated because they are not provided access to all of the dealer’s computer codes.
They likely are able to get most of the codes needed to repair the vehicle, but are denied access to the one code that allows them to turn off the sensor light once the job is complete. For that final step of the repair process, the customer must take the car to an authorized dealer.
Like the debate over the fate of the U.S. auto industry, the debate over the so-called Right to Repair legislation hasn’t focused enough on the consumer and how their rights are being ignored.
Do consumers really care who fixes their car — the independent repairer or the dealer repair shop? Not really.
What they care about is far more basic: Who can fix my car so it stops making that noise or flashing that warning light, and at what price?
Historically, independent repair shops win the value debate and the consumer satisfaction question.
A national survey last year by Consumer Reports found that a majority of vehicle owners preferred their own mechanics over dealer mechanics by a healthy margin on the basis of price, outcome and convenience.
The costs for repairs at dealer shops are nearly 35 percent higher, on average, and more than 20 percent higher in Massachusetts compared to their independent counterparts.
But the demise of manufacturers and some 3,000 dealerships — an average of 60 per state — is not a good event for consumers or even independent repairers. Clearly, what is in the consumer’s best interest is for the dealer service shops to survive despite what is happening to manufacturers. That keeps a healthy competition alive in the repair industry and forces dealer shops and independents to compete for business on a level playing field.
That level playing field can only occur with passage of the Right to Repair Bill in Massachusetts.
The independent repairers and the manufacturers can debate their positions indefinitely, but the consumer has the ultimate vote in this debate. They own the car and, by right, should own the information that comes with that car. When they own the information, they can then choose freely in an open market which shop is best qualified to repair the car.
Roger Montbleau owns a family car repair business in Lowell and is president of the New England Service Station & Automotive Repair Association (NESSARA) of Billerica.
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