Redding and Weikel detail the right to repair agreement their organizations, along with SCRS, have signed and how it will benefit the repair industry and consumers.
On July 11, the Automotive Service Association (ASA), Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation announced they reached an agreement on automotive right to repair that the groups said builds upon previous agreements to assure independent repair facilities have access to service and repair information needed to repair today’s and future vehicles.
In our video interview embedded below, Bob Redding, ASA’s Washington D.C. representative and Wayne Weikel, Vice President, State Affairs for the Alliance, explain to Russell Thrall, publisher and editor-in-chief of CollisionWeek, how the groups worked together to address right to repair concerns, how the agreement will impact the industry, influence efforts on Federal legislation, and provide a framework for resolving future technology issues.
According to Redding, “We’ve never stopped talking, our organizations, over the years since as you know, Russell, 20 plus years on service information and now on data. I would say in the last year or so, we’ve talked a lot about, ‘How do we figure this out?’ Because it’s evolving for every segment of the automotive industry. And these last weeks and months, it’s really come together and we’re just very excited about what we view as a historical time for automotive repairs.”
Wayne Weikel continued, “While this is about right to repair, ASA and SCRS and the Alliance Auto Innovators have worked together on so many issues over the years that this continued collaboration was only natural.”
Explaining how the agreement evolves the agreement that ASA and the Alliance’s predecessor made on service information availability in 2002, more recent agreements and legislative efforts.
“We’ve evolved into really a whole different segment or area from service information to data access and telematics,” said Redding. “This agreement, what I would say from a repairers perspective, is all-inclusive. And we, from an ASA perspective, tried to take what we thought was a very good industry document in ’02 and blow it out to include not just the specifics of data and telematics. But, more importantly, as these technologies evolve, that we’d be prepared where we wouldn’t have to be address data access or any other area of service and maintenance in years to come. It’s all-inclusive, new technologies, and the language we’re very pleased with.”
Weikel addressed how this agreement differs from the 2014 national memorandum of understanding (MOU) that was signed by the Alliance’s predecessors and aftermarket groups following the passage of right to repair in Massachusetts.
“Whereas the MOU that was signed in 2014 was signed between adversaries, this really was an agreement based on a partnership and a focus on what is it that repairers need to be able to fix cars today and what will they need to be able to fix cars tomorrow?” said Weikel. “The important thing, as Bob referenced, it’s not a static agreement. We’re acknowledging that the industry evolves. Technology changes, and as vehicles get more advanced, the repair procedures necessary to fix them can get more advanced. We include a specific pathway so that we can revisit and discuss, so that this stays evergreen and we’re not going to be in a place where it’s unclear what the commitments are and what the obligations are. This makes it a non-issue moving forward.”
“One, within the agreement, we establish a panel made up of the signing entities to meet and talk. And potentially more than just the signing entities. We can open this up to others as necessary so that we can have dialogue about new technologies as they come up,” Weikel continued. “But more importantly, we actually commit to working together to pass this into federal law. So, we’ll get past this idea of every state trying to address this separately and having different laws in different states.”
“We are committed as a group, the three of us, to pushing this within federal law so that this is resolved, that we can move past this and begin to focus on other issues that matter to repairers and to vehicle owners,” said Weikel.
“Wayne brings up a really good point about federal legislation,” said Redding. “We’ve had so many different bills, not just in the auto space but also agriculture, heavy equipment, other areas that to members of Congress, it has become confusing.”
Addressing concerns that have been expressed by groups critical of the agreement that it lacks a legal enforcement mechanism, Weikel explained he believes the voluntary nature of the agreement speaks to the commitment of the signors to work together.
“I think it’s important to understand from just the outset, this is a voluntary agreement. We weren’t compelled to do this. This wasn’t a gun to our head with the threats of additional state legislation or another ballot question. This was entered into by groups that wanted to work together,” said Weikel. “I think that’s an important part when you start thinking about enforcement. We don’t think there will be a need for an enforcement mechanism because this is what our members want to do. This is the commitment to make sure that individual vehicle owners have a wide range of repair options not just today but into the future.”
Weikel also explained that the agreement commits the groups to support federal legislation that would implement the tenets of the agreement.
“This is the first time that auto manufacturers, our members, have stood behind something on the federal level of what it is they can support. For too long, we’ve let other groups, other interested parties define what this issue is and establish that there’s some sort of problem,” said Weikel. “When we go into congressional offices now, we can go in and say, ‘Well, this is the solution that’s supported by repairers and auto manufacturers.’ When you’re talking about coming up with a right to repair solution in the auto space, those are the two parties that you need at the table to make sure that vehicle drivers have what they need.”
Beyond the access to data and diagnostics information, the groups agreed to work together to improve technical information and training.
For ASA and its members, those areas are key pieces of the agreement that go beyond just right to repair issues.
“For us on education and training, it is key, particularly where we’ve got new technologies, EVs, autonomous vehicles, shops are beginning to see much more of the electric vehicles,” said Redding. “Having a relationship with the people that build these cars and working with them on training programs and information about the latest and greatest is really important.”
“I think there’s another aspect to training that’s important: training and education to understand what repair information is out there,” said Weikel. “Throughout the history, the last 10 years, 15 years on this issue, what we’ve seen is a committed and well-financed group of other companies that have been pushing right to repair legislation around the country. And part of their efforts is to convince independent repairers that they won’t be able to fix cars in the future based on vehicle technologies or changing to EVs or other things of that nature. The key to training is making sure repairers know, that they understand exactly where they can get data, how they can get that data, and that that data is available to them. It’s that knowledge that protects them from being misled by special interests that have a completely different agenda other than just fixing vehicles.”
Redding is hopeful that the agreement can help the industry get beyond disagreements over right to repair so that groups like his can work on other issues of importance to their members.
“There are a number of issues we want to be spending time and resources on like electric vehicle training. We have shops in urban areas that are very prepared for the onslaught of electric vehicles. We have some in rural areas that have had very few electric vehicles in their shops and maybe not equipped. That would apply across the country,” said Redding on what issues he is working on for the association.”
Another area of importance for ASA is the technician shortage.
“Whether it’s in our meetings, emails from members, social media, or industry meetings across the country, that [the technician shortage] always comes up in the top one or two messages from members and non-members,” said Redding.
“OEM repair procedures, as you know, it’s still not resolved. We’ve had limited success in that area, but it’s still a problem and needs to be cured. So we’re solidly behind that and have worked for years with the OEMs on that and others like SCRS,” said Redding.
“Finally, an issue that has slipped through the cracks in the mechanical space, but in actuality when you get into it, applies to collision too with post repair inspections, and that’s vehicle safety inspection,” said Redding. “Since the federal government stopped decades ago tying federal highway safety money to state vehicle safety inspection programs in the states, there are very few programs left. 15 today. There’ll be 14 in January 2025 due to Texas losing their program this past [legislative] session. But these are areas, particularly post-repair inspection programs after a collision repair, we’re very interested in pursuing and are working with industry partners on that.”