Inside the 'Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair Act,' or the 'REPAIR Act'

(NOTE:  This is a "live" webcast that will begin at 10:00 a.m. Eastern on March 21, 2022. It will be available for viewing during and immediately after the webinar has ended).

Today’s vehicles are the most technologically advanced ever built – and getting more so every model year. It takes information, tooling, and access to the vehicle systems to ensure we can best serve our customers. But concerns over cybersecurity and other issues are causing the OEMs to once again limit our access to the resources we need.

Earlier this year, U.S. Representative Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), a senior member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, introduced the Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair (REPAIR) Act (H.R. 6570). This legislation would preserve consumer access to high quality, affordable vehicle repair by ensuring that vehicle owners and independent repair shops have equal access to repair and maintenance tools and data as car companies and licensed dealerships.

According to Rush, "Americans should not be forced to bring their cars to more costly and inconvenient dealerships for repairs when independent auto repair shops are often cheaper and far more accessible. But as cars become more advanced, manufacturers are getting sole access to important vehicle data while independent repair shops are increasingly locked out. The status quo for auto repair is not tenable, and it is getting worse. If the monopoly on vehicle repair data continues, it would affect nearly 860,000 blue-collar workers and 274,000 service facilities.”

But we, as an industry, have been here before. Remember the Massachusetts "Right To Repair Act"? Will this bill actually address the needs of the consumer and the automotive aftermarket?

Join host Pete Meier (Motor Age) and his special guests, Bill Hanvey, MAAP, president and CEO of the Auto Care Association, and Paul McCarthy, President, and COO of the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA) as the real-world implications of this pending legislation is discussed.