Oklahoma Introduces 'Right to Repair Act,' ASA Tries to Kill Pro-Consumer/Pro-Aftermarket Bill by Misrepresenting Legislation to Its Membership, States CARE

    ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "In its zeal to
 kill a pro-motoring consumer/pro-small business bill in Oklahoma, and to
 seal its relationship with the car companies, the Automotive Service
 Association (ASA) has misrepresented the recently introduced Motor Vehicle
 Owners' Right to Repair Act to its Oklahoma membership, wrongly stating
 that the Right to Repair Act will "depend on a state government agency and
 the Oklahoma court system to assist repairers in acquiring automotive
 service information," stated David Parde, president, the Coalition for Auto
 Repair Equality (CARE).
     "ASA has contradicted itself in its own press release, dated January
 30, 2007, and has inadvertently made the argument FOR passage of the Motor
 Vehicle Owners' Right to Repair Act, HB 1584. The legislation only mandates
 court action by consumers or repair facilities if the car companies do not
 release the entire necessary repair information to the vehicle owners and
 repair shops. Does ASA believe that the car companies allegedly plan not to
 comply once the bill becomes law, forcing consumers and shops to go to
 court? The state agency with jurisdiction is the Oklahoma Motor Vehicle
 Commission.
     "Falling back on its association with the car companies' clearinghouse
 called the National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF), ASA states in
 its release that they are 'working through the voluntary National
 Automotive Service Task Force to assure repairers timely service
 information via the automaker web sites.'
     "However, ASA member Steve Brotherton, who testified in Congress
 against the Right to Repair Act and for NASTF, has now publicly stated that
 NASTF doesn't work and never will.
     "NASTF is car company founded, funded and monitored. It's the classic
 fox watching over the chicken coup," stated Parde.
     The Motor Vehicle Owners' Right to Repair Act, HB 1584, allows
 motorists to choose where, how and by whom to have their vehicles repaired,
 whose parts they wish to purchase, even work on their vehicles themselves.
 Known by the abbreviated title of the "Right to Repair Act," the
 legislation protects car companies' proprietary information while allowing
 consumer choice.
     Sponsored by State Rep. Lucky Lamons (D-Tulsa), the legislation answers
 the needs of motoring consumers who more and more find themselves turned
 away from their repair shop of choice and told to return to the car
 dealership. The bill is a win-win for Oklahoma's motoring consumers, the
 nearly 3,000 Oklahoma aftermarket shops, the Oklahoma economy and jobs, and
 the environment.
     "ASA is the only aftermarket association who broke with its aftermarket
 brothers and sided with the car companies on the Right to Repair Act. ASA
 is committing a disservice to its membership by not helping them to obtain
 all of the necessary repair information, and it's doing an even bigger
 disservice to its membership by misrepresenting the legislation," concluded
 Parde.
     The national Motor Vehicle Owners' Right to Repair Act, HR 2048, passed
 its first hurdle in May 2006, in the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and
 Consumer Protection. Due to the congressional calendar the bill didn't move
 into the next phase. The national "Right to Repair Act" will be
 reintroduced in this Congress.
 
 

SOURCE Coalition for Auto Repair Equality