The Quality Parts Coalition (QPC) announced it is taking its consumer education campaign on alternative collision repair parts around the country. The campaign is visiting county fairs and regional fall festivals with stops scheduled in Illinois, New York, Ohio and Texas so far.
The QPC has also launched a petition drive and social media campaign in recent weeks, gathering thousands of signatures and letters from across the country in support of the PARTS Act (Promoting Automotive Repair, Trade and Sales) legislation that was introduced in Congress earlier this year.
According to QPC, industry experts say that roughly 21 percent of vehicle owners do not carry collision insurance and must pay for repairs out of their own pockets. QPC members believe that the lack of competition could make these out-of-pocket repairs more costly.
The PARTS Act (S. 560 and H.R. 1057) is bipartisan legislation that QPC says “preserves fairness and competition in the collision repair marketplace by ensuring that quality, non-branded parts commonly damaged in a collision – including fenders, headlights, hoods and tail lights – are available to consumers. The legislation preserves the choice for consumers between original equipment manufactured parts and high-quality alternative parts when repairing their vehicle after a collision.”
“Most consumers are unaware that, for more than 60 years, the alternative parts industry has been offering collision repair parts that are anywhere between 26 to 50 percent less expensive than car company parts,” said Bob Passmore, a QPC spokesperson.
Passmore said that these alternative or “generic” auto parts are available at more than 40,000 collision repair shops nationwide, and the goal of the campaign is to educate consumers about the choices they have when repairing a car that has been damaged in an accident.
The QPC booth will include several different sets of identical auto parts, one that is an OEM part and one that is an alternative or generic part. Participants will be asked to guess which part is which. Those who play the game will become eligible to win prizes.
