The Automotive Service Association of Michigan (ASA-Michigan) recently held a well-attended Collision Repair Forum in Lansing, Mich., regarding State Farm’s PartsTrader rollout and most favored nation (MFN) clauses.
ASA-Michigan’s board voted to pursue efforts to stop the use of some insurer mandates, specifically State Farm’s PartsTrader program and MFN clauses in their state. Michigan has already banned the use of MFN clauses by health insurers.
"Our board has heard from collision repairers all over the state asking our association to work with policymakers to stop the use of MFN clauses and the mandate of the State Farm PartsTrader program in Michigan," said Ray Fisher, president of ASA-Michigan. "In addition, the Michigan board immediately updated its position statement from 2002, which addressed open platforms for estimating to be all-inclusive: ASA-Michigan has always believed in a free market business environment for the automotive service repair industry. ASA-Michigan condemns any mandates made by an insurance company that impact the freedom of choice by a licensed automotive repair facility when servicing their customer.”
Added Dan Risley, ASA executive director, “Collision repairers in Michigan have echoed what ASA is hearing in other states – that the State Farm PartsTrader program and most favored nation clauses are two insurer mandates that go too far. ASA saw this same collision repairer reaction with insurer-owned shops several years ago and we witnessed it again at the ASA-Michigan meeting. There are boundaries in protecting your business, and these two insurer mandates cross those boundaries.”
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