California Senate Bill 1059, which would have made it unlawful for any
insurer to require the installation of an aftermarket part for the
first three years of the vehicle’s life as well as restrict the ability
of insurers to replace a part with a lower priced replacement part
during this same three-year period, has been defeated.
A large coalition including the California Automotive Wholesalers’
Association (CAWA), Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA),
Coalition for Automotive Repair Equality, LKQ/Keystone, California
Retailers Association, AAA, the insurance industry and others worked
together to lobby against S.B. 1059.
"The California State Senate clearly understands that S.B. 1059 is bad
for California consumers," said Rodney Pierini, president and CEO of
CAWA. "Given the soaring costs of fuel and increasing costs of everyday
goods and services, consumers deserve options from both the high costs
of original equipment parts as well as increased insurance premiums.
Insurers being forced to approve only one sourced, high-priced part
when the same or better quality aftermarket part is available and
backed by long-term or lifetime warranties is a lose-lose for
consumers."
According to CAWA, aftermarket replacement parts are in most cases
manufactured by the same companies that manufacture the car company
parts, and the only difference can be the box they’re marketed in and
the price of the parts. CAWA also claims that aftermarket parts are
identical or even more improved parts that come with long-term or
lifetime warranties and cost up to 50 percent less than the identical
car company part.
"Aftermarket businesses and their employees should be extremely proud
of this accomplishment," said Aaron Lowe, vice president of government
affairs for AAIA. "Working together, there’s no stopping the automotive
aftermarket when faced with constant ploys by the car companies and
others to restrict our ability to serve our customers, offer affordable
and quality automotive replacement parts and remain competitive in the
marketplace."
The Collision Repair Association of California (CRA), which backed
the bill, was disappointed in its defeat but wasn’t ready to call it a
total loss.
"The CRA as a whole was quite successful at the previous
committee and judicial hearings," said Lee Amaradio Jr., CRA member and
owner of Faith Quality Auto Body Inc. in Murrieta, Calif. "We’ve been
able to draw attention to
many other issues and are gaining the recognition in Sacramento that
wasn’t there in the past."
"The insurance companies are presently leading people blindly and
selling policies that are misleading," Amaradio added. "And while I
agree that there are many great aftermarket radiators and condensers
out in today’s market, there are also many poor quality parts that only
mimic the OEMs’ quality. We still have a warranty issue with consumers,
and the federal warranty act doesn’t cover them in this situation when
an aftermarket part fails and causes residual damage.
"We’ll continue to move forward and build on the positive things
we’ve learned, and we’ll work as an industry to support those Senators
who have supported us. I would like to thank Sen. Migden for all of her
efforts to get this bill started. Once again, the lobbyists were out
with a large force and were able to sway the vote in their direction by
using misinformation as to what the bill contained."
CRA lobbyist Richard Steffen added his own take on the defeat: "Our
main argument was that consumers have a right to know what is and is
not in their vehicle insurance policies. The leading consumer groups
(Consumers Union and Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety) in the
nation supported S.B. 1059. The opposition never commented on a
consumer’s right to know. Now, this opposition is public record and, in
my opinion, will serve as proof that insurers are doing a disservice to
their customers when they keep the use of factory or aftermarket parts
a secret. Eventually, public policy will be shaped to provide consumers
with more information about their policies."
