Companion bills S.B. 204 and H.B. 364 were introduced in the Ohio Legislature to address the evolution the automobile industry has undergone over the past 30 years and provide reasonable compensation to a dealer to recoup investment should a manufacturer’s actions cause the franchise to lose value. However, independent repairers fear that provisions in the bills regarding OEM parts and reimbursements for warranty and recall repairs could eliminate their access to OEM parts and ability to perform repairs.
The Automotive Service Association of Ohio (ASA-Ohio) says it is attempting to work with legislators to change the following provisions in the bills:
• A prohibition to provide reimbursement to any non-franchised individual or entity for labor and parts used to fulfill warranty and recall work
• A prohibition to directly sell, distribute or otherwise make available to any non-franchised individual or entity any OEM motor vehicle parts, accessories or other commodities that would otherwise be sold by a franchised dealer.
ASA-Ohio says that although the primary intention of the bills – to protect auto dealers’ agreements with manufacturers – is good, these provisions threaten to outlaw the sale of OEM parts to non-franchised facilities and put thousands of jobs and businesses at risk.
“These restrictive provisions will not only harm all of Ohio’s hard-working independent repair facilities, but more importantly, Ohio’s consumers will be severely limited on where they can take their vehicle for repair,” said ASA-Ohio President Joe Sanfillipo III.
More information:
View a bill summary provided by ASA-Ohio
