State Farm has announced that it plans to embark on an initial phase to roll out electronic parts ordering to Select Service repairers starting in May 2013 and continuing into 2014. The initial phase will include major metropolitan areas in Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.
State Farm recently sent this email to shops in areas participating in the market areas where the insurer was piloting its PartsTrader program:
Your participation and feedback throughout the pilot has been valuable and we appreciate your contributions to the development of this program. We are aware that implementing new processes or workflows like this represents change for you, and we appreciate your business relationship with State Farm.
As part of our ongoing efforts to provide you with information about the Select Service program, I would like to inform you about our plans to roll out electronic parts ordering to Select Service repairers. The initial phase will include major metropolitan areas in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. Rollout will start in May and continue into 2014.
An application change that may impact some of your suppliers relates to the elimination of the fax-only option. This will be effective when the initial markets go live in August. If any of your suppliers are participating as fax-only, we recommend you contact them about participating.
As one of the pilot market areas, your continued use of the application remains a requirement under provision 4.f. of the Select Service agreement.
The Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) claims another version of the email that didn’t include the change to eliminate the fax-only option went to other Select Service repair facilities around the country.
"To be clear, PartsTrader offered a ‘fax-only’ option. State Farm, not PartsTrader, is now advising that suppliers and shops are not allowed to use that option presented by the technology company offering the service," said Aaron Schulenburg, executive director of SCRS. "Did State Farm just change the rules of the program? State Farm has said all along that you can use any supplier you want; but based on their decision above, is this an indication that they can change their mind at a future date and instruct both what system to use, and how they expect you to use it?"
BodyShop Business will release more information as it becomes available.
