State
Farm has announced that it is expanding its electronic parts ordering
pilot to Chicago on Sept. 17, but the application will not be actively
used by repairers until December 2012. All 450 Select Service shops in
the Chicago metro area will be included in the pilot.
"The
Chicago market will allow us to scale the program and the technology in a
larger metropolitan area," said State Farm spokesperson Dick Luedke.
The
Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Illinois (AASPI) is trying
to organize a meeting to discuss the possible ramifications of such a
program. Interested parties should click HERE.
"We’re hoping we can get dealers to carry flyers [about the meeting] to all
Chicago shops, rather than just AASPI members," said AASPI.
"Hopefully we can get a buzz up and a meeting, and also have SCRS
Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg come and tell the same story he’s
told in every other meeting."
In a statement released industry-wide,
the Auto Body Association of Connecticut called the parts program a
"wolf in sheep’s clothing" and that the only two entities that will
profit from it are State Farm and PartsTrader.
State Farm just released a bulletin
to its Select Service shops to answer the most commonly asked questions
among shops and to clear up what it believes are "inaccuracies."
More information:
State Farm Releases Update on Electronic Parts Ordering to Select Service Shops
Auto Body Association of Connecticut Releases Position Statement on PartsTrader
