Oct. 24, 2013—The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Pennsylvania (AASP-PA) released a statement Wednesday stating its opposition to insurer-mandated parts procurement programs saying, “the free market of automotive parts sales in the Pennsylvania collision repair industry is best left in the hands of the professional repairers across the state.”
The statement goes on to say that insurer-mandated programs are detrimental to the long-term viability of the state’s 2,000 collision repair businesses and “will have a negative impact on the overall efficiency of the parts process for the consumer.”
AASP-PA stated its belief that vendor relationships will suffer from these programs, having a direct, negative effect on a repair business’s cash flow, profitability and consumer relationships.
“The long-term vendor relationship plays an important part in the successful operation of the business. Through negotiated volume pricing, service expectations, and quality of parts those relationship are the basis of a sound business,” the statement said.
The AASP-PA fully supports industry programs that improve the efficiency of repair shops, the statement said, but the decision of how best to repair a customer’s vehicle and what parts are best suited for the job should be left to the experts in that area, the collision repairer: “Ultimately, due to the negative impacts on the collision repair business and the consumer from increased cycle-times and lost efficiency and profitability caused by such insurer mandated parts programs, the AASP-PA officially opposes any such program being forced on the collision repair shops in Pennsylvania.”
