July 20, 2012—The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Illinois (AASPI) has officially expressed opposition to State Farm Insurance’s parts procurement program through PartsTrader.
AASPI’s board of directors has decided to stand beside several other national, state and regional collision repair associations—such as AASP National and the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS)—who “openly oppose the intrusion of yet another insurer engineered system into the business of collision repair,” AASPI said.
AASPI said both parts vendors and repairers involved with the program have reported additional administrative labor to operate the system, and decreased efficiency waiting for the bidding process.
“Repairers work hard for every dime they get. Over the last two decades profit margins have become thinner as repairers have become more burdened with administrative tasks. Repairers have been taught to do more work for less compensation. With that bit of brainwashing done, PartsTrader and State Farm now expect they can cajole repairers to willingly do even more work for even less money. State Farm and PartsTrader are giving repairers manacles and asking that they be worn proudly as though they are jewelry,” AASPI said. “AASPI encourages its members to wisely consider whether this insurance partnership has instead turned out to be a slave ship.”