March 4, 2014—The Automotive Body Parts Association (ABPA) on Tuesday released a statement expressing opposition and concern over Maryland’s proposed Senate Bill 487 and House Bill 574.
The bills would prohibit insurance companies from requiring the use of alternative collision parts on vehicles that are less than five years old.
Edward Salamy, executive director of the ABPA, said passage of the bill would limit the choices that consumers have obtaining vehicle repairs, eliminate competition and increase insurance costs. He said the bill would give OEMs a monopoly on replacement collision parts for the first several years of a vehicle’s life, and increase the number of vehicles that are deemed total losses.
“The ABPA is not only monitoring the legislation in Maryland, but it has also come to our attention there is similar anti-consumer legislation being introduced in Rhode Island and Michigan,” Salamy said. “Having your vehicle involved in a collision is already a very stressful experience for the consumer. Having a repair association such as WMABA using scare tactics to achieve their own agenda is not in the best interest of the consumer.”
The APBA includes more than 150 members that operate more than 400 collision parts distribution centers in the U.S. The ABPA said its members are responsible for distributing more than 75 percent of the independently-produced aftermarket crash replacement parts that are sold to the collision repair industry.
