Tangled up in the Auto Body Association of Rhode Island’s campaign against insurance company repair programs is the debate over whether replacement auto parts, which are made by a company other than the original equipment manufacturer are safe.
The 70 member statewide trade association is launching a public relations campaign this fall, designed to educate consumers about their rights when it comes to having vehicle repairs done after a collision. Some ABARI members, who run independent shops, fear that the growing popularity of insurance company direct repair programs in Rhode Island could harm their businesses, if consumers believe they can only have their vehicles repaired at shops that are affiliated with their auto insurer.
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One point of contention in ABARI’s campaign is the fact insurance companies frequently prefer that the less expensive after-market parts be used to replace damaged vehicle parts. (A story on ABARI’s campaign ran in the Sept. 14 1998 issue of Providence Business News.)
After-market parts aren’t crash tested and often don’t fit the vehicle properly, which could jeopardize driver and passenger safety in subsequent accidents, according to John DiCola, ABARI’s president and co-owner of J. Ulbin’s Collision Service Center in Johnston.
“These parts are designed to bend or twist in a certain area,” DiCola said.
Rhode Island actually has a relatively tough law, which prohibits auto body shops from using non-original equipment manufacturer (OEM), or after-market, parts in vehicles that need repairs within 30 months of the manufacturing date. It was passed in 1987 with backing from ABARI.
In addition some auto makers have established policies that affect warranty coverage if after-market parts are used and later cause damage to other parts. Federal law, however, prohibits car manufacturers from nullifying warranties if generic parts are used, according to Jack Gillis, executive director of the Certified Automotive Parts Association in Washington, D.C.
Claims officials from some auto insurance carriers, however, contend there’s nothing wrong with after-market parts, which are less expensive than OEM parts and minimize repair costs.
In 1987 some insurance companies founded CAPA, which Gillis said is a nonprofit, third party, independent certification program that inspects sheet metal and plastic parts. The idea was to have some way of determining whether parts are substandard or not, he explained.
As for ABARI’s argument that after-market parts aren’t crash tested, Gillis said: “There are no federal motor vehicle safety laws whatsoever for crash parts. These parts have no significant safety ramifications. What’s particularly ironic is the fact that, if for some reason they were safety related and the result of using them would be to increase injury or death to the driver or occupants in the car, the people that would be paying that price would be the insurance companies. The argument doesn’t even make economic sense.”
After-market auto body parts came into use about 15 years ago, but a rift developed between repairers and insurers, when insurance companies wouldn’t pay original equipment prices for generic parts, according to Gillis. At that point, he said, repair shops across the country became more critical of after-market parts.
Larry Alan, director of government relations in New England for Nationwide Insurance, said laws prohibiting after-market parts are “anti-consumer.”
“There’s no reason why we should not be able to use those if they meet the standards,” said Alan. “All that’s involved in the premium you pay.”
“This is one of those areas where the insurance companies and consumers are on the same side. The primary problem is that when there is a monopoly on any parts, consumers get gouged,” said Gillis, who also serves as director of public affairs for the Consumer Federation of American.
Generic parts have long been used to replace mechanical parts, such as batteries and spark plugs, while “competition for (auto) body parts is relatively new,” Gillis said.
“I don’t think you compare a battery to a hood and the hood mount and brackets,” said Ken Roberts, vice president of communications for the Automotive Service Association in Bedford, Texas.
“If your car doesn’t start, that’s very inconvenient but go down the highway and have your hood fly off and you are in danger.”
ASA is a nonprofit trade association that represents about 13,500 garages across the country, more than half its collision repair shops are affiliated with insurance company repair programs.
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n March of this year, ASA withdrew its support for CAPA, “because we believe the quality of after-market parts is so inferior that their monitoring is also inferior,” Roberts said.
“They never really did support CAPA,” said Gillis, calling ASA’s decision an “economically driven” decision.
