A second major senior citizens group steered its support towards The Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act of 2005, according to David Parde, president of the Coalition for Auto Repair Equality (CARE). He said, « We’re pleased that RetireSafe with its 367,000 members nationwide has joined the growing list of consumer and business groups supporting the Right to Repair Act. »
In a letter to each U.S. Representative, RetireSafe called the bill one of a few consumer bills ever as critical to seniors. Michelle Plasari, vice president, RetireSafe, said, « Most are on fixed incomes, and few can afford to be trapped in a car dealer monopoly for their vehicle repairs. Older Americans need the availability and the affordability of independent repair shops. H.R. 2048, the Barton-Towns-Issa Bill, will ensure that seniors, and all Americans, have the right and the ability to get their automobiles fixed where they choose, not where the carmakers want to force them to go. »
H.R. 2048 is sponsored by Reps. Joe Barton, Edolphus Towns, Darrell Issa, and 65 additional House cosponsors. A hearing is scheduled Thursday, Nov. 10, before the House subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.
RetireSafe joins another major senior citizens organization, 60 Plus Association, and other consumer and business groups such as American Automobile Association (AAA), National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), The National Grange and others in support of the bill.
Says Plasari, « We are in favor of the bill which allows the independent repair shops, the backbone of vehicle maintenance in communities across America, to access the technical information necessary to make those needed car repairs. H.R. 2048 will save motorists from the disastrous plight they now face -– highly computerized autos, growing daily more technical, more and more critical information withheld from the neighborhood independents, fewer repair options, and ever more expensive car dealers, making repairs unavailable, unaffordable, or both. »
Plasari explained that independent repair shops can’t stay open if they can’t access the technical information they need to make repairs. « Meanwhile, » she said, « the carmakers are busily creating repair monopolies for their car dealers, handing them the business they might otherwise lose due to the convenience, better service, and better price that many of the independents provide through their spirited competition. »
RetireSafe called on the members of congress to « enact the bill before it’s too late. »
The legislation’s intent is to provide equal access — among independent repair shops and manufacturer’s franchised dealerships — to automotive repair information. Parde and other supporters have repeatedly stated that « the Right to Repair Act is as American as apple pie and that motoring consumers have a right in a free-market society to choose where, how and by whom to have their vehicles repaired, whose parts they wish to purchase, even work on their vehicles themselves. »
CARE is a national organization representing companies in the five million people strong automotive aftermarket, among them: NAPA, Midas, CARQUEST, AutoZone, Advance Auto, Jiffy Lube, O’Reilly’s Auto Parts and CSK Auto (parent company of Checker, Schucks, Kragen).
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