Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/716013
74 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | AUGUST 2016 EQUIPMENT: RIGHT TO REPAIR Tim Blubaugh, EMA vice president, says the MOU has been implemented and is being followed by OEMs that also are required to license this information and the associated tools at "fair and reason- able" prices. "The MOU establishes a workable ap- proach to providing an independent ser- vice provider with access to information they need to repair heavy-duty vehicles properly and safety," says Jed Mandel, EMA president. Mandel says the MOU was devel- oped to address concerns expressed by independent service providers that they have better and timelier access to OEM- controlled information. "The MOU helps ensure that access, thereby eliminating any need for state, provincial or federal regulation," he says. While that may sound like a lot of legal wrangling, the MOU ensures that vehicle owners and independent repair facilities have access to OEM-controlled service information, tools and parts that they need to repair any late-model commercial vehicle at a more market-driven cost. "The truck owner is getting a faster response," says Marc Karon, Commer- cial Vehicle Right to Repair Coalition chairman and president of West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Total Truck Parts. "They also now have an opportunity to shop for better value, better service and better pricing." Beginning the battle When Karon and the CVSN team started to look at how they could unlock then- off-limit service opportunities, they studied how many heavy truck dealer- ships were located in a given state and then approached state legislators with their fi ndings. "It shocked us when we actually laid it out on a map that there are a whole lot of areas where there isn't a dealership within 100 miles of a guy that owns a truck," Karon says. "When these [onboard] com- puters fail, sometimes you can't even drive the truck, so you have to have the truck towed to the dealership, which is a lot of miles to tow them 100, 150 miles." Karon says his West Palm Beach facility is 70 miles from the nearest Detroit dealer in Fort Pierce. "[Prior to the MOU] I would have to have a truck towed to the Detroit dealer, pay them a couple hundred bucks, have it towed back and then stick the customer with a $300-to-$400 tow bill on top of the repair, which may be $50," he says. "Be- cause of the MOU, I can buy that Detroit software and don't have to tow it up to Fort Pierce." To compound the problem of proxim- ity, being forced to remain within the dealer network put more pressure on deal- er-licensed shops already overwhelmed by the amount of work. This meant even more downtime for customers. To add insult to injury, prior to the MOU, drivers who found themselves at a strange dealership with an out-of-warran- ty issue often had even longer wait times. "For the typical trucker, his profi tability is defi ned by how many days he actually works," Karon says. "When his truck is tied up for three or four days, he doesn't make any money." Under the MOU, the aftermarket was granted access to diagnostic information for all vehicles built after model-year 2009 weighing more than 14,000 pounds, including wiring diagrams, information- locating sensors, the ability to refl ash and reset onboard computers, as-built VIN- to-OE part number information, and any Prior to the MOU, being forced to remain within the dealer network put more pressure on dealer-licensed shops already overwhelmed by the amount of work. Technicians now can purchase access and equipment they need to make repairs on newer- model trucks.