The Automotive Service Association of Arizona (ASA AZ) hosted a town hall meeting in Phoenix June 6 to discuss the PartsTrader parts procurement program. Approximately 125 State Farm Select Service shops are currently piloting the program in four test markets around the country.
Like this article? Sign up to receive our weekly news blasts here.In attendance were 109 representatives of collision repair shops, dealership parts departments,recyclers and suppliers of the industry from all over Arizona. The Arizona Attorney General's office and the Department of Insurance were invited to attend but both declined.
Attorney David Wattel, a founding member of the law firm Wattel & York, briefly spoke on his support of consumer rights. David Priest, Parts Director for Brown & Brown Chevrolet in Mesa, talked about his company's experiences with PartsTrader. Brown and Brown is the largest General Motors parts distributor in the southwest and sells a large quantity of parts in the Tucson market, one of the areas State Farm chose to pilot the program.
"We were not able to find any benefit that PartsTrader provided to either our parts department or the shops that we do business with every day," Priest said. Brown and Brown dropped the program several weeks ago due to the inefficiencies it created in both their business and in that of its collision repair customers.
Attendees were invited to offer their opinion as to the effect PartsTrader is likely to have on the collision and parts industries. Overwhelmingly, those who spoke said that insurers should not be involved in any way with the parts purchasing process and to allow this would be bad for both collision repair shops and parts vendors alike.
A common sentiment shared was that the relationships and trust between vendors and repairers would not exist under this program. Furthermore, nobody seemed to be able to find any benefits for the consumers or repairer other than State Farm and, of course, PartsTrader. Some felt that if PartsTrader is implemented, it is only a matter of time that other aspects of the repair such as paint material purchasing would also be affected.
Luz Rubio, Executive Director for ASA AZ, invited everyone to submit questions and comments that will be compiled and sent to Denise Caspersen, Manager of ASA National Collision Division.
"It was great to see so many attend", said Rubio. "There were a lot of questions and comments throughout the evening. And the feedback I have received about the meeting itself, from those in attendance, has all been positive."
ASA Arizona will issue a position statement in the near future that it will take on behalf of its membership.
For additional information about ASA visit www.asaaz.org.
Read the recent release from ASA National: ASA Calls on State Farm to Prove Benefit of Pilot Program from Repairer Perspective .
