PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Passage of the Motor Vehicle Open Recall Notice and Repair Compensation Act (A4380/S3309) was one of NJ CAR’s priorities this year. This bill, which had considerable bi-partisan support, protects consumers by increasing completion rates on recalled vehicles and ensuring technicians are paid fairly to fix the manufacturers’ mistakes. IMPROVING RECALL COMPLETION RATES Carfax estimates that approximately 58 million vehicles (1.4 million in New Jersey) have at least one unresolved safety or emissions recall. A4380/S3309 aims to improve recall completion rates and enhance highway safety. It requires automakers to do more to inform consumers about vehicles under a safety recall and encourage them to visit a dealership to have the issue repaired, with no out-of-pocket cost to them. The bill also requires automakers to clearly designate any vehicle under recall that is unsafe to drive so that consumers know and dealers can remove these unsafe vehicles from the marketplace until properly repaired. ENSURING FAIR PAY FOR AUTO TECHNICIANS The bill also aims to right a long-standing economic wrong. For 50 years, New Jersey law has required automakers to pay dealers the same retail price a consumer pays for repairs. But they don’t. Automakers have helped themselves to hefty discounts on recall repairs by arbitrarily cutting the cost of a part or the number of hours required to complete a repair once it becomes a recall issue. This is wrong, and it has to stop. Twenty years ago, the New Jersey Legislature devised a first-in-the-nation methodology for calculating the retail price for parts — dealers submitted a sample of 100 sequential, customer‑paid repair orders to the manufacturer. Since then, dozens of states have adopted this methodology. A4380/S3309 expands this fair and objective calculation to also cover the hourly labor rate and labor time, which will strip manufacturers’ ability to control what they pay dealers to fix their mistakes. New York, Wisconsin, and Illinois have already enacted similar legislation, and several other states are considering it. NJ CAR STANDING TO SUE ON BEHALF OF DEALERS There is an imbalance of power between deep-pocked manufacturers and their franchisees. Dealers are often reluctant to challenge their manufacturers when their dealers’ rights are violated. In these situations, dealers turn to advocacy organizations, like NJ CAR, to file legal challenges that individual dealers are unwilling or can’t afford to file on their own. A4380/S3309 ensures that organizations like NJ CAR have the standing to sue, under certain limited circumstances, on behalf of their members. WHAT’S NEXT? The bill was unanimously voted out of the Assembly Transportation Committee in March and awaits hearings in the Assembly Appropriations and the Senate Transportation committees. NJ CAR is working hard to make sure A4380/S3309 is passed to improve recall completion rates, enhance highway safety, and ensure small business auto dealers and vehicle technicians in New Jersey are paid fairly for warranty and recall work. BY LAURA PERROTTA, PRESIDENT, NJ CAR NJ CAR-Backed Bill Benefits Consumers and Protects Hard‑Working Technicians 7 NEW JERSEY auto retailer
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