Northborough Patch: Local Mechanic Talks About Right to Repair

‘Right to Repair’ Measure Moves Closer to Ballot
A Northborough mechanic talks about the Right to Repair bill, one of four initiatives OKed by the Sec. of State this week.
By Charlene Arsenault

Last week, a customer brought a Mercedes in to East Main Auto in Northborough. It had a problem with its transmission. East Main specializes in Mercedes repair, but owner Kenny Giles was forced to bring the car to a Mercedes dealership to buy the appropriate part.
“Mercedes wouldn’t release the part, because we’re not a Mercedes dealership,” said Giles.
It took the mechanic an extra day to fix the car, and probably cost a little bit more money.
It happens a lot with new cars. Independent dealerships aren’t given the software, diagnostic tools or parts needed to fix certain cars so owners are forced to return to the dealership for repair.
This week, Secretary of State William Galvin gave the OK to the House Clerk to proceed with Right to Repair initiative, a question proposed for the 2012 election ballot. The initiative is one of four that Galvin certified has enough signatures (more than 68,911) from registered voters to proceed, according to The Boston Herald.
The Right to Repair legislation, according to Massachusetts Right to Repair, “would give every technician—not just dealers—access to the same information, so you can get your car fixed where you want to, saving $300-$500.” As it stands, say advocates for the new leglsation, certain diagnostic equipment, information and tools are reserved for the manufacturer of the car, forcing the car owner to go to the dealer, rather than his or her chosen mechanic, when there is a problem.
Giles said the laws, as they stand, vary according to the maker, but in most circumstances, much of the software needed to diagnose a problem in a new car isn’t available to independent car repair shops until at least 12 months after the car is on the market. He fears that the time may even increase, and supports the Right to Repair initiative.
“They already do it, and they are trying to make it so it will be worse,” said Giles. “What will happen is if the dealerships are allowed to service certain systems, it’s a free market for them. It’s like telling a coffeeshop that you’re going up 62 percent on coffee beans, but the shop can’t go up on the price of coffee. If you look at the independent shops, [the initiative] is saying to let us do the most we can do. We’ve been blocked before, and nobody talks about it. Volvo is a huge manufacturer that has blocked software, and you have to get around it.”
The Legislature, acccording to The Boston Herald, has until May 2 to vote on the petition. If not approved by the lawmakers, 11,000 additional signatures must be gathered before the measure makes it to the November ballot.
Giles has been a mechanic since he got out of high school, and has owned East Main for 21 years. No longer can mechanics drive around the block and try to figure out what’s making that knocking noise. Even something as simple as fixing a window that won’t go up requires software to pinpoint, and control, the repair. The airbags, seatbelts, steering, tire pressure and hundreds of other mechanisms that can cause car problems can now be diagnosed on a laptop, which gives mechanics codes on where to look, and how to fix it.
“When I started, we had books,” said Giles. “Now, I can hook up a laptop to a certain car and put the windows up and down and turn the lights on and off with it, as long as I have the software. You are forced to keep up with this or you won’t keep your business.”
A study conducted by cartalk.com found, after reviewing charges on Honda and Dodge dealerships verses independent repair shops, customers paid an average of of up to $320 more.
“I used to work for a dealership,” said Giles, “and I knew the pricing and kept track of everthing. I couldn’t believe some of the things that people got charged for.
Some argue that dealerships might do a better job with the car since it specializes in the make. Still, proponents of the Right to Repair initiative say it should be up to the consumers to decide that for themselves.
The software to keep up with diagnostics for the latest cars, too, is expensive. Giles estimates that he’s easily spent $25,000 in software and computer upgrades. It is necessary; in one day, more than half the cars in the lot at East Main Auto came in with “check engine” lights on. The shops that didn’t, or couldn’t, keep up, were weeded out, unable to keep up with competitors who updated electronics.
And Giles just hopes he can stay in business.
“I think it’s foolish in this day and age, with the recession, that we’re talking and worrying about this,” said Giles. “Anything that can slowly kill a business will hurt the economy. There are six families that live off of this business. We’re employing six people to keep six families off of employment.”