No, this isn’t a message from a deposed Prince in North Africa.We know holiday’s are a busy time of year, but a five minute call to your legislator might be worth a lot of money to you and your customers in the long run.

Last month we told you about a study conducted by the respected firm of John Dunham Associates which demonstrates that if independent garages in Massachusetts charged the same rates as their dealer-owned competitors, consumers would pay $6.25 million more for car repairs, breaking out to an average of $258 per family obtaining repair services in a given year. That’s big dollars for your customers, but what about you—the repairer?

The study also shows that across the United States, independent repair shops experience a 5.6% decline in productivity, resulting in a $5.9 billion per year loss in revenue due to the difficulty in locating and obtaining the necessary tools and information from the manufacturers.

In Massachusetts this translates into $68,121,900 for all 5,661 repair shops in the state, or $12,034 per shop—significant since the average shop has sales of just over $263,190.

Imagine that, a loss in productivity can cost you $12,000!

The fact that the number of dealerships declined from over 500 to 437 this year naturally limits the ability of consumers to access new car dealer repair shops if they needed to find one. The reduced competition among the dealer owned facilities could further drive up the price differential between them and independent garages.

"In addition to the fiscal impact on the consumers of allowing auto manufacturers to control access to repair information, lawmakers should understand that one in ten jobs in Massachusetts are tied to small, family-owned  independent repair shops, and the other manufacturing and distribution jobs related to the aftermarket industry," said Art Kinsman, Right to Repair Coalition spokesman.

To e-mail your legislators, go to massrighttorepair.com/action, or to call them, go to this link to find legislators by city or town: massrighttorepair.com/legislators

Even if you’ve emailed or called in the past, more calls are needed, particularly to Consumer Protection Committee Chairmen, Rep. Ted Speliotis, 617-722-2030, or Sen. Michael Morrissey, 617-722-1494.

Stop throwing money down the drain by eating lengthy diagnostic charges because you don’t have complete information, or by sending customers back to the dealer. Make that call now.