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Know the Facts How Quality Alternatives Support the Repair Industry FOR MANY YEARS, a healthy aftermarket and the presence of low-cost, quality alternative crash parts have helped to keep businesses running. But since 2005, when Ford Global Technologies made its first attempt to gain a monopoly by enforcing 14-year design patents on seven crash parts for its 2004-2007 F-150 — which severely eliminated consumers’ right to choose more cost-effective parts when repairing their vehicles — car companies have ratcheted up efforts to corner the market on replacement parts. This practice threatens to curb competition in the marketplace, reduce availability of parts and drive up prices, forcing customers to delay or even forgo repairs. A loss of competition in the crash parts market will “total” repair businesses in three ways: 1. Diminished availability of parts: With car companies and dealerships shuttering their operations and reorganizing amid this economic downturn, you may already see a decrease in parts availability and a delay in the time needed to obtain parts. Thanks to the availability of aftermarket crash parts, however, 2. More totaled vehicles: Higher prices will force insurance companies to declare more damaged vehicles as “total wrecks.” That is also your loss. Fewer repair jobs mean less work for repairers. More expensive crash parts benefit car companies — not your repair shop. 3. Cycle time impacted: As car companies and dealerships face severe financial difficulties, there is a very real potential that the supply of collision repair parts could be diminished. The automotive alternative parts industry provides a viable cost-effective solution to this current economic condition by offering the continued availability of high-quality, low-cost replacement collision parts. The bottom line? It’s your bottom line at stake. Read the QPC one-pager. |
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