California group seeks regulation standards

An organization of automotive repair industry groups and individuals in California is urging standardized regulation and enforcement by the California Bureau of Automotive Repair, better known as BAR. The membership of the Automotive Repair Coalition (ARC) includes independent repair shops, automotive teachers, trade associations, franchised automotive service providers, mass merchandisers, equipment manufacturers and automotive parts wholesalers.

ARC was established in 1992 to improve consumer service, general confidence and public opinion of our industry. Members are therefore required by the bylaws of the coalition to adhere to a strong consumer-oriented Code of Ethics.

The group feels the methods of regulation and enforcement applied by BAR has made its members appear in the public’s eyes to be negligent, careless, irresponsible and as having disregard for the consumer. They feel that the public trust they’ve worked hard to build for the last decade has been eroded by BAR’s lack of standards in handling problems, notifying a shop of customer complaints and fairness in enforcement. Consumer trust, they feel, is critical to the long-term health and vitality of their businesses. ARC is asking BAR to establish uniform standards and work with the group to rectify problem areas.

According to ARC Executive Director Marty Keller, “Although the statutes require us to use ‘accepted trade standards’ in any repair, BAR does not recognize any published standards such as the national Motorist Assurance Program guidelines. Thus every field inspection of a repair resulting from a complaint filed with BAR depends on what the BAR representative subjectively believes those standards to be. When a shop is cited for violating such standards, do we have recourse if we disagree and want to set the record straight? How does BAR gauge business practices from one shop to another? If there truly is a problem with the way our business is dealing with a consumer, does BAR consistently offer educational tools and work with us to fix the problem for the benefit of the consumer?”