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The era of a grease monkeys spending their days on their backs, underneath a car, are long gone. Now, mechanics spend just as much time staring at a computer -- sifting through online manuals and searching for specialized tools.According to USA Today, independent auto-repair shops are struggling because proprietors can't afford the automakers' online manuals, which can cost as much as $11,000 per year, or the tools needed to work on cars equipped with complex wiring and computers. Here's the problem: automakers freely give this information and these tools to their dealership shops. Since this practically creates a monopoly on service, a dealership can charge you an arm and a leg to simply reset your car's computer, while the little man can't offer the repair, or offer you a better price.
In an effort to compete, independent mechanics have taken the fight to Congress with the "Right to Repair Act," which would force Big Auto to share the information necessary to diagnose and service electronics-laden cars. Of course, there's opposition. "Coke doesn't give away the recipe for Coke," Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers spokesman Charlie Territo told USA Today. "What this bill seeks to get is the recipe for Coke."
Maybe so, but everybody doesn't need to know how to make Coke (although it'd be nice). Small businesses do need the right to compete in a free market. [From: USA Today]
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Comments
2
Subscribe to commentsCarneyDec 29th 2009 9:40AM
This is a problem that will solve itself. Competition is brutal and all it takes is for one company to point out in ads that maintenance and repair cost way more on its rival, without even needing to mention the underlying reasons. Of course, if it does, the rival sounds even worse.
Government doesn't have unlimited power, the Constitution limits it. Private property is private property; if a car company wants to be Scrooge-y jerks with its proprietary info it can do it. The right way to punish it is in the marketplace and wth bad publicity, not government busybodies - they're nearly always a cure worse than the disease.
iamthehellraiser2001Dec 30th 2009 9:02PM
dealers getting information for free is a false i am with a dealer and we pay a monthly fee to access this information all is now web based also the tool we have to purchase on average 35000 yearly the training is not furnished at no costs as well up to 15 classes per employee class in some clases are free but transportation , room and board are not , most are focused in cali, michigan, florida ect never local it seems, all software applications for scanners cost involved 12k per unit we have 4 at our place is very costly for sure also a not we also use outside information like mitchell and alldata systems in most case 3 months behind actual dealer level information and tech support 100.00 per month actually per either platform