CAWA Gears Up for Another Anti Aftermarket Industry, Anti Competitive

and Anti Consumer Fight in the California Legislature

CAWA is gearing up for what is becoming a very intense legislative battle to restrict competition in the marketplace and erode the consumers' right to choose where they purchase their parts and repair their vehicles.

SB 1059 is a discriminatory bill that restricts the use of aftermarket parts by making it unlawful for any insurer to require the installation of an aftermarket part, if the part to be replaced is under the existing original manufacturer's warranty during the first three years of the vehicle's life.  Secondarily, it would also restrict the insurers' ability to replace the part with a lower priced replacement part during this same time period.

Essentially SB 1059, if enacted, will lead to restrictions on aftermarket parts, impact your market place and could be the slippery slope to further restrictions on the use of aftermarket parts altogether, giving the car companies what they have always wanted, a monopoly on automotive parts replacement and repair.

SB 1059 is wrong for many reasons:

• SB 1059 contravenes federal law (Magnuson-Moss Act), which governs consumer product warranties and requires manufacturers and sellers of consumer products to provide consumers with detailed information about warranty coverage.  Under this act, warranties are prohibited from being tied to repairs, something that SB 1059 clearly does.
• SB 1059 sends an underlying message that aftermarket parts are inferior, less desirable and of less quality than OE parts and thus require closer scrutiny.
• SB 1059 plants the seeds of doubt to the quality of aftermarket replacement parts. 
• SB 1059 will increase insurance costs, erode consumer choice in automotive parts and repairs and will negatively impact your ability to sell parts.

We have a "major league" fight on our hands!

We will need you to help CAWA defeat SB 1059!  In the next few weeks you will be asked to write, call, email and fax your legislator urging their opposition to this measure.  In addition, your association is actively working to coordinate legislative in-district and Sacramento meetings with members of CAWA and key legislators.

Please standby for more information and be ready to help when called to action.

As you may recall, we fought a very tough fight and won with SB 1146 (aftermarket access to emission diagnostic and repair information) in the early 2000's.  We are once again faced with a bill that restricts your ability to sell parts and the consumers' choice in automotive parts and repair. We must all work together to STOP IT!

Founded in 1955, CAWA is a nonprofit trade organization representing automotive jobbers, warehouse distributors, retailers, manufacturers and manufacturer representatives in California, Nevada and Arizona.  CAWA's mission is to provide communications, education, legislative and regulatory advocacy and group purchasing of services for its members while promoting the automotive aftermarket industry.

For further information visit www.cawa.org.