The Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) says Australia should follow the lead of the US state of Massachusetts and include telematics in the draft ‘right to repair’ legislation that will require car companies to share all vehicle service and repair information.
Stuart Charity, CEO of the AAAA, said including telematics in the draft ‘right to repair’ legislation will help future proof the law.
“Massachusetts passed the Right to Repair Act in 2012 and had to go back and vote to include telematics,” said Charity. “We believe that if our legislation doesn’t include telematics it could be redundant by the time it passes through the Senate. We should learn from the experience of our US colleagues and only vote once.”
The AAAA says the proposed ‘right to repair’ law is designed to provide a fairer playing field for the repair and service of the 74 automotive brands available in Australia, in an industry that is worth $25 billion annually. The law will compel car manufacturers to share all mechanical repair and service information with the independent automotive repair sector on “fair and reasonable commercial terms”. According to the AAAA, 30,000 independent repairers and the 150,000 technicians in Australia who service vehicles stand to benefit from the new law.
Charity says the car companies supporting the “no” vote in Massachusetts spent $26 million on a fear campaign which failed. “This reform is about mechanical data, not personal data, and they tried to confuse the voters that their personal data will be compromised. That just isn’t the case either here or in the US,” said Charity.
Michael Sukkar, Assistant Treasurer of the Australian Government, is expected to table the draft legislation before the end of the year.