The election, telematics access, and insurance regs

By John Yoswick

Though the presidential and congressional election battles dominated the discussion in November, there were items on the ballot in a number of states potentially impacting collision repairers.

Despite millions of dollars from automakers spent this year to oppose an updated “Right to Repair” ballot initiative in Massachusetts, for example, voters there overwhelmingly supported the measure, with three in four voters giving it a thumbs-up. The law will require that all model year 2022 or newer vehicles have a standardized open data platform that gives vehicle owners and independent repairers access to telematics data.

Backers of the legislation included the Auto Care Association; parts sellers like NAPA, Auto Zone and LKQ Corp.; and independent shops. They say the law won’t prevent automakers from using “secure gateway” systems — like Fiat Chrysler of America’s use of AutoAuth — to require user registration and use of authorized scan tools by those seeking to access telematics data. 

Those gateway systems — in place or planned by a number of automakers, are “essentially a firewall, similar to one you’d put on your home or office computer network in order to control the access to that network from outside,” Jack Rozint of CCC Information Services said at the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) earlier this year. “If you are an authorized user, the secure gateway will not restrict your access to be able to do scans or reprogram modules, etc. If you aren’t an authorized user, or you’re trying to perform a function that’s not permitted, you get blocked.”

The need for such gateways was clear after the much-publicized hack in 2015 of a Jeep Grand Cherokee that showed such vehicles could be remotely accessed and controlled.

To scan some 2018 and 2019 FCA vehicles — and nearly all 2020 models, Rozint said — shops must be registered with AutoAuth. There is a one-time registration fee of $50 per repair facility for up to six authorized users (additional users each are $2 more). If not using FCA’s scan tool, a shop must supply the serial number of the scan tool (or tools) they will be using from among those tools authorized by FCA.

“FCA has limited the registration to only those tools that have a diagnostic license with FCA,” Rozint said. “So if you have a tool and it’s not on the list, it’s probably because the scan tool manufacturer hasn’t registered yet, or they don’t license diagnostic data from FCA.”

Once a shop’s tools and technicians have been authorized through AutoAuth, no other additional steps are required when scanning or reprogramming FCA vehicles, Rozint said.

Under the Massachusetts law approved by voters in November, automakers may use such a gateway, but  any such processes be standardized across automakers so that independent shops, for example, wouldn’t have to use a variety of gateways to access different makes of vehicles.

In an online panel discussion during the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo the day after the election, the Auto Care Association and backers of the legislation said the next step is to push for similar legislation on a national level.

“We all know the big prize is getting this done on a national basis,” the association’s Aaron Lowe said.

That’s something the coalition was previously unsuccessful at making happen despite a nearly decade-long effort, which led instead to the first Massachusetts “Right to Repair” ballot measure, passed by voters in 2012. That bill in turn led the automakers to sign a national memorandum of understanding with the aftermarket proponents to agree to comply with the Massachusetts law nationwide.

Now those proponents say they intend to take another run at a national bill next year. But the collision repair industry may want to watch whether any such bill expands beyond data access into other areas of interest by coalition members, such as LKQ Corporation (which had a representative on last week’s panel discussion) and the Consumer Access to Repair (CAR) Coalition. That group, formed earlier this year, is funded by insurers and the non-OEM parts industry, and has a stated goal of “preserving and protecting consumer choice, transparency and affordability in the post-collision repair market.”

During the post-election webinar, Lowe indicated that crash parts could be part of the federal legislation. The bill, he said, should address, “not just data access but a lot of the other competitive issues that are going on in our industry…because of work that’s being done by the manufacturers [such as] requirements for OEM collision parts in different states.”

In other election night news relative to the industry, incumbent Mike Causey, a retired life insurance executive and a former lobbyist for a state autobody association, won reelection as North Carolina’s commissioner of insurance by beating Wayne Goodwin in a rematch of their 2016 race. With 2,659 of the state’s 2,662 precincts reporting, Causey held a lead of 51.8 percent to 48.2 percent for Goodwin, a margin far more significant than the narrow 35,000-vote difference in their previous contest.

Goodwin is the current chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party and the previous insurance commissioner. He assumed office in 2009 and was defeated in the 2016 election by Causey, who became the state’s first Republican insurance commissioner.

Causey issued a bulletin in 2019 reminding insurers they are prohibited from steering a consumer to a particular shop or “away from a particular repair shop either.”

“The Department understands that there may be repair shops where interactions are more involved than with other shops; however, a consumer has the statutory right to use any shop of his or her choice for repairs,” the bulletin stated. “Thus, by statute, a company or agent cannot discourage in any way, (such as suggesting that the repairs will be costlier, less timely, or of poor quality), a consumer from choosing a specific shop for repairs.”

Causey was in the news earlier this year when he helped the FBI and prosecutors convict a billionaire owner of an insurance company who tried to use the promise of campaign contributions to bribe Causey, whose office was investigating the insurance company.

In races for insurance commissioner in other states last week, incumbents Democrat Trinidad Navarro in Delaware and Democrat Mike Kreidler in Washington each won reelection; Montana elected Republican Troy Downing, and North Dakota elected Republican Jon Godfread (who ran unopposed).  •