Aaron Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 There is some discussion on another board I hang out at about Right To Repair. What are your thoughts? http://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3233628#post3233628 I betcha I get flamed, bad over that. (I'm the Big Angry Hillbilly, in case you didn't already know) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 I really thought that I brought this up earlier this year when we (at our dealer) individually sent letters to our Congressmen urging them to vote against this. We did this in conjunction with NJCAR and dealers across the state. I eventually received a response from my district Representative who agreed that the manufacturers and dealers have a right to retain some proprietary rights to the new technologies and parts. righttorepair.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 Sorry for the double post, if it was on here before. Got my shirt today! Thanks dude! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 No double post... I remembered something I apprently never did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Personally, I'm not sure what the hoopla is about... I can go to Haynes.com and purchase the same manuals the you and I use... They aren't cheap - but neither are the manuals we use... Our yellow disc covering 2002 is MIA... I believe it "went away" with a bad terminal changed out of our tech room.... $3500 to replace it.... The manuals have the same "description and operation" sections a lot of our techs never read Specialty tools... our parts department has ordered in Rotunda tools for customers... A lot of them are available from OTC and/or other suppliers anyway... I don't understand "proprietary" in that context. I may be missing something... but I keep coming back to considering "right to repair" as a grab for free manuals... in a world where the cost of a manual is a price of doing business... Some of you need to realize that I DID spend a lot of money on manuals... My signature appeared on the FRONT of the cheque At the same time, like I stated in the recession thread... do you want to spend your time standing in front of a 12 year old dusted diesel trying to appease a service writer and a customer with no money, trying desparately to find a way to recover at least some of your wasted time... or would you like it if you didn't have to putz around, wasting your time on trucks people can't afford to keep... Old trucks belong in a museum or an independent shop... not in your bay... Of course... the aftermarket shops will be more than happy to do brakes and ball joints while you guys are using proprietary info... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 The POINT Jim is that the aftermarket/independent industry wants to be able to make parts and be able to sell them the day a new model hits the show room. This cuts deeper into the OEM pockets than they already have. I liken this to the pharmaceutical companies spending millions in research on drugs and then having to immediately compete with generic manufacturers and never recoup their investment let alone a profit. As for the information side of things and OUR service bays I am still not sure this is too much of an issue however we have watched our share of the business continually lost to the independents for some time... sure, there is still the warranty period and well, if you aren't making customers happy (for whatever reason) and retaining them... that is another story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Clayton Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Anyone can buy the Ford publications we use, theres a form to order them in the back of most of the paper manuals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 For the most part, it is the same aftermarket that is building the OEM part, Kieth... after that, most of it is licencing rights as far as I can see (and God knows I may look at things in an overly simplistic manner). There is little sense in someone in the aftermarket wanting to stock parts when the bulk of the vehicles that the part fits are still covered under some sort of warranty... Independents, like dealerships, consider how many times a part number "turns" in the space of a year.... The aftermarket isn't "sucking the customers out of us". We are driving those customer into the open arms of the aftermarket... We aren't cultivating our retail business in a proper and viable manner... Look at it this way.... you guys want to protect proprietary information.. No way in hell can we trust the aftermarket with "techno-shit"... "Let them do ball joints!!!!". Now... there is every chance that I don't have the foggiest idea of what I'm talking about.... But one of the overwhelming things I see being discussed is the idea that some guys are too fucking smart to do ball joints... No way are you going to pick up a couple of hours of gain time doing ball joints, or brakes, or what have you... You are going to diag a P0299... The dummy is getting the gravy... Let's flood our bays with stuff we can complain about... We still haven't touched on the public perception of the dealership tech... I've got it pretty good since I've known most of my customers for almost 30 years... But I haven't reacted like most dealer techs have, either... I can tell you about converstaions with customers that might curl your toes.... that leave you almost stammering for a diplomatic answer... We are going to look the way we make ourselves look... I'm not going to change your mind... and you will not change mine. Here in the oil patch, we spend most of our time having too much work.... Now... is it the "right" kind of work or not? Back when I was on the bench, there was the very odd day I had my "dream day"... 4 ball joints on a SuperDuty 4X4 paid 5.9... and alignment paid 3.3.... I can do two of those in a day.... I guess senility has it's own rewards...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Amacker Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Who uses paper manuals anymore when motorcraft.com WSM access starts at $10/day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.