You just drove home in that brand new Ford or GM. Love it, right? But do you own it? Not in the sense that you have a bank loan and they hold the title, but in the sense of "is it really yours?" Is it yours to do with as you please, to fix it when it breaks, or to have whomever you choose repair and maintain your automobile? Well, the answer from the Ford and GM CEOs, Roger Penske and an automobile dealer lobbyist is pretty much "Hell No!" And they said this, out loud, to Donald Trump at a recent Whitehouse meeting. And Trump? What did he think? Well, he disagrees. As hard as it is to believe, the Trumpeter disagrees with auto execs when it comes to Right to Repair.
These power players were really there to lobby the administration against H.R. 1566, the REPAIR Act, and found themselves afterwards in the uncomfortable position of clarifying their statements and positions without further irritating Trump. Ballet meets tap. Their biggest problem is that in order to achieve that goal you must say some pretty idiotic things and run the risk of exposing more than you want. It isn't just government that hates transparency. Businesses do too, especially when dealing with government.
So what's really going on?
Glad you asked, and as always you should follow the money. And there are lots of threads to pull there.
Back in the day, maybe up to this day, about the only thing more unpleasant than taking your car to a dealer for service was dealing with the cable company, partly because dealerships were in the business of selling cars, not repairing them. They would service them, but they preferred to let independent shops handle that and it wasn't nearly as profitable as sales. Times have changed. Service makes money, and dealerships have see a decline in service visits from 33% in 2024 to 29%, a bit over 10% decline. Rest assured this is not because these vehicles are suddenly more durable or reliable. Another factor to consider is that dealers dominate EV service visits with over 2/3rds of total visits, with EV market share indicating that non-EV service visits have fled the dealerships.
It gets more amusing. The Ford CEO has recently whined about have 6000 open bays, bays without auto technicians. He seems to think this is because there are not enough techs, and in part he is correct, but if you take a stroll down YouTube lane looking for auto techs who explain why Ford cannot hire, or keep, technicians, well, you can spend days down that rabbit hole. It all comes down to compensation, and it is multidimensional. Auto techs pay to get trained before they get their first job. Like ya do. Then, they have to buy mechanics' tools and the tool chest to keep them in. Drop in on Harbor Freight and check out the prices of their professional quality Icon line. Ain't cheap is it? Maybe ten grand to get started. Now, the shop does pay for the shop tools, like lifts, compressors, scanners and the like. As they should.
Then there is the pay side of the equation. Techs get paid "rate" which is the number of hours it should take for a particular repair. This rate is set by the auto manufacturer. And, should the cohort of techs come under the limit, the manufacturer will lower the rate. It never goes up. But it does get worse. If the work is on warranty, the rate is slashed, at least by half. So if it is an engine replacement, happening with increasing frequency, that normally is spec-ed at 20 hours, the warranty rate is maybe 10 hours. Maybe. Now you can look at this a couple of ways. The boss, the manufacturer, is making the techs pay for their, the manufacturers' mistakes. Or, you could say that the manufacturer and dealer are ripping you off, charging much more than the work is really worth. In any event, the tech gets paid the same hourly rate, probably 20% or less of what the dealer charges you. Why is this? Because of who is paying. Customer work is revenue and adds to the top line. Warranty work comes right off the bottom line, right out of profits. That's something CEO's care about. And they have no problem ripping you off, so to improve the optics, they abuse the techs, then wonder why techs are leaving. The fact that the CEO is responsible for the incredible increases in warranty work is just rubbing salt in the wound.
The execs' bogey man is "security" claiming it would be a risk to public safety for non-dealer techs to gain access to encrypted information. This bogey is bogus. They already control the software needed to access modern vehicle computer systems and have a secure gateway module that restricts access to every other module in the car. And even with access to this software, it can only be accessed by an authorized technician. And this authorization is managed by third party organizations that act like identity notary publics. So a technician's identity and access will be authenticated for each software diagnostic tool they are allowed to use. And they do not have to work for the manufacturer or one of the dealers. And, if they have made a computer system that is riddled with security holes, and many are, that is on them, not on the consumer and not on the techs and not on the independent service companies.
Given they were lobbying Trump, maybe they should have hidden behind negative consequences of burdensome regulations, which is real. It is widely known that CAFE standards have taken a horrible toll on vehicle, and particularly engine, reliability and longevity. Many are now blowing up under warranty, including engines from Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM as well as others. You need look no further than stop/start which greatly reduces engine life, or even more obvious: engine oil specs. Cars sold in the US and abroad will require 0-w20, maybe 0-w16 and now even 0-w8 engine oil to meet CAFE regs. The same car sold outside the US will require 0-w30. At least. This was exposed when Chrysler issued recalls due to engine failures. The fix? Replace the engine oil with 0-w30 and put a new sticker on the oil cap. Maybe presented with these facts, these regulations, controlled by the administration, might change.
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