ARA’s Technical Advisory Committee Resumes Work
After a brief hiatus, ARA’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) was recently re-constituted under the leadership of Committee Chair Emily Yancey, Yancey Auto Salvage, Perry, MO. The Committee is working to enhance the capacity of all ARA members to sell more Recycled Original Equipment (ROE) parts that currently have no interchange or adequate description to allow integration into quotes and/or listings. Committee members include automotive recyclers, inventory management software providers, electronic commerce platforms, as well as some body shop representation. If you would like to participate in TAC work, please email staff@a-r-a.org.
ARA Releases Second Virtual Facility Tour
ARA is excited to share a brand new, four-part virtual facility tour featuring ARA member facility, Wilbert’s U-Pull-It of Williamson, New York! Building on the success of the virtual facility tour with B&R Auto Wrecking that aired during ARA’s EDGE 2020 Virtual Convention, ARA is pleased to offer this informative and engaging series of online events.
The tour of Wilbert’s U-Pull-It focused on four particular segments of the business: purchasing, processing – broken into two segments – and retail. Immediately following the presentation of each segment, Eric Wilbert, President of Wilbert’s U-Pull-It, joined Vince Edivan and ARA Past President Jonathan Morrow live on ARA’s YouTube and Facebook platforms to answer members’ questions (visit ARA’s Facebook page to see the Q&A segments). The virtual tour covers such operational topics as: purchasing inventory, branding, marketing, depollution, tools and PPE, facility equipment, retail sales, and safety.
Please visit ARA University at https://arauniversity.org/facility-tours/ to view the recorded tours – and stay tuned for more virtual tours coming in 2021!
Featured Webinar Resources on ARA University
ARA is continuing to grow the library of online learning resources available to the membership. Along with that effort, ARA University is presenting a monthly featured webinar, along with a coordinated Facebook Live event.
ARA University now features fellow automotive recycler Tim Wall’s talk about the “Expectations of Body Shops.” Wall is President of TNT Auto Body Repair and Service Centers in Glade Hill, Virginia, and was a speaker during ARA’s EDGE 2020 Virtual Convention. He is no stranger to the collision repair industry, having spent 30+ years as a technician, painter, manager, estimator and shop owner. He is passionate about the intersection of the automotive recycling and collision industries as well as helping others along the way.
A second featured webinar – “Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Dismantling,” presented by Andy Latham, Managing Director of Salvage Wire – is now available to view. Andy is also responsible for the updated Electric and Hybrid Training Manual and a new course available on the topic, found at ARAU. More webinars specific to automotive recycling will roll out throughout the year on demand at https://arauniversity.org/resources/industry-training/.
ARA Advocates on Behalf of the Recycled Parts Market and Consumer Choice
ARA President Scott Robertson along with ARA Executive Director, Sandy Blalock, testified before the New Hampshire Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee on February 10, 2021 regarding ARA’s opposition to OEM repair procedure legislation in the state. House Bill 310 would have required conformance with automotive manufacturer recommendations or specifications for scan and calibrations in vehicle repair. Along with ARA, many other sectors of the replacement parts market testified in opposition to the bill and HB 310 subsequently failed to pass out of Committee. It is one of several pieces of OEM repair procedure legislation that ARA has been tracking and advocating against this year and legislators in Nebraska, Illinois and Texas continue to debate the issue.
ARA supports that industry standards for automotive repairs should be well defined as to the process necessary to assure the vehicle is returned to pre-loss condition as closely as possible. However the Association does not support repair procedures that disallow the usage of OEM recycled parts or denies the consumer choice of what parts are used in the repair of their vehicles.
For the past three years, ARA has opposed state legislation introduced on behalf of the OEMs that would require automobile repair businesses to conduct repairs in accordance with the procedures, recommendations, specifications, directives of the original equipment manufacturer. Such legislation would have serious negative anti-competitive consequences for consumers, professional automotive recyclers, and independent collision repair professionals.
It is fair for automotive manufacturers to require collision repairers to follow a specified process or set of standards to structurally repair a vehicle. It is with regards to documents promoting a specific part type utilization that ARA is concerned.
WELCOME NEW AND RETURNING MEMBERS
CashforKeyless
Caterpillar, Inc. – Building Construction Products Division
Clarks Auto
Complete Recycling Group LLC
eBay, Inc.
Eifert, French & Ketchum
Elite Auto Parts Co
Gagel's Auto Parts, Inc.
Geartronix Auto Parts
Holly Oak Towing & Service Center, Inc.
Junk Car Buyer Academy USA LLC
R & J Pickup Truck Parts
SmartCycle
Superior Recycling Solutions
The Melbourne Hotline
Titan Advanced Energy
Solutions, Inc.
State Legislative Round-Up
ARA members from across the country have been meeting weekly since January to share information and stay informed about legislation impacting the recycled parts market at the state level. Open to all ARA members, the weekly conference calls are an opportunity to discuss proposed legislation, strategies, talking points, and share information. Recently, ARA members have engaged on topics such as catalytic converter theft, state budgets, salvage vehicle thresholds, consumer privacy, illegal dismantling and chronic violators of environmental regulations, OEM repair procedures, and more. Legislation seeking to mandate adherence to OEM repair procedures, specifications, directives, or other documents – which are often biased and make unfounded claims about the safety of using ROE–Recycled Original Equipment® auto parts – has failed to advance in multiple states this year. Bills are still pending in Texas (HB 1131) and Illinois (HB 3133), and are being closely monitored by ARA and automotive recyclers in those states. As a reminder, the weekly calls are open to all ARA members. Contact Jessica Andrews (Jessica@a-r-a.org) for more details.
