ASA recently announced the historic agreement reached in September by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers and ASA. Under the agreement, automakers have committed to providing independent repair shops the same service, tools and training information they provide their franchised dealerships.

While mechanical shops are rejoicing, some collision shop owners may not see how dramatically this is going to affect their businesses today and, more importantly, in the years ahead. I say this change is even more important for us because most collision shops don't have a dedicated mechanical team that is used to jumping through the right hoops to get OEM service information.

For example, about a month ago we repaired a 2003 Chevy S-10 pickup hit fairly hard in the front end. We had to take the door handle out, which meant that we had to tamper with the theft-proof mechanism on the vehicle. Once we'd put everything back together, the truck wouldn't start. We had to flatbed it over to the dealership, and they were able to reprogram the computer within 15 to 20 minutes.

It's not always that easy. When you're having to wait a week or two for a busy dealer to help you out, you're dead in the water, and that costs you and your customer time and money. For an unusual vehicle where there isn't a dealership near you, it's beyond inconvenient. Multiply that by the number of vehicles you get in a day and you really start to see where this agreement is going to benefit every independent shop, mechanical and collision.

Every year cars are becoming more complex. Every day another system or part is wired with a sensor. The more the technology grows, the more we need mechanical information to repair cars properly and get them back on the road safely with all the accessories working. Without that information, the likelihood of an independent shop being able to repair these vehicles properly is slim to none. In other words, without this service information agreement, the future of independent shops would be bleak.

The Web sites that will enable us to acquire information are still being developed. Like any new undertaking, there will be a few problems to work out. If we encounter problems getting information, we have recourse through the National Automotive Service Task Force's response form that's available on the ASA Web site (www.asashop.org).

The agreement will be enforced by Congressional oversight. U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota chairs the subcommittee that's watching this. He has made it clear independent shops will receive OEM service. ASA will keep Senator Dorgan involved and in the next few weeks will provide him the first progress report.

This is one more instance where our association has successfully worked for us to keep our shops in business.

Johnny Mock, AAM, is the owner of Johnny Mock's Auto Body Shop Inc., in Turtle Creek, Pa. Mock was ASA chairman in 1999.

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