Automotive Repair News Today

Braxton Critcher [00:00:05]:
This is automotive repair news today. Thanks for listening to this episode, watching it on YouTube. Hit subscribe if you can. I'd appreciate that. Right. To repair the repair act. It's. Well, we're kind of in a pause mode right now.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:23]:
Don't know if you've heard about this thing. The election is happening right now, and so Congress is in recess, and they've kind of tabled the repair act for a little while. We're going to talk about it, though, with my buddy Eric. He's on the podcast, by the way, his first ever podcast recording. So. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Eric to the podcast world. Hello.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:00:45]:
Appreciate it. Hello, Braxton. How are you today?

Braxton Critcher [00:00:48]:
I'm good, man. I'm good, man.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:00:50]:
Thanks for having me.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:51]:
Yeah, of course. Sorting. Sorting through a lot of stuff on my end. Uh, you know, the Asheville area was hit pretty hard by Hurricane Helene, and we're kind of sorting through all that. But, uh, you know, at the same time, there's a lot of things happening in the auto repair industry as well. Uh, so much like, I feel like, uh, the industry is, is changing. Um, but it's just, there's just constantly information, news of that you just feel like you got to stay on top of because it's. It's.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:25]:
I mean, you can't keep up. It's hard to. So I do want to talk about the, the repair act and that kind of stuff. So, I guess tell me a little about your knowledge. So, I kind of come from a consumer's background. I drive a cardinal. Uh, and so I've been learning a lot about the repair act and why it's important, and I'm understanding some of those things. But first, kind of tell me what your knowledge is of the repair act and why you feel it's important.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:01:54]:
Sure. Well, you know, again, Braxton, thanks for having me on, on the podcast here. You know, I'm a member of the tool and equipment committee for the Auto Care association, which is a, which is a volunteer position. And, you know, I work in the app in the automotive aftermarket. I work in a company, for a company that means a lot. We are the aftermarket with regards to diagnostic scan tools, and I work for Autel us. And so it's near and dear to me, these topics. I'm going to give you my take today.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:02:29]:
Obviously, these are just my opinions and my thoughts, but we've been really hard at it. They're near and dear to me because I've been in the automotive aftermarket for many years. I've really been in a lot of different roles with construction, industrial, automotive. And what I found is that the automotive industry and the aftermarket itself, it's the fantastic community. I have a love for cars. I have a love for fixing things. And the automotive industry is where I belong. It's a great place with great people and we come together towards common goals.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:03:06]:
Right. And so the aftermarket's all about, you know, fixing that car and returning that car to its condition as close to new as we can. Right. Making it as safe as it can go down the road and repairing it in a responsible way that's safe for everybody out there.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:24]:
So, you know, this culture and this is kind of outside the automotive industry is very, I guess, high strung is a good way to say it. It's very doom and gloom or it's amazing. There's not really a lot of middle ground. And so as you learn more about the repair act and the industry at large and just consumerism, being able to choose where you take your vehicle, like, if this doesn't get passed, and I feel like it will, from the people I've talked to, I think this is going to get passed, but it just seems to take forever to get there.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:04:09]:
Right.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:09]:
But if it doesn't get passed, like, how bad really could this be for the industry, for consumers? And, you know, is it really doom and gloom? Like, is auto repair as we know it going to change if it doesn't get passed?

Eric Sponhaltz [00:04:24]:
It's a great question, Brax, and I think you think about it in a few ways, right? The average lifespan of a car on the road is twelve years. Right? So the majority of the vehicles that are out there on the road are not under warranty anymore. Right. They're not considered to go back to the dealer as an example for service and repair, necessarily. Over 500,000 independent manufacturers, distributors, parts stores and repair shops make up the auto care association. That's what auto care represents. And so when you think about all these independent shop owners that are doing this work and all the cars that are on the road, the independent shop is crucial and really should be working hand in hand. The dealer has a place, the aftermarket repair shop has a place because there's so many vehicles that have to be serviced.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:05:15]:
And again, we're talking about that life on the road of twelve years. Plus, there's a lot of opportunity for cars to be serviced, repaired, maintained. So when you look at the repair act, if it doesn't get passed, as you originally asked, I think removing choice from the equation. So if you're told hey, if the repair act doesn't pass and you're told you must go to the dealership for repair, a few things can happen, right? Number one, a timely repair. So you think about downtime, right? Not only on passenger vehicles, but commercial vehicles. Right? It's all about uptime. Right. And getting those vehicles back on the road quickly, efficiently, and safely, most importantly.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:06:00]:
And so these independent repair shops are crucial in performing that work in a fast way and getting that car back on the road. And then I also think if there's not equal and fair competition towards repairing vehicles, you know, will we see an increase in price for those services? Probably. Right. And so I think that's going to have an impact as well. If the repair act is not passed, is that, you know, we lose our choice, then we really kind of lose options. We lose the ability to choose where we want to go to get that repair.

Braxton Critcher [00:06:33]:
So, I mean, it'll be pretty bad.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:06:36]:
Yeah. I think it's really important that we stand together, whether it's a consumer and going to the repair act and supporting it in that way, writing to your congressman or congresswoman and expressing your interest in having that right to repair.

Braxton Critcher [00:06:55]:
So I think the question that a lot of folks are going to ask is, what? How did this happen? How did we get here? Like, suddenly you're telling me that this is really a thing in Congress. And if you've been able to listen to previous episodes of automotive repair news today, we've talked about it. But if this is, like, your first time hearing about the repair act, this isn't really a new thing.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:07:22]:
Right.

Braxton Critcher [00:07:23]:
Right. To repair. I think for the first time. Was it Massachusetts, twelve years ago was kind of the first initial launch into this overall choice of where you go to get your car fixed. But I guess sort of catch people up about, like, how in the world did we get here? And I think just to sort of give you a tee and put a ball on it. It all started with technology in the repair shops.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:07:52]:
Sure. You know, vehicle data coming from the OBD two port. Right. To access information necessary to complete repairs. From the advent of, really, the OBD two port, it allow, you know, really a standardization. So that.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:08]:
And you gotta, you gotta say, okay, Eric, so I don't even. Ob two port. What? What are you talking about here?

Eric Sponhaltz [00:08:17]:
All right, fair enough. Fair enough. So there's a, if you, if you open your door and you look down below the driver's side, in that bottom left corner, there's probably a port and that port or a little area for a plug is where you're going to plug in a scan tool. And that port is synonymous and standardized across the industry as the thing where the wires are. The thing where the wires are. And that connection. Yeah. So that connection allows a diagnostic scan tool to plug in and really look at.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:08:48]:
Right. These vehicles are so complex today. They've got so many systems and modules and information that are being stored there in that vehicle. We're driving computers, right. So as you're driving this big computer, you know, you gotta be able to look at the diagnostics or the health of that vehicle and what all those systems are doing. And so with the advent or standardization of the OBD two port or the plug and wires, you know, now we've got a way that we can all get that information in a standardized way. And so, you know, the Massachusetts thing like you're talking about was really on the state level, a way to kind of say, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa. Right.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:09:31]:
We, we, if we own the car, we should have access to that data. The, the owner of the vehicle should ultimately have access to the data and own that. They own the car. They own their own data. They should be able to go and choose where they want to get their car repaired. Right. And so from a state perspective, that was fine, and then we had a few more that got involved as well. But then you're not going to accomplish a whole lot going one state at a time.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:09:58]:
So let's come together, let's create a common language and goal and really get bipartisan support. And we do have that today. We've got 56 folks in Congress that support this bill, the repair act. And that's split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. So across party lines, we have the support of Congress. And so let's standardize this. Let's standardize this, and let's create a national plan for implementation.

Braxton Critcher [00:10:31]:
So I have been covering the Repair act since I've been doing this podcast, which was February of this year. It's been a little while. And I, you know, I, I took history in high school, and I think I took a little bit of something like that in college. And so I know kind of how the system works between the House representatives and the Senate and all this stuff. And I kind of know that it takes a while, but it just seems like this is just taking forever, like, so if there is bipartisan support between Democrats and Republicans, why are we dragging our feet here?

Eric Sponhaltz [00:11:19]:
That's a great question. There's a lot of important things on the docket and for Americans to vote on, to decide on and then for Congress to support. And at the end of the day, this particular bill did not get brought up in this last session, and that wasn't on the docket. Right. But there were some remarks, there were some remarks left at the end of the session where it said, hey, the House Energy and Commerce Committee chair, Kathy McMorris Rogers, mentioned the repair act in her remarks and said, you know, I do want to mention one bill we will not be considering today, the repair act, but recognizing the hard work that's been done. And while we aren't marking it up today, a lot of progress has been made in encouraging members and stakeholders to keep working together to find a path forward. So she called it a very important piece of legislation. So while I didn't make the docket, you know, Congress has received over 100,000 letters in support of the Repair act, and 40% of those letters have come from consumers.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:12:32]:
So that's a pretty, that's a pretty good mark. I mean, we can do better. Right. And as consumers, that's why we're here talking about this right now, Braxton, is that we can still, you know, notify our Congress people that we need to, you know, we need to act on this bill.

Braxton Critcher [00:12:49]:
So the election's happening and then I guess they, they still have December off for term changing things. I don't know, whatever. But. So they don't get, they don't go back into session till early January, right?

Eric Sponhaltz [00:13:08]:
That's correct. Yeah. The 119th Congress begins January 3 of 2025. So, you know, we don't have a crystal ball, but we would imagine the repair act will have to be reintroduced to the floor. Yeah.

Braxton Critcher [00:13:23]:
Because there will be new, there'll be new members there, right?

Eric Sponhaltz [00:13:26]:
Yes, there will be. There will be. So depending on how the elections go. Right. We've got to, we've got to regroup. It's half time right now. Right. And we've made it a good way, but we've still got ways to go.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:13:39]:
And so reintroducing that bill around February timeframe, probably, even though Congress begins on January 3, you know, probably in springtime of next year. And again, you know, I'm not the expert in this. I'm just playing one on tv here, but, no, I don't know at all. But I can say that, you know, springtime is probably when it will be reintroduced. And so we're looking forward to that.

Braxton Critcher [00:14:04]:
So I'm sure you don't know the answer to how many Congress people are leaving, like their term is ending. And so you, I mean, I, you probably don't know the answer to that question, but it's been fairly bipartisan.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:14:20]:
It has.

Braxton Critcher [00:14:21]:
So is there concern in the community, I know with the Auto Cure association of the repair shops, is there concern that some of the new folks coming into Congress with their new term might not be on the same page? I mean, you're going to have to reintroduce it. But is there concern that you've lost ground with the recess?

Eric Sponhaltz [00:14:42]:
I'm sure anytime you have an election and maybe people coming in and leaving at the same time, there's concern. I think what we've shown with our support for the bill is that with that bipartisan support and truly bipartisan support, we're showing a unified front. And I think with, with committee chair Kathy McMorris Rogers leaving and making that remark and really instilling in the group that's remaining, hey, this is important. It's got bipartisan support, so it's not weighted one way or the other. This is not a Democrat versus a republican initiative. This is everybody initiative. We're really hopeful that we'll continue to gain additional support as we go along and pick up some additional members of Congress to support, and then, you know, we'll go from there.

Braxton Critcher [00:15:37]:
Maybe if it was a Democrat versus republican initiative, it would have got a little bit more press because people would have been talking about it in their campaigns.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:15:45]:
You know, maybe, yeah, it's, you know.

Braxton Critcher [00:15:48]:
It'S, maybe it's a bad thing for, to be bipartisan in some cases.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:15:52]:
I don't know. You know, the great part about it, you know, that was unanimously approved by the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Innovation, Data and Commerce. I mean, it was unanimously approved. It's the right thing to do. We all know that. To your point, Braxton, I don't know how all these things work, but it seems common sense to me. But hopefully we'll get it through the finish line as soon as we can.

Braxton Critcher [00:16:18]:
So I've talked with several people about this on the podcast. So it's, and from my understanding, it's not really a dealer manufacturer versus the aftermarket thing, while in some, some people's minds, it could be, and maybe some people in the after, in the aftermarket or the manufacturers feel that way. But I have noticed, and you can speak to this, that there are more dealers working on more than just recalls, more than just under warranty repairs, that they're actually bringing in just routine maintenance now. And so I kind of feel like that's the dealerships and the manufacturers kind of saying, we're preparing for this repair act to get past and us not to have as much control as we'd like. Is, is that kind of what you think is happening there? Cause that's kind of my perspective.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:17:18]:
But that's a, that's a great comment. I've really never thought of it that way. I mean, when you have a banner on your dealership, I think there has been a trend to work on all makes and models.

Braxton Critcher [00:17:32]:
That's never happened before. Where did that come from?

Eric Sponhaltz [00:17:35]:
Think about it, Braxton. When we had car shortages, new vehicle shortages, what were these dealerships relying on used vehicles when we couldn't get a new cardinal, there was a premium for used vehicles, and then there was additional premium on servicing those used cars. And so I think maybe, Braxton, that has a little bit to play in that scenario. It was the COVID new vehicle shortage. And then the overwhelming trend. These dealerships are adding collision services, they're adding body shops, they're adding used vehicles to their fleet. And so the ability to service those customers, I think, are important to them, too. The fact of the matter is the dealership plays a big role in this process.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:18:25]:
They're part of it. But the independent repair shop is, too. And it's just the sheer volume of vehicles that need to be maintained is why we have to come together as a group and a community, really, in the automotive space to say, hey, dealerships can't take care of it all. We're not asking for anything that we, we're not asking for anything new in this bill. We're just asking to have access to the vehicle's information that we need to fix the car. Yeah, that's, we're just saying, hey, let us have access to what we have access to today. Don't put up walls or fences around the information for a professional repair shop to be able to repair that vehicle properly and put it back on the road. Right.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:19:06]:
Don't, don't make the shop guess or have to buy really expensive tools or I, or not be able to perform the work. Right. And so that leads to downtime. You know, that leads to, you know, that leads to things that we don't want to have happen. Right. Let's, let's get the cars back on the road in a responsible way, in an efficient way and give, ultimately, the owner of the vehicle the choice on where to go to get the repair done.

Braxton Critcher [00:19:31]:
Yeah, I think kind of what you said is important to, I think, as an industry, within the industry, and you can include, you know, dealerships automakers, parts makers, the aftermarket, all that include the entire automotive industry and just say, hey, you know, we're on the same team here. If independent repair shops closed, dealerships couldn't handle the repair. They couldn't.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:20:01]:
No.

Braxton Critcher [00:20:02]:
And so I think it's good for, to everybody kind of, and they don't, you know, it's just, there's not defined roles. There's not defined roles as they should be. There's, there's kind of just ideas of who does what here. But I think it's important to understand, hey, independent repair shops handle, handle a lot of the bulk of the repairs. And dealerships obviously can do. Can do. I mean, not saying that they can't, but, but telling independent shops that they can't, you know, that's not cool. But, yeah, I think just, just being on the same page, knowing that there's, there's room for everybody here and that we can work together and get this done.

Braxton Critcher [00:20:47]:
With the repair act being passed, I think is, would be a great step in the right direction.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:20:52]:
Yeah, we've got a lot of new, you know, they're pumping out new vehicles as fast as they can. There's more vehicles being added to the fleet every day. Cars are on the road longer and longer. Right. So the car count out there is a number that has to be addressed, and it has to be addressed, really, with all parties involved. And so again, the spirit of the repair act is really around. Hey, we're all one automotive community. We can all do this together.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:21:21]:
Just let us have access to what we need to in a safe and responsible way and the information that is necessary and critical for repairing the car. That's what we want.

Braxton Critcher [00:21:31]:
Yeah. Well, good stuff. Anything else you'd like to add like that we haven't touched on?

Eric Sponhaltz [00:21:42]:
I think we've covered just about everything. It's about competition, it's about affordability, it's about accessibility, and it's finally about supply chain. Right. And getting that vehicle back on the road. So we'd urge everybody, if they haven't already, to reach out to their congressperson and ask for that, you know, write a letter. We've got those form letters are ready to go. It's very simple. It's very easy to do and just, you know, continue to press on the matter and ask for their support in passing this bill.

Braxton Critcher [00:22:16]:
Well, cool. Eric, your first podcast. Yeah.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:22:21]:
Well, it's been pretty fun. I mean, we've kind of chatted and had a good time, and I've really enjoyed it. Thank you so much.

Braxton Critcher [00:22:29]:
You're going to do it again. Yeah, absolutely. This is not a one and only. It's not like this is your first and your last. It's just your first.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:22:38]:
We'll see if I have masked back. You know, I don't know. Or someone else will have me. Hey, I don't know if I'm going to podcast host. I may have more of a podcast participant. And.

Braxton Critcher [00:22:49]:
Now that you've been on, once the floodgates are opened, okay, you're a celebrity now. People are going to be knocking down your door.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:22:57]:
Goodness, I don't know about that, but thanks for the kind words, Braxton. And our wishes go out to everybody in North Carolina. So hopefully, we were talking earlier, those cleanup efforts and everything go well, and we're all here for free for you guys.

Braxton Critcher [00:23:13]:
Well, it's been really great. You know, I've covered it a little bit, but the automotive aftermarket charitable foundation, Worldpac, the ASTA, and that's just a couple that I've heard of. There are a lot of organizations that are. That are giving back to the community, but those are specifically trying to help, you know, repair shops, because when you have this kind of damage, there's gonna need to be some repairs done here on cars, and a lot of the shops need repairing. So it's just. It's just bad on all fronts. You know, we definitely appreciate the support and the prayers and the. The gifts, the.

Braxton Critcher [00:23:55]:
The tangible help, the volunteers that have come up to help. So it's gonna be a long journey. I mean, anything like this is definitely a process, and so we understand that. But definitely appreciate your guys support and been really great to see the automotive industry come together and raise funds and help the industry that have been affected. It's really cool. It's like a family kind of family kind of thing. So.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:24:24]:
Sure, Braxton. There's no place I'd rather be. As I mentioned at the start of the call, is in the automotive aftermarket and educating folks like yourself that maybe don't have as much knowledge about this community. It's tight knit. You know, we're a big family, right? And so we're all here to try to work together, and it's really good to see that.

Braxton Critcher [00:24:43]:
Yeah. By the way, if you're listening to this podcast on a podcast platform, check us out on YouTube, because my dog has been taking a nap in the back of this video the whole time. And before Eric and I pushed record here, I asked him to get off of the chair so he wouldn't be in the shot, and he did. And then, as you can see on the YouTube video, he showed back up. I don't know what it is. He's like Park Cat. He likes to sleep in chairs. He's been there all afternoon.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:25:13]:
That's his spot. Apparently, I was here when you. When you booted him. And, yeah, he's. But I. Now I see he's back.

Braxton Critcher [00:25:23]:
Hey, Boone. What are you doing, Buddha? Okay, see? There we go.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:25:31]:
He won't be back.

Braxton Critcher [00:25:32]:
He'll be back. No, no. Now he's a podcast celebrity.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:25:35]:
That's right. He supplanted me for sure. I know that people love dogs, so.

Braxton Critcher [00:25:41]:
Oh, yeah. Hey, thanks, man. I appreciate it.

Eric Sponhaltz [00:25:45]:
Thank you very much for having me.

Braxton Critcher [00:25:51]:
Hey, if you're still here, thank you so much for listening to this episode. Episode of Automotive Repair news today. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment. Like share, subscribe to the podcast. It'll help us out a big deal and help grow the show. And you know what? While you're at it, slap on a review, too. If you feel like this content is helpful for the industry, don't forget to follow us on all your favorite social media platforms. We're on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn.

Braxton Critcher [00:26:17]:
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