A new Illinois bill would forbid insurers from requesting deviations from OEM repair procedures aside from parts or ADAS calibration tools.
The Alliance of Automotive Providers of Illinois is advocating for House Bill 3133, that is nearly identical to 2021’s House Bill 4916. That predecessor failed to go anywhere, but that’s probably a function of the COVID-19 pandemic arising after HB 4916’s introduction late last winter.
HB 3133 is much more streamlined than 2021’s Senate Bill 2104, which passed that chamber but was amended through the House right into a different measure concerning the pharmacy industry.
AASPI Executive Director Brian Wojcicki on Thursday said work had been completed to simplify and narrow down the word what into what was visible today.
“No insurer shall specify using repair procedures that are not in compliance with original equipment manufacturer directives for those parts within the repair of an insured’s motor vehicle, nor shall any repair facility or installer use repair procedures that are not in compliance with original equipment manufacturer directives for all those parts to repair an automobile,” 2021’s HB 3133 would increase Section 155.29 of 215 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5. “However, this subsection does not require using original equipment manufacturer repair parts or original equipment manufacturer advanced driver assistance system calibration tools that may be recommended in an original equipment manufacturer directive when the repair parts or calibration tools used are in least equal in like kind and quality and otherwise comply with original equipment manufacturer directives.”
HB 3133 also rewrites Section 15 of the Automotive Collision Repair Act, 815 ILCS 308, to want that auto body shops write estimates according to OEM procedures.
Again, exemptions exist for parts and ADAS calibration tools.
“The estimate shall include the use of repair procedures and replacement parts which are in compliance with original equipment manufacturer directives for those parts,” HB 3133 states. “However, this subsection doesn't need the use of original equipment manufacturer repair parts or original equipment manufacturer advanced driver assistance system calibration tools which may be recommended within an original equipment manufacturer directive if the repair parts or calibration tools used are at least equal in like kind and quality and otherwise conform to original equipment manufacturer directives.”
Wojcicki noted that “the reality in Illinois” was language around the books had permitted the thought of like kind and quality alternative parts for a while. He explained no lawmaker may wish to remove something which had “recently been in the marketplace.”
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents virtually all major OEMs, has additionally proposed parts exemptions as a compromise within various repair procedure bills it’s pursued nationwide. Wojcicki said prior language that sought to obviously permit the using alternative components has led to certain parts interests dropping their opposition.
Wojcicki associated the calibration exemption a minimum of in part using the auto glass industry’s position around the operation.
In 2021, SB 2104 sponsor Sen. Thomas Cullerton, D-Villa Park, introduced on the Senate floor an amendment declaring an OEM procedures exemption for “glass repair, replacement, and associated advanced driver assistance system calibration covered by the Automotive Repair Act.” That language passed the full Senate.
Wojcicki known as the bill “the direct result of negotiations” and “natural compromises.” But he also said no consensus existed yet of all the stakeholders and characterized the text of HB3133 as “starting language.”
The point was to “embolden repairers so that you can do good repairs and also have some protections.”
Sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Elizabeth Hernandez, D-Cicero, HB 3133 happens to be prior to the Rules Committee.
Wojcicki didn’t anticipate HB 3133 would end up in legislative limbo awaiting a committee hearing until the bill died.
“I’m confident we’ll possess a hearing on the bill this year,” he said.
Wojcicki also said “I would not be worried” about finding sponsors in the Senate introducing a companion bill. He said AASPI decided to start the legislation in the House because it already have been shown to draw support in the Senate.
We asked when the exemptions in the bill would undercut body shops who managed to get an insurance policy to only use OEM parts and OEM calibration processes.
“It’s a fine line to walk,” Wojcicki said. But he noticed that alternative parts already are a real possibility under Illinois law.
AASPI hoped anyone attempting to be 100 percent in compliance with OEM dictates wasn’t undercut, he explained. Anticipation was that tying repairs to OEM procedures in general produced a return on shops’ investment, he said.
The bill was meant to “embolden repairers so that you can do good repairs and also have some protections,” Wojcicki said.
