Car Dealers Take Warranty Tussle with OEMs to State Capitols

For nearly as long as there have been warranties, automakers and auto dealers have battled over factory reimbursements for warranty work, according to a report by Automotive News.

But now, it appears that dealers have opened up a successful new front in their decades-long struggle — this time on the terrain of accommodating state capitols, where friendly legislators in some states are introducing amendments to franchise laws that mandate much higher payments for covered repairs.

So far, dealers have been successful in a handful of states, including Illinois, Wisconsin and Montana, but already the impact has been dramatic: nearly $250 million in additional payments sent to dealers in just the first year after manufacturers in Illinois were required to pay retail labor rates for service, according to an automakers umbrella group.

Now additional states — Colorado, California, Texas and others — are lining up to introduce similar changes to their franchise laws to close the gap between factory-pay and customer-pay repairs.

Read the full report by Automotive News.

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/car-dealers-take-warranty-tussle-with-oems-to-state-capitols/