Maine’s Right to Repair Working Group laid out some aspects Wednesday of the responsibilities a soon-to-be-created independent oversight entity will have in ensuring vehicle repair rights.

The entity is the result of a referendum and subsequent law passed in November 2023 as is the requirement for the creation of a standardized telematics platform among automakers. The process began with a petition circulated by the Maine Right to Repair (R2R) Coalition.

The referendum was, “An Act Regarding Automotive Right to Repair. Do you want to require vehicle manufacturers to standardize on-board diagnostic systems and provide remote access to those systems and mechanical data to owners and independent repair facilities?”

A competing bill filed by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) was passed by the House in April and then died between houses. Auto Innovators contends that independent repairers already have access to OEM repair information.

Tommy Hickey, a working group member and Maine Right to Repair Coalition director, said the intent the coalition has in mind for the entity is to be a tool that the attorney general’s office could use to enforce the new law and to foster transparency and accountability.

“The independent entity was simply supposed to be an unpaid ad hoc committee that would look into issues if manufacturers were to work around the right to repair law,” he said.

“This ad hoc committee would be groups of technical experts that would be looking at regulating the standardized platform — not creating a standardized platform — that would be the manufacturers that would be creating that. It would be, on an ongoing basis, making sure that for manufacturers and independent repairers and all the stakeholders that are involved in the repair ecosystem that a level playing field was truly happening.”

Last year, in response to R2R developments across the U.S. and Canada, the Automotive Service Association (ASA), Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS), and Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) representing thousands in the automotive and collision repair industries came together as a coalition to step up to Congress with a pact they said would benefit vehicle owners through continued access to repair information.

Calling it a landmark agreement on automotive R2R, the coalition affirmed a 2014 national memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding R2R that, in part, states, “independent repair facilities shall have access to the same diagnostic and repair information that auto manufacturers make available to authorized dealer networks.”

In its joint letter sent to Congress today, the coalition wrote, “This commitment was created with our mutual and valued customers in mind: vehicle owners. It affirms that consumers deserve access to safe and proper repairs throughout a vehicle’s lifecycle [and] it is built to last because it anticipates changes in automotive technologies and market evolutions.”

The agreement became effective when the letter signed by the coalition was sent to Congress.

Group members voiced concerns Wednesday about anti-trust actions in standardizing a platform and what exactly “standardized” means. Elizabeth Frazier, attorney and partner at Pierce Atwood on behalf of Auto Innovators said anti-trust wouldn’t be an issue as long as a government entity oversees the creation of the standardized platform.

“That might be one important reason to have some kind of set of rules and regs [regulations] that the government is involved in developing and implementing; whether it’s an independent entity, whether it’s a state agency,” she said. “So long as there is that kind of government overlay and government decision-making involved I think the fact that industry participants are getting together to help the government figure that out would take this out of any kind of antitrust liability concerns.”

After much debate, the committee decided they could consider including recommended clarifications of the statute in addition to how to create the independent entity in its report that is due to the legislature by Feb. 28, 2025.

Member Jeff Groves, who retired as general counsel for O’Reilly Auto Parts, questioned how Mainers would continue to have the right to repair their vehicles.

“Things are dynamic and things change,” he said. “How can this process be reactive? And part of that is to have people who are vested from the auto manufacturers to the dealers to the shops and the aftermarket parts and distribution folks talking about the issues that come up in real time so that they can solve those issues so that the consumers can continue to have a choice in where they have their motor vehicles repaired. Otherwise, the possibility is they lose that choice.”

The rest of the meeting focused on a technical presentation about vehicle-generated data and telematics — what it is, concepts and terminology, available data, how data is used, and more. The full presentation begins about an hour into the meeting. A video of the meeting will be posted on the working group’s YouTube channel.

The group considered setting aside 30 minutes at its next meeting on Sept. 26 to hear from two or three independent repairers about right to repair concerns and issues they might be facing. The Zoom link to the meeting and other materials are available here.

The group said it also intends to have public comment during a future meeting but hasn’t given a date yet.

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