State AGs Urge Congress to Pass SMART, REPAIR Acts

Counterman · March 28, 2023

The Consumer Access to Repair (CAR) Coalition is commending a bipartisan letter from 28 state attorneys general urging lawmakers to approve bipartisan legislation protecting consumer rights in the post-collision auto repair market.

Specifically, the attorneys general are urging key members of Congress to advance the SMART and REPAIR Acts, which have recently been reintroduced in the 118th Congress.

“We applaud the bipartisan group of attorneys general for urging Congress to pass commonsense right to repair legislation, like the recently reintroduced SMART and REPAIR Acts,” CAR Coalition Executive Director Justin Rzepka said. “These attorneys general, as chief consumer protection and antitrust enforcers, are well aware of the pressure of rising prices on the people in their states. Swift federal legislation is critical to protecting consumers’ right to repair the products they purchase – restoring choice to the repair process, increasing competition and lowering costs.”

The letter states in part: “The Right-to-Repair is a bipartisan issue that impacts every consumer, household and farm in a time of increasing inflation. It is about ensuring that consumers have choices as to who, where, when and at what cost their vehicles can be repaired. It is about ensuring small automobile businesses and ‘mom-and-pop’ auto shops can remain competitive against a closed system favored by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).”

The letter can be read in full