Putting the Brakes on Car Repair Fraud

Cars are the biggest expenditure most families will make next to their house,' says Melvin Butch Hollowell. 'Yet most don't even know who to call to help them when things go wrong at the car shop.'

DETROIT, Oct. 1, 2002 -- Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Melvin Butch Hollowell released a plan today to deal with the widespread dissatisfaction vehicle owners have when it comes to getting their cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles repaired. The "Don't get taken for a ride" campaign is a five-point initiative to increase consumer satisfaction, reduce the number of illegal auto repair facilities operating in the state and better educate the public about car maintenance.

"Who, at some point, hasn't gotten their car fixed and felt as if they have just been taken for a ride?" says Hollowell. "I am going to be the auto consumer protection watchdog in Michigan. It's an area that has been long neglected. I want to work with communities to crack down on unlicensed garages that offer the public no protection at all. Those businesses operate at the expense of those dealerships and auto repair businesses who follow the rules."

The five-point initiative is intended to focus the Secretary of State's office on tackling the Michigan consumer's second largest consumer complaint next to the telecommunications rip-offs -- auto repair fraud.

They include:

1) Put more car fraud investigators in the field and reduce the time it takes to process complaints. They reportedly can take as long as a year and a half to resolve. This initiative will focus mainly on independent repair shops that in a typical year receive four times as many complaints as dealerships do.

2) Create a website to publish a list of complaints against car repair facilities.

3) Cracking down on unlicensed car repair facilities. Unlicensed repair facilities undercut law-abiding businesses while posing a threat to unsuspecting consumers.

4) Partner with the State Department of Education to educate the public on their rights. Working together the two can create an educational video that would provide consumer friendly information at all Secretary of State offices. The office would also urge schools and driver's training schools to teach basic car maintenance.

5) Create a level playing field for businesses by working toward legislation that would establish fines for fraudulent practices at tire and oil changing establishments. These "minor" repair facilities compete with full service repair facilities and cost Michigan consumers thousands of dollars per year. They may be just as prone to complaints about fraud as more complicated repair and maintenance procedures, to expand consumer protection.

"This five point plan will put the Secretary of State's office back on the road to consumer protection," says Hollowell.

Hollowell noted that one of the major functions of the office is to regulate auto dealers and car repair shops. The Secretary of State's Office receives about 4,000 complaints a year against such establishments for doing fraudulent repairs or charging exorbitant prices for legitimate repairs. Research suggests that the issue is more acute with female car owners.

In fact:

About 65 percent of the time, women are the ones who take the cars into shops for maintenance and repairs. Source: American Woman Road & Travel 1997-99 Female Buyer Study According to the National Traffic Safety Administration, 50 cents of every dollar women spent on auto repairs was unnecessary and sometimes fraudulent. Source: 2/92 Dallas Morning News When asked in a phone survey whether men or women are generally treated better with dealing with car repairs, 87 percent of the 2,010 respondents said that men are treated better than women. Source: 6/14 - 18 survey conducted for NBC News and the Wall Street Journal by the Roper Center at the University of Connecticut According to the National Automotive Parts Association, 56 percent of women find car care "bothersome." Only 41 percent believe technicians will handle service problems fairly and nearly 80 percent don't believe that technicians follow a professional code of ethics. Source: Automotive News, 4/3/00 "Cars are the biggest expenditure most families will make next to their house," says Hollowell. "Yet most people don't even know who to call when things go wrong at the repair shop. I am going to change that as Secretary of State. Michigan is the automotive capital of the world. We should have car repair fraud protection reflective of that fact."