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News - Detail
2010-March 23 - PCI Urges Congress to Favor Consumers and Pass Access to Repair Parts Act.
Link to Article
"PCI Urges Congress to Favor Consumers ......"
BY insurancenewsnet.com
In testimony before the U.S. Congress yesterday, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) expressed support for H.R. 3059, the “Access to Repair Parts Act” and highlighted how consumers benefit from greater availability and competition in the automotive collision repair parts market.
DES PLAINES, Ill. – In testimony before the U.S. Congress yesterday, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) expressed support for H.R. 3059, the “Access to Repair Parts Act” and highlighted how consumers benefit from greater availability and competition in the automotive collision repair parts market.
The availability of aftermarket “crash parts,” such as fenders and doors that are commonly replaced after an auto accident, has had a moderating effect on the price of such parts sold by car companies for decades, according to Bob Passmore, PCI senior director of personal lines. PCI is urging Congress to pass H.R. 3059 because it will help ensure that design patents will not be used in anticompetitive ways, and that high quality aftermarket parts will remain available, helping to keep auto repair and insurance costs down for consumers.
“At its core, this is a consumer issue,” said Passmore. “The costs of auto body repair are borne by consumers, either reflected in their insurance costs, or directly when they pay for repairs themselves.”
Since 2003, car companies have increasingly filed for design patents to protect not only the overall design of the vehicle, but also individual component parts of the vehicles they manufacture.
"Auto manufacturers justifiably use design patents to protect the overall design of their cars from the other car companies they compete with in the primary market," said Passmore, "but some manufacturers are also using them in an unjustifiable way—to keep competitors out of the market for replacement crash parts.”
PCI estimates that eliminating the competitive influence of even a small market share for alternatively supplied parts would result in more than $3 billion in increased insurance costs annually.
PCI is composed of more than 1,000 member companies, representing the broadest cross-section of insurers of any national trade association.
PCI members write over $180 billion in annual premium, 37.4 percent of the nation’s property casualty insurance. Member companies write 44 percent of the U.S. automobile insurance market, 30.7 percent of the homeowners market, 35.1 percent of the commercial property and liability market, and 41.7 percent of the private workers compensation market.
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HAZARD INSURANCE SERVING MIAMI, HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA KEY, FT LAUDERDALE, FL - AUTO, HOME, COMMERCIAL, BOAT, RV, MOTORCYCLE
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