Krughoff, Robert M., president, Washington Center for the Study of Laue, Douglas, deputy chief, California State Bureau of Auto- Ligon, W. H., managing director, Texas Service Station Association Page 308 48, 83 369 5, 143, 188 McCarthy, Frank E., executive vice president, National Automobile Deal- McDowell, D. James, managing director, Automotive Engineering and 212 48 212 Mizak, Raymond M., general manager-service, American Motors Corp.. 429, 459 Moretti, Therese, Addison, Ill 477, 491 O'Neill, Brian, vice president for research, Insurance Institute for Highway 511 Pansa, O. Robert, director, service section, consumer relations and service staff, General Motors Corp 429 Persley, Allen S., Houston, Tex... 367 Pipes, Larry A., on behalf of the American Automobile Association of ..... 143, 179 Raftery, William A., president, Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Randall, Donald A., counsel, Automobile Service Councils, Inc Richardson, Archie G., Jr., president, Automobile Owners Action 143, 171 Richey, Allen, executive vice president, Automotive Service Association.... 96 298, 305 429 Stone, Daniel C., manager, motor vehicle inspection programs, Hamilton 143, 144 Uzick, Mrs. Adolph, Houston, Tex..... 374 Vance, Carrol, district attorney of Harris County 354 Vogelheim, Karl, director, warranty administration, American Motors 429 Warren, Glen, director, consumer relations, General Motors Corp 429 21 Welsh, Shelby, past president, Automobile Service Association. 340 West, E. O., Houston, Tex 376 Additional material submitted for the record by- Economic impact of the automobile industry in the State of Texas....... Automotive Parts and Accessories Association, letter dated December 8, Automotive Service Councils, Inc., letter dated February 8, 1979, from Mr. Letter dated January 4, 1979, from Mr. Ditlow to Chairman Eckhardt Illinois Attorney General's consumer fraud and protection division Chicago 421 Exhibit 2-Table 3.1-Satisfaction by purchase category 422 Exhibit 3-Table 5.6-Unremedied strong nonprice problems by pur- 423 Statement of-Continued Independent Garage Owners of Massachusetts, Inc.: Marchitelli, Rich, president, Automotive Legislative Council of Amer- Page 107 Letter dated December 13, 1978 from Mr. Florentine regards to auto- 111 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, attachments to Mr. Kelley's prepared statement: Table 4-1-Vehicle damage assessment-Test No. 11 10 mph front into side average of all vehicles. Attachment A-Excerpt from Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 395 397 401 Attachment B-The highway loss reduction status report 402 404 410 Attachment A-Costs to repair crash test damage for comparable 1978 527 Attachment B-Examples of technology 528 Attachment C-Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 1979 model 530 Attachment D-Estimated costs to repair 1979 models in 5-mile-per- 531 Attachment E-Estimated costs to repair 1979 models in 10-mile-per- 532 Letter dated December 8, 1978, from Mr. Miller to Mr. Berndt re speed Attachment F-Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 1979 model 533 534 Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Consumer Chart-Automobile related prices and the cost of living 1972-78. Car's age influences maintenance..... Unperformed maintenance: $5.4 billion in potential aftermarket More than 40 percent of maintenance functions never performed Percentage of original-owner cars that have never had the product Number of years it takes 50 percent of original-owner cars to have Appendix A-Letter dated August 25, 1978, from Chairman Eckhardt National Body Shop Council, Automobile Service Council's, Inc., attachments to Mr. Benck's prepared statement: Letter dated March 1, 1978, from Mr. Orrico to Motor Trend Magazine 485 Letter dated March 22, 1978, from Mr. Scagnetti, Mr. Orrico 490 Letters submitted for the record by Covington & Burling, Richard D. Copaken and John J. Donohue, counsel to 558 White House, Esther Peterson, Special Assistant to the President for 545 Statement submitted for the record by John Langhorne, Jr., president of 561 ORGANIZATIONS REPRESENTED AT THE HEARINGS American Automobile Association of Missouri, Larry A. Pipes. American Automotive Association, D. James McDowell, managing director, automotive engineering and road services department. American Motors Corp.: Hitz, Neil, general parts manager. Mizak, Raymond M., general manager-service. Vogelheim, Karl, director, warranty administration. Attorney General's Office, David F. Bragg, Chief, Consumer Protection Division. Automobile Owners Action Council, Archie G. Richardson, Jr., president. Automotive Information Council, Ron Weiner, president. Automotive Service Association, Shelby Welsh, past president. Automotive Service Councils, Inc.: Benck, Henry, president, National Body Shop Council. Randall, Donald A., counsel. Bureau of Automotive Repair, Douglas Laue, deputy chief, California State. Chicago's Consumer Protection Agency, Sharon Gist, acting commissioner, department of consumer sales, weights, and measures. Chrysler Corp., Francis G. Hazelroth, general manager, service and parts division. Downs & Sons Auto Service, Morgan Downs. Federal Trade Commission, Albert H. Kramer, Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection. Ford Motor Co., Grant C. Chave, manager, service programs, Ford parts and service division. General Motors Corp.: Pansa, O. Robert, director, service section, consumer relations and service staff. Stenson, Carl, service research. Warren, Glen, director, consumer relations. Hamilton Test Systems, Daniel C. Stone, manager, motor vehicle inspection programs. Harris County, Tex., Carrol Vance, district attorney. Houston Auto Service, Bill Canterbury, owner. Illinois attorney general's consumer fraud and protection division, Michael A. Benedetto, Jr., chief, Chicago office. Independent Garage Owner: Florentine, George A., executive director. Richey, Allen, executive vice president, Automotive Service Association. Independent Garage Owners Association of Illinois, Inc., Anthony DeRosa, president. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: Kelley, Albert Benjamin, senior vice president. O'Neill, Brian, vice president for research. Michigan Department of State Bureau of Automotive Repair, James D. Hunsucker, administrative assistant. National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators: Gregg, Barbara B., president. Rose, George, investigative counsel, office of consumer affairs. National Automobile Dealers Association: Hunt, David, associate counsel. McCarthy, Frank E., executive vice president. Mallon, Robert P., president. National District Attorneys Association, Edward G. Rendell, Philadelphia City district attorney. National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, Daniel C. Knapp, director, operating programs. Texas Service Station Association, W. H. Ligon, managing director. Texas State Senate, Senator Ron Clower, chairman, subcommittee on consumer affairs. Transportation Department: Brownlee, Michael, director, Office of Automotive Ratings. Claybrook, Joan, Administrator. Livingston, Charles, Acting Associate Administrator. University of Texas, Clarence Johnson, director, Texas Public Interest Research Group. Washington Center for the Study of Services, Robert M. Krughoff, president. Wisconsin Auto Collision Technicians Association Ltd., Robert Argall, liaison officer. AUTO REPAIR THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1978 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSUMER PROTECTION AND FINANCE, COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, at 10 a.m., pursuant to notice, in room 2123, Rayburn House Office Building, the Hon. Bob Eckhardt, chairman, presiding. Mr. ECKHARDT. The Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Finance will be in session. Today the subcommittee begins 4 days of hearings on auto repair. Hearings will be held in Washington and in two cities with automobile populations among the largest in the Nation, Houston and Chicago, regarding the entire range of problems and potential remedies associated with what the consumers of this Nation perceive as the auto repair problem. Our witness list is comprehensive and includes those most knowledgeable in every aspect of the auto repair process, from matters of auto design, manufacturing defects, and warranty problems, through the interactions of consumers, State regulatory agencies, and the maintenance repair industry at the shop level. The subcommittee will examine existing programs and recommendations of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Environmental Protection Agency that bear on this complex problem. We will attempt to determine what the auto manufacturers are doing and can do to address design and manufacturing defects and to reduce consumer complaints about warranty repairs. We will examine State and local programs as well as private sector approaches to the problems of unnecessary, incompetent, or fraudulent repair practices. And we will hear from experts in the public and private sector regarding the feasibility of automotive diagnostics as a systematic approach to the auto repair problem. The automobile may well have more impact on the lives of Americans than any other single consumer product. At present, there are approximately 124 million passenger cars and trucks used primarily for personal transportation in the United States. Between the early 1960's and the early 1970's, private transportation costs grew from about 14 percent to about 19 percent of the average American family's consumption expenditures, and the cost of owning and operating our personal vehicles has risen at record rates since then. Between 1972 and June 1978, the Consumer Price Index rose by 55.7 percent, reflecting an average annual inflation rate of about 7.7 percent. New car prices increased by less than this, but taking into account style changes, additional consumer options, and mandated safety equipment, the average consumer outlay for a new car has risen at about the same rate as the CPI. Every other major automobile-related price index has risen more rapidly than the cost of living, including auto maintenance and repair, which has risen at an annual rate of 8.4 percent, well above the rate of inflation. As a result of these trends, in December 1977, private transportation expenditures had equal weight with food in the urban working family's budget, about 19.3 percent of total spending. This has occurred in spite of the disproportionately large increases in the price of food and other basic necessities during this period. Direct outlays on maintenance and repair of family vehicles now account for about half as much as maintenance and repair of the home. Auto repair and maintenance outlays are 86 percent as large as average spending for professional medical services, and more than urban working families spend for men's and boys' apparel or personal and educational expenses. With these hearings, the subcommittee begins a broad program to discover and reduce the avoidable costs of basic necessities in the consumer's budget. We are approaching the auto repair area in an exploratory way, seeking to identify the problems and explore all of the alternative approaches to their solution. While we do not have any specific bills before us, the subcommittee will make findings which could lead to legislation. At this point in the record, I should like to place an attached chart and table with respect to repair and other costs, and also inflation, having to do with the automobile. [The following material was received for the record:] |