AASP/NJ Working with NJ-MVC, Legislators on Mobile Shop Problem
Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey (AASP/NJ) Executive Director has been working with new state NJ-MVC (New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission) Chief Administrator Raymond Martinez as well as state legislators on the growing problem of mobile repair shops in New Jersey. Bryant recently attended the signing in of the new NJ-MVC Chief Administrator in Trenton.
“During the period of time that the past NJ-MVC Chief (Sharon Harrington) left the NJ-MVC and the time that the new Chief Administrator was sworn in, the NJ-MVC had taken a position that mobile auto body shops are not regulated under the current New Jersey Auto Body License Law,” Bryant says. “This is a position that AASP/NJ strongly disagrees with. From the start we have taken the position that mobile shops are already regulated under the current NJ Auto Body License Law because of the provision in the law that says an applicant for an auto body license must have a building suitable for the conduct of all operations within the building, and a Certificate of Occupancy for an auto body repair facility issued by the applicable zoning authority. Although the NJ-MVC has the authority to create additional types of licenses, such as heavy duty truck endorsement and motorcycles, we feel strongly that the NJ-MVC must stay within the scope of what the Legislature has already laid out — that all work must be performed within a building in an area that is properly zoned for auto body work.”
The NJ-MVC position also included a plan to regulate mobile body shops in the near future. After meeting with Chief Martinez, Bryant is very optimistic that position can be changed. “We had a good meeting and we discussed the history of mobile shops and how they create an unfair playing field for repair shops,” Bryant says. “I think Chief Martinez was extremely willing to learn more about the issue and how much of an unfair playing field it would create for an already heavily-regulated industry.”
While AASP/NJ anticipates another meeting with the Chief, the association is working with lobbyist Monica Walsh setting up meetings with state legislators and keeping the pressure on. “This is an issue that is far-reaching,” Bryant says. “It is an issue that not only impacts our industry but the environment as well. We are in a ‘Go Green’ culture right now and mobile shops are the anti-thesis of that. We need to continue to educate the MVC, the legislators and the public until everyone grasps the immediacy of the problem and acts to solve it.”
For more information on AASP/NJ’s NORTHEAST™ Automotive Services Show, please visit www.aaspnjnortheast.com.
