"The Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act guarantees every car owner's right to have their vehicle serviced at the repair facility of their choice, this was the Auto Care Association’s principal policy objective for many years. The industry’s wildly successful campaign in Massachusetts paved the way for a national solution, eventually finalized in a 2014 memorandum of understanding between the Auto Care Association, Coalition for Auto Repair Equality (CARE), and vehicle manufacturers. For the first time ever, new car manufacturers must make the same service information and tools available to independent repair shops that they provide for their franchised dealers. This MOU has become the model for right to repair agreements across the U.S. for many of the industries mentioned above. However, the Massachusetts Right to Repair law and subsequent national agreement specifically excluded telematics, which is the data transmitted wirelessly from the vehicle to the manufacturer, as written in the excerpt from the act relative to Automotive Repair (excerpt shown below). In order for the independent auto care industry to maintain and service today's ""connected"" vehicles, it must be granted access to this information. The industry once again took the fight to Massachusetts in 2020 in order to ensure Right to Repair applies to the next generation of vehicles. On November 3, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly supported a ballot initiative that would provide car owners with access to their mechanical data and would permit owners to share that data with the repair shop of their choice. Read more here."

Passage of this legislation means that car owners will continue to determine where they have their vehicle maintained and repaired, thus ensuring a competitive repair marketplace in Massachusetts. Supporters further hope that action by Massachusetts voters will spur serious consideration of federal legislation to ensure that all U.S. car owners can continue to decide where and how their vehicle is maintained.