Joanna Johnson, AOCA policy advisor, will take part in an education session called “The Fast Lube Industry is Always Changing: Here is What You Need to Know Before it is Too Late.” She shared some of the big industry topics that she has on her radar.
As told to Matt Hudson
In the first three months of the pandemic, getting automotive maintenance into the federal and state “essential business” criteria was critical. Most fast lube operations are small businesses running on tight margins.
Shutting down for half a year was simply not an option. Moreover, transportation safety requires preventative automotive maintenance. It’s a necessity, not a luxury, so it must be readily available at a reasonable cost. Since the fast lube industry takes care of approximately 81 million services per year, an industry shutdown would’ve had a domino effect across the supply chain, potentially causing a permanent reconfiguration of the automotive services marketplace.
Many customers would have been pushed back into do-it-yourselfer mode with all the injuries and used oil pollution that accompany it.
Instead, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and state governments responded to AOCA’s advocacy and recognized automotive maintenance as essential. Fast lube operators stayed open and held it together, providing reliable jobs for their employees, reliable services for their customers, and hope for their communities at a time when everything around them felt so out of control.
All the basics continue to apply such as technician training, employee and customer safety, oil pollution prevention, and ensuring lubricants are properly described on labels and receipts for weights and measures compliance. But operators are also facing supply chain disruptions—especially oil filters, a proposed merger between re-refiners Clean Harbors/Safety Kleen and Vertex Energy that could significantly increase used oil recycling costs, and daily managing automaker Magnuson Moss Warranty Act violations that essentially blame aftermarket service providers for engine defects—the last-person-to-touch-it defense. Hyundai and Kia are among the most common offenders with their Theta II, Nu, and Gamma engine problems and factory-painted oil drain pan assemblies that camouflage the factory gasket.
AOCA is working on all of the issues mentioned here as well as new regulatory proposals such as OSHA’s proposal to create a general standard to prevent heat illness and injury due to increased nationwide exposure to excessive temperatures as well as state proposals to expand oil pollution prevention requirements.
In addition to everything above, we’ll also cover electric vehicles and special issues impacting California, like recent ARD legislation, and New York, like the Hero Act.
