advocacy

Weekly Legislative Update
March 10, 2025

  • Release Date: March 10, 2025

TIA Signs Industry Letter to Congress Supporting the REPAIR Act

Members of the House of Representatives:

We write in support of HR 1566, the Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair Act (REPAIR Act).

This legislation ensures vehicle owners, independent repair shops, and aftermarket manufacturers have secure access to vehicle repair and maintenance data.

This access is critical to the independent aftermarket industry’s ability to provide safe, reliable, and affordable repairs for your constituents, and we respectfully request that you cosponsor this legislation.

As vehicle technology grows more complex, repairing and maintaining today’s vehicles requires access to vehicle repair data, compatible replacement components, training, and sophisticated diagnostic tools.

The REPAIR Act guarantees the rights of owners and their designated repair facilities to maintain and repair their vehicles while maintaining the same cybersecurity standards, intellectual property protections and vehicle safety standards that exist today.

Vehicle owner and independent shop access to vehicle repair data is increasingly at risk as Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) tighten control over its availability.

Today, OEMs collect terabytes of data from their vehicles wirelessly and store it in their cloud servers. The OEMs then unilaterally decide to whom they give access to this data and under what terms and conditions. (Comment from Alliance for Automotive Innovation to the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) in its Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain: Connected Car Advance Notice of

Proposed Rulemaking).

These potentially anticompetitive practices leave independent repairers unable to service vehicles and prevent aftermarket suppliers from offering high-quality, safe, and affordable replacement parts to consumers. In fact, an independent survey conducted last year demonstrated that 63% of repair shops report having difficulties making routine repairs on a daily or weekly basis.

Moreover, 51% of shops report sending up to 5 cars per month to the dealer due to data restrictions, resulting in an estimated $3.1 billion cost to consumers.

This issue will only get worse as the U.S. vehicle fleet ages. According to S&P Global Mobility, the “average age of cars and light trucks in the United States has risen again to a new record of 12.6 years in 2024, up by two months over 2023.”

Over 70% of out of warranty vehicle repairs are done in the aftermarket and are generally 36% less expensive than dealerships. Car owners appreciate independent repair shops for their “trustworthiness, reasonable prices, knowledgeable mechanics, and good reputation.”

The independent aftermarket is an essential economic engine in every congressional district and state across the nation, with more than 4,900,000 employees and a fiscal impact of more than $500 billion annually.

The REPAIR Act eliminates an existential threat to these jobs and the economy, while ensuring a robust ecosystem of repair options. Consumers and fleet owners will be able to select their repair facility of choice and have access to a variety of aftermarket parts.

?Independent repair shops will continue to be able to provide timely and quality repair and maintenance choices to their customers.

We express our sincere gratitude to Representatives Dunn, Gluesenkamp Perez, Davidson, and Boyle for continuing to support consumers through this legislation, and we encourage you to join them in doing so as a cosponsor of HR 1566, the REPAIR Act.

Sincerely,

Tire Industry Association

Alabama Tire Dealers Association

Alliance of State Automotive Aftermarket Associations

American Motorcyclist Association

Association of Diesel Specialists

Auto Care Alliance

Auto Care Association

Automotive Aftermarket Association Southeast, Inc.

Battery Council International

CAWA – Representing the Automotive Parts Industry

Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network

Consumer Access to Repair Coalition

iFixit

MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers

Midwest Auto Care Alliance

National Federation of Independent Business

New England Tire & Service Association

New Jersey Gasoline, C-Store, Automotive Association

Preventative Automotive Maintenance Association

Service Station Dealers of America and Allied Trades

The Repair Association
 

Treasury Expands CTA Relief

The millions of businesses that rode out the recent roller-coaster of court rulings and chose not to file their CTA reports to date should be feeling pretty good right now.

Fresh on the heels of FinCEN’s announcement that it was pausing enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act pending the enactment of new regulations, the Treasury Department shed some additional light on what the new reporting regime will look like.

Here’s the press release:

The Treasury Department is announcing today that, with respect to the Corporate Transparency Act, not only will it not enforce any penalties or fines associated with the beneficial ownership information reporting rule under the existing regulatory deadlines, but it will further not enforce any penalties or fines against U.S. citizens or domestic reporting companies or their beneficial owners after the forthcoming rule changes take effect either. The Treasury Department will further be issuing a proposed rulemaking that will narrow the scope of the rule to foreign reporting companies only. Treasury takes this step in the interest of supporting hard-working American taxpayers and small businesses and ensuring that the rule is appropriately tailored to advance the public interest.

So anyone concerned about the Trump administration’s position on the CTA – particularly after FinCEN appealed a ruling that had prevented the reporting requirements from taking effect – can breathe a sigh of relief.

Here’s how President Trump reacted to the announcement:

"Exciting news! The Treasury Department has announced that they are suspending all enforcement of the outrageous and invasive Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirement for U.S. Citizens. This Biden rule has been an absolute disaster for Small Businesses Nationwide. Furthermore, Treasury is now finalizing an Emergency Regulation to formally suspend this rule for American Businesses. The economic menace of BOI reporting will soon be no more."

?And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent:

"This is a victory for common sense. This action is part of President Trump's bold agenda to unleash American prosperity by reining in burdensome regulations, in particular for small businesses that are the backbone of the American economy."

This is good news all around. Not only is Treasury taking aggressive action to limit the damage the CTA poses to the small business community, but it’s evident our concerns about the law are shared by some pretty important people.

There are, however, some open questions as to how things play out from here. The Administration clearly has the ability to amend regulations issued by their predecessor, but what about the underlying statute? And what about the many court cases pending that challenge the CTA based on fundamental constitutional issues? 

Our plan is to press forward in supporting the court challenges while working with Congress on repeal language.

The announcement provides the business community with immediate relief from this onerous and unconstitutional data grab.

 Now it’s our job to make that relief permanent. 

Interest Rates Remain the Same for the Second Quarter of 2025

The Internal Revenue Service announced interest rates will remain the same for the calendar quarter beginning April 1, 2025.

For individuals, the rate for overpayments and underpayments will be 7% per year, compounded daily. Here is a complete list of the new rates:

  • 7% for overpayments (payments made in excess of the amount owed), 6% for corporations.
  • 4.5% for the portion of a corporate overpayment exceeding $10,000.
  • 7% for underpayments (taxes owed but not fully paid).
  • 9% for large corporate underpayments.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, the rate of interest is determined on a quarterly basis. For taxpayers other than corporations, the overpayment and underpayment rate is the federal short-term rate plus three percentage points.

Generally, in the case of a corporation, the underpayment rate is the federal short-term rate plus three percentage points and the overpayment rate is the federal short-term rate plus two percentage points.

The rate for large corporate underpayments is the federal short-term rate plus five percentage points. The rate on the portion of a corporate overpayment of tax exceeding $10,000 for a taxable period is the federal short-term rate plus one-half (0.5) of a percentage point.

The interest rates announced today are computed from the federal short-term rate determined during January 2025.

?See the revenue ruling for details.

Revenue Ruling 2025-7 PDF announcing the rates of interest, is attached and will appear in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-13, dated March 24, 2025.
 

REMINDER: TIA Launches Online Tool for Reporting Right-to-Repair Issues

The Tire Industry Association (TIA) is proud to announce a significant update to its website, introducing a new tool designed to amplify the voices of shop owners and technicians nationwide. The "Right to Repair - Report Your Issue" form empowers industry professionals to report instances where they face barriers to diagnosing or repairing vehicles, providing critical data to protect the right to repair for all.

With reports increasing of automakers restricting access to both wired (OBD-II) and wirelessly (telematics) generated diagnostic and repair information, TIA aims to document the real-world impacts of these restrictions on businesses, consumers, and the broader economy.

Why the Right-to-Repair Form Matters

The form gathers key information about repair challenges, including:

  • Vehicle specifics: Make, model, and year.
  • Maintenance attempt details: What type of repair was being performed and whether diagnostic codes were accessible.
  • Barriers encountered: Lack of proper tools, unavailable OEM documentation, refusal to sell parts, or required software updates.
  • Current vehicle status: Whether the repair was completed, or the vehicle remains inoperable.

TIA assures users that all submissions will remain confidential, and no identifying personal or business information will be disclosed when case studies are presented on Capitol Hill.

The form is now live and can be accessed at https://www.tireindustry.org/advocacy/right-to-repair-report-your-issue/.