What's ASA?
If you have been to our shop, or read our advertising, you have seen the ASA logo. I am sure that most of you have no idea what this means, or what the organization does.
The Automotive Service Association is the largest not-for-profit trade association of its kind dedicated to and governed by independent automotive service and repair professionals. ASA serves an international membership base that includes numerous affiliate, state and chapter groups from both the mechanical and collision repair segments of the automotive service industry. ASA's headquarters is in Bedford, Texas.
Our association is made up of shops of every size and type, vendors of parts and supplies, training organizations and schools and insurance companies. The purpose is to help the garage owner succeed in our ever changing industry. The ASA keeps us informed about technical, legal and management issues for our industry. It helps us influence decisions made by the manufacturers, the EPA and other government agencies. ASA is currently involved in the battle to prevent insurance companies from owning their own repair shops. We believe it cannot serve the motorist's interests if the person paying the bill for the repair is also the one doing it.
We are also working to provide an evaluation of extended warranties. There are so many companies offering warranties that it is almost impossible to know the good from the bad plans. ASA will soon provide a pamphlet that will compare the major plans offered and allow you to intelligently decide which one fits your needs.
Another concern of the Association is parts quality. With the out-sourcing of parts manufacturing it is not uncommon to open 2 boxes of supposedly the same part from the same supplier and find that one is made in Mexico and the other in Korea (or China). We are working to make the vendor identify the parts properly and not substitute what we consider a lesser quality part without our knowledge.
When you see the ASA logo displayed at a shop it means that they not only care about their business, but the industry as a whole and are probably there for the long term.