By Barett Poley
Ottawa, Ontario — November 14, 2016 — The Automotive Industries Association (AIA) of Canada has announced it will conduct a survey about the Canadian Automotive Service Information Standard (CASIS) agreement.
CASIS was signed in 2009 in Canada to give aftermarket and unaffiliated shops the same access to OEM diagnostic and repair information as dealer-affiliated repair centres. The agreement was supposed to create parity between independent businesses and their car-dealership counterparts, but is it working? Reports say it might not be working as well as it should be, but more information is necessary before coming to conclusions.
AIA Canada reports that after conducting an “informal survey of a few repair shops,” there are definite gaps to be found in the agreement – though before hoping to make amendments the organization need more information, and by extension, your help.
In 2017, AIA Canada is launching a widespread survey of independent shops, hoping to know “what works or does not work for you as a service provider when you have a vehicle in your shop that requires a reprogramming or update.”
According to a statement from AIA Canada, “Your feedback will allow us to make recommendations to the CASIS Task Force, a group that includes the four agreement signatories. Otherwise, the agreement will stand as is.”
Chanel Ghazzawi is Research and Policy manager for AIA Canada and will be administering the survey. AIA Canada will send out invitations to shops in the near future to participate in the survey.
