By Patrick O’Brien, Director of Government Relations & Compliance, NIADA
As seen in Used Car Dealer Magazine | August 2026
For independent automobile dealers, the right to repair movement is about far more than politics and manufacturer turf battles. It is about ensuring that dealers can continue to repair and recondition vehicles, serve their customers, and provide affordable transportation without being blocked by unnecessary manufacturer restrictions on parts, tools, software, and vehicle data.
That is why NIADA has spent years advocating for federal right to repair legislation and why 2026 has become one of the most significant years yet in the fight to require access to vehicle repair information.
The year began with renewed momentum behind the Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair (REPAIR) Act, legislation introduced in both the United States House of Representatives and Senate designed to ensure that vehicle owners and independent repair professionals have access to the same diagnostic and repair information made available to authorized dealerships. Recognizing the importance of the issue to independent dealers, NIADA joined a broad coalition of aftermarket organizations, repair businesses, and other industry groups to push Congress to act.
As the House Energy and Commerce Committee began work on the Safety Title for the 2026 Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill this spring, coalition members engaged extensively with both Republican and Democratic committee members and staff. Those discussions focused on finding a path forward that could earn broad support while preserving the core principles of the REPAIR Act.
The negotiations were lengthy and, at times, challenging. While coalition partners continued to advocate for the full REPAIR Act, committee leaders sought a compromise that could advance through the legislative process. Throughout the negotiations, NIADA and its coalition partners consistently emphasized a simple message: right to repair is ultimately an affordability and free market issue. Consumers should have the freedom to choose where they repair their vehicles, and independent dealers and repair shops should have fair access to the tools and information necessary to compete.
Those efforts produced a modest amount of forward progress on May 21st when the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved its Safety Title during a full committee markup. While the committee did not adopt the full REPAIR Act, lawmakers included right to repair language that would codify the 2014 data access Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) between automakers and the independent repair industry. The committee-approved language would also authorize the Federal Trade Commission to enforce those agreements. For the first time, manufacturers that fail to live up to their repair commitments could face meaningful federal enforcement.
The legislation is by no means perfect or even optimal. For example, the MOUs do not include the aftermarket parts industry, nor do they address telematics, which is a critical tool in today’s technological environment. To that end, NIADA and our coalition partners continue to believe additional improvements are needed before the House of Representatives considers a final transportation package and sends it over to the Senate, and we are pushing for exactly that. Nevertheless, the committee’s action represented the most significant congressional progress on federal right to repair legislation to date and demonstrated that bipartisan support for the issue continues to grow. Moreover, that momentum abruptly accelerated even further in June.
During June 4th remarks from the Oval Office, President Donald Trump expressed support for policies that make it easier for Americans to fix the vehicles they own. The President’s subsequent “Freedom to Fix” initiative reinforced many of the same principles that have driven the right to repair movement for years: greater consumer choice, increased competition, and fewer barriers imposed by manufacturers. The President’s viewpoints provided an important boost to advocates and brought additional national attention to an issue that directly affects independent dealers and their customers.
Since the May committee markup, NIADA and its coalition partners have remained fully engaged. Coalition members have continued meeting with congressional offices, urging lawmakers to strengthen the right to repair provisions as negotiations on the broader transportation package continue. At the same time, we took our case directly to the White House, and expanded our public outreach efforts through media campaigns, industry publications, and grassroots engagement.
Those efforts are helping lawmakers understand what independent dealers already know: restricting access to repair information does not just affect repair shops. It affects consumers looking for affordable vehicle repairs, dealers working to recondition inventory, and communities that rely on a competitive automotive marketplace.
While important work remains, the progress made in 2026 has demonstrated that right to repair is no longer a fringe issue. It has become a mainstream policy priority with growing bipartisan support in Congress, support from the White House, and backing from a diverse coalition of business groups working to make the entire automotive repair ecosystem fair, affordable, and competitive.
The national conversation has shifted, and NIADA will continue working alongside coalition partners to ensure that independent dealers have the tools, information, and resources necessary to compete in an increasingly complex automotive marketplace. The fight is not over, but the momentum is real. And for the first time in years, meaningful federal right to repair legislation could actually be within reach.
This is exactly the kind of moment where being in the room matters. As right to repair legislation continues to move through Congress and the national conversation keeps shifting in dealers’ favor, NIADA’s National Policy Conference, September 28–29 in Washington, D.C., gives independent dealers a direct seat at the table. Learn more and register at www.niada.com/policy
