May 7, 2010

GREETINGS AND SAL-UTATIONS!

Dear NJGCA Member:

C’MON GUYS!!   I NEED HELP NOT HURT!

I am fighting like hell down in Trenton to preserve and alter the Motor Vehicle Inspection System that has been in effect for the past 50 years.  Hey I enjoy being bloodied and having a good scrap every now and then.  However, I really will enjoy getting a bloody nose more if I win the fight.  Certainly you will like it better if I win the fight too.

Although I am receiving some help from the troops, I am finding that too many of you are not doing poop!  In fact some of you are hurting us all very badly!

How is that?  I think I will begin with those of you that are hurting us.

Why is it that at the worst opportune time, many of you have resorted to stupid and asinine practices performing Motor Vehicle Inspections?  In the 3 years that I have been here I have asked NJGCA Director of Member Services Debbie Hill to advise you, assist you, and even accompany you to hearings with enforcement officials because of dumb mistakes both honest and dishonest that were made in your shops while inspecting motor vehicles.

In the past few months I have had an unusually high amount of members that need help to remove their private parts from a vice because of dumb and fraudulent behavior.  What gives?

In case you aren’t aware of this; it is fraud if you substitute one vehicle for another when hooking up your inspection equipment.  I know you all know this, yet many of you are practicing this in order to pass a car that otherwise is unable to pass inspection.  You are not doing yourself or your customer a favor when you do this.  MVC will send agents directly to your customer’s home to investigate.  They will take pictures and they will get you to incriminate yourself.

*** NOTE TO PIFs……..30 seconds after you hook a vehicle to the inspection equipment, officials in Trenton are monitoring the inspection.  When the vehicle identification number is read from the cars computer it must match the info that the customer has provided.

The issue of fraud continues to be thrown in my face as I ask lawmakers to support an overhaul of the system that would eventually have ALL vehicles inspected at PIFs and permanently close the CIFs.  The bad behavior and actions of a few taint the majority of you that follow the proper procedures.  STOP giving us all a black eye!

Now I will address the lack of help.

More than 6 months ago I shared with you that I had a gut feeling the new Governor and his team of bean counters would have to investigate “eliminating safety inspections”
Why?  Because the state can pay Parsons less by reducing the services required from them in CIF lanes.

At first glance this makes sense.  However, I have presented the Governor with a plan that would save just as much if not more money, still keep cars safe, and boost the number of vehicles visiting your shop.  I have asked the Governor to send ALL RE-INSPECTIONS to PIFs and prohibit RE-INSPECTIONS at CIFs.

MY proposal will save the state $13 million.

In anticipation of this dilemma, I began asking you to take pictures of extremely unsafe vehicle that had been presented to you for inspection.  I know I have made this request at least 4 times in the past 6 months.  Your response has been poor at best.  I know better than anyone how busy you are running your shops, and that my request is inconvenient, but unless you help me, I will have to go to war with a sling shot rather than a bazooka.

I have even had a burst of calls from some of you recently complaining that the Governor wants to eliminate safety from motor vehicle inspections.  You are calling to tell me about the car you just serviced that didn’t belong on the road because of the safety condition you just found.  Happily I have replied, “Great send me the pictures”.

UH.OH…the customer has left and a picture and documents were never recorded.  So just exactly how do I use this example with lawmakers when I am trying to convince them that ELIMINATING SAFETY IS NUTS?

So here is a last chance for you to help yourself and the other PIFs.

1).IMMEDIATELY Keep a camera handy in your shop.

2). Take pictures of ANY UNSAFE CONDITION that you find even if the vehicle is not visiting you to have a NJ Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection.  Obviously BRAKES, TIRES, STEERING, are compelling examples, but do not dismiss leaky exhausts and inoperable brake lights and turn signals.

3). Think back to previous inspections over the past 6 months when you found extremely unsafe conditions.  Retrieve your repair order and send me the details.

4). Make sure that all customer information is made available, and please understand that I will never use that info without permission.

5). Be prepared to give a verbal account to a legislator or a legislative committee if I need your testimony.

I am lining up legislators, both Republican and Democrat, to support my proposal and reject the Governor’s proposal to eliminate Safety.

Your assistance will help greatly in my effort.

Don’t make me beg!  Just do it!  In the end we can have a very sweet victory.

I am grateful to Charlie Bryant who is the Executive Director of our friends at AASP/NJ.  Charlie forwarded last week’s Road Warrior outlining our predicament here in NJ to his colleagues in other states.  Several of them responded with compelling information and studies that were done in their states that helped convince their lawmakers to keep safety inspections in force for their state’s motorists.  I am already using some of that information to help persuade NJ lawmakers.

Thanks again Charlie.  You are my hero this week for sure!

Thanks for reading and see you next week! 

Regards,
Sal Risalvato
Executive Director 

 IN THIS WEEK’S NJGCA ROAD WARRIOR                                    

UPDATE: NEW PIF CLASSES ADDED!!
•Added All PIF and Diesel classes below!!

POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC
•Participate in the NJGCA PAC today and help us keep our Agenda rolling in Trenton!

NEWS AROUND THE STATE
•Lawmakers push residency bill for state workers
•School vouchers touted as a solution to education problems
•Federal Right to Repair Act gains high-profile sponsors
•State pension, benefit overhaul could prompt teachers to retire

 ON THE NJGCA HOMEPAGE                                                           

MEMBER SAVINGS PAGE
Check out all of our MBPs and Programs designed to SAVE YOU MONEY!

HELPFUL LINKS
Looking for something? Take a look at our list of useful links!

NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
Find all our communications and search for old e-newsletters. Take a look!

NEWS AROUND THE STATE ARCHIVE
Need to catch up on events?  Want to see what's going on?  Find out here!

 KNOW YOUR TERRITORY MANAGER!                                           

Henry Darden: Territory Manager for Middlesex, Union, Part of Essex (Southern Half)
Cell: 973-477-0057
Email: henry@njgca.org

Jack Leli: Territory Manager for Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean, Salem
Cell: 732-995-1637
Email: jack@njgca.org

Bob Quirk: Territory Manager for Bergen, Hudson, Part of Essex (Northern Half)
Cell: 201-214-8836
E-mail: bob@njgca.org

Frank Stewart: Territory Manager for Morris, Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon, Passaic
Cell: 973-234-7403
Email: frank@njgca.org
 
Don Stohrer: Territory Manager for Monmouth, Mercer, Somerset
Cell: 732-539-2955
Email: don@njgca.org

UPDATE: NEW PIF CLASSES ADDED!!
CALL FOR FUTURE CLASS SCHEDULE INFORMATION

SPECIAL NOTICE: All PIF & DIESEL INSPECTORS

NJGCA is offering 4 SPECIAL ONE DAY DEIC – PIF CLASSES
ON THE FOLLOWING DATES:

May 11th, May 18th, and May 25th

Location for all Classes: NJGCA Springfield Office (Boardroom)
Time: 7: 30 am to 3:00pm
Tuition: Member: $299.00 – Non-member: $349.00

ETEP Re-Certification Classes
NJGCA is offering the ETEP course that your ERT’s need in order to re-certify their license.

Our Course includes:
•New Jersey State Specific Information Course
•ETEP Section 6 “OBDII Monitoring Failures”
•Section 7 “Light-Duty Diesel Vehicle Technologies and Testing”.
Everything your technician needs to Re-Certify his ERT license!!!

Two classes will be offered on the following dates:
May 11th, 13th, 18th, 20th, & 25th
June 8th, 10th, 15th, 17th & 22nd

Location: for each Class: NJGCA Springfield Office (Boardroom)
Time: 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm each night
Tuition: Member: $489.00 – Non-member: $629.00

PLEASE NOTE: We are always in the process of putting together additional classes. If you are interested in taking classes in this time period, please call NJGCA and let us know so we can add you to the list.

Call Debbie Hill to enroll in the classes at debbie@njgca.org or call 973-376-0066.

POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC

Ensuring our friends in the legislature are re-elected and advocating for our agenda in Trenton are of utmost importance to the agenda of NJGCA.

It is for this reason that your Association has established the NJGCA PAC.

For too long, the weight of funding our Political Action Committee, the arm of the Association responsible for political donations, has rested upon the shoulders of a few.  This is not fair to them, and it is not fair to many of you who are relying on the benefits of good legislation being passed in Trenton.

To truly understand the importance of fundraising for our allies, let’s look back upon the overwhelming successes of the last year:

NJGCA successfully lobbied against BELOW COST SELLING. If approved, BELOW COST SELLING would have cost each of you thousands of dollars and put many of you out of businesses.  NJGCA leaned on some of our friends in the Assembly and literally had the bill pulled off the floor on the day it was scheduled to be voted on.  Our friends in the Legislature helped us get this accomplished.

NJGCA made history and led the charge to pass the most comprehensive protection of franchisees in decades with FIRST RIGHT OF REFUSAL legislation.  FIRST RIGHT OF REFUSAL passed only because NJGCA and dealers throughout the state were able to lean on several friends in the Assembly and the Senate.

NJGCA has been rallying support for RIGHT TO REPAIR over the last two years among key legislators.  This would end the practice of car manufacturers denying you the codes necessary to complete the repairs you make on your customers cars.  Every state has tried to pass RIGHT TO REPAIR and no state has even been able to get the legislation out of committee.   Because of our friends in the Legislature, NJGCA has been successful in getting this bill passed by the Assembly and now awaits a vote in the Senate.

I am asking some of you as individuals to make a contribution and attend a fundraising event sponsored by one of our friends in the Assembly.

However, we will not be able to host events for all of our friends, so the NJGCA PAC will have to make contributions.  You will be receiving letters soon from the NJGCA PAC asking you to make contributions. 

If every member contributes just $100.00 we will be able to provide the help necessary to ensure victory for our allies.

PLEASE SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO:
NJGCA PAC
66 Morris Avenue
Springfield, NJ 07081
Please make your donation payable to NJGCA PAC

I understand that times are tough for all NJGCA members, but this is just as important as any battle we have fought in the past.

We have made great progress in Trenton.  I hope that you will answer the call. 

NEWS AROUND THE STATE

5/5/2010:
Lawmakers push residency bill for state workers
A new bill in Trenton would make it a requirement for public workers and teachers to live in New Jersey as a condition of their employment by the government.  Currently, thousands of workers live in neighboring states like Pennsylvania but work in New Jersey.  A recent amendment would exempt those currently living out of state, but require all future workers to have state residency.

5/3/2010:
School vouchers touted as a solution to education problems
With school funding and the quality of education a major concern of parents and taxpayer, the Governor and some Legislators are pushing vouchers a viable solution to fix ailing schools.  A new, bi-partisan bill now in the Legislature would allow public school choice.

4/30/2010:
Federal Right to Repair Act gains high-profile sponsors
The push to pass the federal Right to Repair act has added new, high-profile supporters as Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut recently was added as a co-sponsor.  A bi-partisan measure, the Right to Repair Act would require carmakers to provide independent repair shops with the same access to the same safety alerts, technical service bulletins, diagnostic tools and repair information they provide to their dealer network.

4/25/2010:
State pension, benefit overhaul could prompt teachers to retire
As the Governor and the Legislature plan major pension and benefit reforms, the Star-Ledger anticipates nearly 30,000 teachers may opt to retire rather than face new regulations.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES IN OUR “NEWS AROUND THE STATE” ARCHIVE