I attended a very important meeting October 8, presented by the Automotive Aftermarket Retailers of Ontario (AARO) and it concerns you—the ASP in Canada… all of Canada!

Often, service technicians have trouble getting the information they need in a timely manner. The car comes in and the tech gets the scan tools in order to find out what’s wrong with the vehicle.

And here’s the problem. The technician doesn’t have access to the information needed to fix the problem… and that’s downright maddening! You need access to all the information as well as the Vehicle Security information, just like the dealership does.

There’s a voluntary agreement now between the Aftermarket and the vehicle manufacturers—the Canadian Automotive Service Information Standard (CASIS) agreement—but you can’t always get the information you need. Some OEM websites let you access the information for a period of time. You fill out a form, send it to the manufacturer, then wait up to two business days for your application to be processed (meanwhile, the car is still on the hoist)! If you’re approved, you’ll be given access. On other sites the needed information is not available for Canada, nor can you get the key codes. And on it goes…

AARO provides

Now AARO has a solution! The association has info on Training, Vehicle Security, Access to Service Information not available through normal information services (ALLDATA, Mitchell, etc.), marketing (working with WDs to promote NASTF), Service Information Requests (SIR), and Programming. And all are available to you.

AARO and NASTF formed a relationship and have a “Taskforce” of people in the Aftermarket across Canada—folks like Mike Adema, AST from Georgetown; John Cochrane AST, Toronto; Mark Lemay, AST, Barrie; Roydon Rump, AST Ottawa; Steve Gushie, President CARQUEST Canada; Sean Hill, AST Saskatchewan; Girard Benoit, AST Montreal; Corey Grant, AST Nova Scotia; Niall Black, Motorcade; Mark Ascott, AST BAARA… and that’s only some of them. The supporters of Repair It Right 2020 are also from across Canada and some are—Delphi, Saskatchewan Independent Automotive Professionals (SIAP); Maslack Supply; Vast Auto; Automotive Sector Council of Nova Scotia; AIA; Entrepot de Montreal (Monaco Group); OARA/ARC and AARO. The Taskforce will attend NASTF General Meetings and report back to Canadian Service Repairers—YOU

The SIR form

Your first step is to use the SIR forms provided by AARO. Go to the website aaro.ca. On the left side, you’ll see “REPAIR IT RIGHT.” Fill in the Service Information Request form (the second tab down under How & When to Fill Out a SIR) plus look at the video about the form.

“When that’s done, click send. The National “Repair It Right 2020” Taskforce Technicians will review it and will give you an answer in real time! At that point if you’re not a member of NASTF, you can join. It’s free. You can also apply to be a Vehicle Security Professional (VSP) on the site for key codes, etc. Most importantly, when you apply to NASTF, make sure you tick the “AARO” in the drop-down box.

You need that information quickly, and this is how you get it. If you have trouble, contact AARO administrators, Diane Freeman [email protected] or Luanne Fedosoff [email protected] and they‘ll get your forms through to NASTF.

A simple solution to your problem… and AARO, Repair It Right and the Taskforce are making this available to you! Use it!