Right to repair, in the vehicle context, is the argument that whoever owns a vehicle should be able to have it serviced by whoever they choose, which requires that independent shops can get the same diagnostic data, tools, software, calibration procedures, and parts the franchised dealer gets. Not for free. On fair and reasonable terms.

For a fleet this is a supply question, not a philosophical one. If a repair can only be completed at a dealer, your options for that repair collapse to whatever the dealer network's schedule allows, and you have lost control of both price and cycle time on that class of work.

The technology has moved faster than the rules, so the practical situation on the ground is messier than either side's press release.

What changed inside the vehicle

For decades the arrangement was workable. A shop plugged a scan tool into the diagnostic port, pulled codes, and bought a service manual. Several things broke that model at once.

• Diagnostics moved off the port. Modern vehicles report faults over a telematics connection to the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) before anyone plugs anything in. The data exists; access to it is the OEM's to grant.
• Secure gateway modules sit between the diagnostic port and the vehicle network on many platforms. A shop can often read codes but needs authenticated access, usually a paid OEM subscription, to send bidirectional commands or clear a fault.
• Replacement parts increasingly need programming or pairing to the VIN (vehicle identification number). A physically correct part that will not initialize is not a repair.
• ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) calibration requires OEM procedures, specified targets, and floor space. Get it wrong and you have handed a vehicle back with a camera aimed at the wrong place.
• EV (electric vehicle) high-voltage work is restricted by training requirements, tooling, and in some cases by what the manufacturer will sell at the module or pack level at all.

Each of these has a defensible safety or security rationale. Each also has the side effect of narrowing who can do the work.

Where the fight stands

Three threads have been running in parallel, and none of them has produced a settled answer.

In 2023, automaker and independent aftermarket trade groups signed a memorandum of understanding reaffirming that independent repairers would get access to the diagnostic and repair information needed to service vehicles. It was voluntary and not legally binding, and it has been contested since, with aftermarket and repairer groups disagreeing publicly about whether it delivered meaningful access or mainly restated commitments already made years earlier.

In Massachusetts, voters approved an expansion of the state's data access law covering telematics, and the fight over whether and how it can be enforced has continued through litigation and federal safety objections. Treat its current operative status as unresolved rather than as settled law.

At the federal level, a right-to-repair bill for vehicles has been introduced in Congress more than once. It has not been enacted. Separate efforts have also run through state legislatures and through regulators looking at repair restrictions as a competition issue.

The practical read for a fleet operator: do not plan around a legal outcome. Plan around the access your shops can actually demonstrate today.

Why this matters more to fleets than to individual owners

A consumer with a dealer-only repair loses a Saturday. A fleet with a dealer-only repair category loses capacity, repeatedly, in a pattern.

• Dealer service capacity is not built for fleet volume. Fleet work competes with retail customers and warranty work for the same bays, and a fleet unit that is out of warranty is rarely the priority booking.
• Mixed-brand fleets multiply the problem. Five makes on the yard means five subscription regimes, five tool requirements, and five sets of shops that can handle some of it and not the rest.
• Geography stops matching. Your local independent may be six minutes from the depot while the nearest dealer with the right tooling is forty, which is a tow plus a scheduling queue on every event.
• Price competition disappears on restricted work. When one channel can do the job, the rate is the rate.
• Collision work drags in calibration. A straightforward bumper repair on a vehicle with forward-facing sensors becomes a calibration job, and if the body shop cannot calibrate, the vehicle makes a second trip somewhere else.

The arithmetic is simple enough to do on a whiteboard. A 120-van fleet with one dealer-restricted repair category running four events a month, each losing two extra days to a tow and a booking queue, is giving away 96 vehicle-days a year on scheduling alone, before anybody argues about labor rates.

What to do about it now

You cannot legislate your fleet out of this, but you can buy and route around most of it. Questions worth asking:

1. Ask every shop in your network which OEM subscriptions they hold, which secure gateway platforms they can authenticate to, and whether they can program and pair modules in-house or send that work out.
2. Ask which ADAS calibrations they can perform on site, static and dynamic, and for which makes. Ask to see the targets and the space.
3. Ask what happens when they cannot complete a repair. A shop that will tell you on day one is worth more than one that discovers it on day three.
4. Before adding a make to the fleet, check what its service model requires. Ask the OEM fleet representative directly which repair procedures, parts, and diagnostic functions are available to independent shops and on what terms.
5. Track cycle time by repair category, not just by shop. Restricted categories show up as a stubborn tail on the distribution long before anyone names the cause.
6. Build the network wider than you think you need. Shop coverage for a restricted repair is a real constraint, and the time to find your second option is not the morning you need it.

Frequently asked questions

Does right to repair mean independent shops get everything the dealer has?

That is the goal advocates argue for, not the current reality. Access varies by manufacturer, by model year, and by function, and a good deal of it sits behind paid subscriptions and certification requirements. The practical dividing line today is usually bidirectional control and module programming rather than basic code reading.

Does using an independent shop void the vehicle warranty?

Servicing a vehicle outside the dealer network does not by itself void a manufacturer warranty in the United States, though a manufacturer can deny a specific claim if it shows the outside work caused the failure. Keep parts documentation and repair records for anything that touches a warranted system, because the burden of proof tends to follow the paperwork.

How does right to repair affect electric fleet vehicles?

More sharply than combustion vehicles. High-voltage service carries training and tooling requirements, and manufacturers differ a lot on what they will sell and support at the module level versus the full pack. Before committing to an EV platform at scale, confirm what battery and drive unit service looks like outside the dealer network.

What can a fleet actually do while the law is unsettled?

Treat repair access as a procurement requirement. Qualify shops on tooling and subscriptions rather than on labor rate alone, ask OEM fleet representatives about independent access before you buy, and measure cycle time by repair category so restricted work becomes visible in your own data.

Where ServiceUp fits

ServiceUp is the agentic repair platform for modern fleets, and routing is a large part of what it does. The shop network is not a static directory: it syncs with your fleet profile and shop preferences, and it adjusts as performance data comes in, so a repair that needs a specific subscription or a calibration bay goes to a shop that can finish it rather than to one that will discover the gap halfway through. Fleets bring their own shops, use ours, or both. See how it works for fleets.