Three Associations Join Forces

Automotive recyclers and mechanical and collision repair service providers in Ontario now have a better opportunity to work together in support of key projects and initiatives, and to help further business relationships throughout the automotive service industry.

The three Ontario-based associations with large memberships in the automotive motive power industry in Ontario have agreed to more effectively work together on behalf of service providers.

After a meeting in Burlington, Ontario, the Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association (OARA) representing auto recyclers, the Automotive Aftermarket Retailers of Ontario (AARO) representing automotive mechanical repair facilities, and the Collision Industry Information and Assistance Association (CIIA), who represent eight regional collision repair associations, have started a process to better help one another and their memberships.

“With almost fifteen hundred members across Ontario, the associations feel that working together more effectively would be one of the best things we could do to help our respective industry sectors and members. We had many times in the past worked together to resolve common problems, and have concluded that a formal joint effort to address issues will provide more emphasis, better input, and a broader consensus than any of us could achieve independently,” says Bill Burkimsher, executive director of AARO.

The three associations, the largest in Canada’s largest province, are affiliates of the National Automotive Trades Association (NATA), a national umbrella organization serving grassroots automotive service providers from coast to coast.