# Right to repair: Ray's opinion piece in the Washington Post **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [September 28, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610 "2022-09-28T14:42:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Car\_Talk\_Social\_Media\_Web\_Lackey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d9b06d/32.png) [@Car\_Talk\_Social\_Media\_Web\_Lackey](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Car_Talk_Social_Media_Web_Lackey)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/1 "2022-09-28T14:42:31Z")
Who has read it? > **[Opinion | You deserve the right to have an independent auto shop fix your car](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/28/car-talk-ray-magliozzi-right-to-repair-law/)** > > Passing a "right to repair" law will give car owners a choice beyond the dealership. ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 2:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/2 "2022-09-28T14:50:55Z")
I am not going to even sign up for a free Washington Post subscrition ( which I might have trouble cancelling) to read an article . Why not put it on the Car Talk main page ? ---
**Author:** ![asemaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@asemaster](https://community.cartalk.com/u/asemaster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/3 "2022-09-28T16:16:15Z")
R2R isn’t about rights or information. It’s about money. With very few exceptions related to security and anti-theft systems, there is nothing limiting any customer or shop from repairing cars. I have never seen any shop being “locked out” from any repair. I have seen untold numbers of shops refusing to buy the appropriate equipment and subscriptions and unwilling to send technicians to training and the telling the customer that “only the dealer can do this work.” Unless we are talking about farm equipment, Right to Repair is a bunch of nonsense. Can anyone show an example of a customer being refused the right to repair their car? ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/4 "2022-09-28T19:37:32Z")
I didn’t read the Post article because I won’t pay for it either. I think right to repair might be more aptly used to describe the situation with farm machinery. I understand that John Deere insists that farmers have Deere dealers make repairs and even make it almost impossible for someone else to work on their products. Maybe the subject of this thread should be: does anyone here read the Washington Post? BTW, I live in the Post’s home territory and I don’t want to read about no stinkin Commanders or Nationals or Wizards. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/5 "2022-09-28T22:23:16Z")
> [@asemaster](#): > > Can anyone show an example of a customer being refused the right to repair their car? I’m not aware of any. But the right to attempt your own repair isn’t the same as the right to access to the needed information to effect a repair. Years ago I repaired the clutches in my truck’s differential , but would have had a difficult time doing that job as a diy’er without technical data supplied in a Mitchell’s manual, which presumably came from Ford factory service. If Ford factory service refused to supply the information to Mitchells, while no laws preventing me from attempting the job, my success would have been unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/6 "2022-09-28T22:28:27Z")
> [@jtsanders](#): > > does anyone here read the Washington Post? I read it from time to time. Good source for DC politics news. As far as right to repair, it seems like a customer should have the right to know at time of purchase under what terms the product manufacturer will provide repair information in the future. If customer doesn’t care about repair issues, then if manufacturer states at purchase time “you’ll never have access to repair info for this product” , that won’t affect the purchase decision. btw, for some reason I didn’t have any difficulties reading Ray’s post link. Maybe you’ve already used up your free monthly article allotment? NY Times-online used to do that to me, after a few weeks into month I couldn’t view any more articles, had to wait until beginning of next month. ---
**Author:** ![wolyrobb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/wolyrobb/32/45497_2.png) [@wolyrobb](https://community.cartalk.com/u/wolyrobb)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2022, 1:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/7 "2022-09-29T01:31:05Z")
Suspect it limits how many times you can visit for free but I was able to read the article without subscribing, ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 1:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/8 "2022-09-30T01:16:15Z")
The Post is an excellent newspaper. I just don’t care to pay for it. If I want another paper I would probably get the digital New York Times. I can always go to the public library to read the Washington Post. ---
**Author:** ![Beancounter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/59ef9b/32.png) [@Beancounter](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Beancounter)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 1:56am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/9 "2022-09-30T01:56:58Z")
Long ago 2 automotive laws were passed in response to common auto manufacturer’s practices: 1. Required manfacturers to make parts available for 10 years. 2. Allowed owners to have maintenance work done outside the Dealership without voiding their warranty. So if John Deere is successful in requireing owners to have all repair work done at Deere dealers, how long do you think it will be before GM, Ford, MB, Toyota, etc. will all jump on the gravy train? ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 2:47am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/10 "2022-09-30T02:47:03Z")
Not to offend but I used to read the WaPo every day. But the articles just got so one sided maybe 8 years ago I just couldn’t stand to read it anymore. Plus I like to look at general comments to try and get a feel about where people stand. The comments just became so inflamed there just was no point anymore. Plus I think that half the comments were either paid or robots. ---
**Author:** ![asemaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@asemaster](https://community.cartalk.com/u/asemaster)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2022, 2:56am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/11 "2022-09-30T02:56:16Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > If Ford factory service refused to supply the information That’s the key. I have yet to hear of one instance where a manufacturer refused to supply tooling or technical information to someone willing to pay for it (security systems excluded). ---
**Author:** ![JoeMario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@JoeMario](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JoeMario)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 7:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/12 "2022-10-01T19:02:19Z")
> [@VOLVO-V70](#): > > I am not going to even sign up for a free Washington Post subscrition No need to sign up for a subscription. They allow you one free article to read (per some time period, like a month). The [washingtonpost.com](http://washingtonpost.com) monitors that via cookies, (which you control.) ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 8:46pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/13 "2022-10-01T20:46:57Z")
Additionally–IIRC–disabling JavaScript on their site allows you to read articles w/o paying, but–strangely–it blurs-out the images. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/right-to-repair-rays-opinion-piece-in-the-washington-post/186610/14 "2022-10-02T14:21:05Z")
> [@bing](#): > > Not to offend but I used to read the WaPo every day. But the articles just got so one sided maybe 8 years ago I just couldn’t stand to read it anymore. And your beloved Fox ISN’T one sided? Geez.