Members of the Automotive Service Association-Colorado, a nonprofit trade association of independent auto service professionals, met recently for a “Learning Circle” with Colorado Sen. Laura Woods (R-Arvada) to discuss abandoned vehicles and other issues facing the auto repair industry.

The ASA-Colorado “Learning Circle” is a monthly meeting in which ASA members share best-practice ideas and exchange ways in which the repair-and-maintenance shops can best serve their customers.

One issue that plagues the industry more frequently than most people realize is the problem of abandoned vehicles in the repair shops’ parking lots, the ASA says.

“The average repair shop can often end up with a few of these cars every year,” said ASA Secretary-Treasurer Dana TePoel, who owns Lake Arbor Automotive and Truck in Westminster. “Somebody sends the junker on the back of a tow truck during our off hours, and then depending upon the value of the car and the type of work to be done, the owner might decline to authorize the repair. While the owner is trying to decide what to do, we might fall out of contact with them, and everybody ends up in a bad position. It’s a lose-lose.”

ASA members told Woods — who represents most of Arvada and the northwest part of Westminster in Jefferson County — there is no legal accommodation for repair shops to take ownership and dispose of the junked automobiles. The ASA has suggested Woods and other lawmakers create legislation that would force the Department of Motor Vehicles to recognize this abandoned-vehicle situation in its bill of sale and other legal paperwork.