VANCOUVER, B.C. --- Partsforce Automotive announced plans to challenge State Farm's Select Service discount OEM parts program.

Partsforce Automotive, based in Vancouver, is a provider of business intelligence and electronic parts marketing services to auto repair businesses. Its Web-based application ( www.partsforce.com) is currently used by more than 130 collision parts wholesalers and their agents in the United States.

Introduced earlier this year, the State Farm program makes OEM parts available to insurers at discount prices, using well-known electronic parts ordering systems.

"This program bypasses shops by allowing parts dealers to go directly to insurers on the basis of retail price rather than repairers on the basis of wholesale discount," said Gary Cross, Partsforce's vice president of industry relations. 

Partsforce's own answer, focused on helping the bottom lines of dealers, is called the Partsforce Electronic Parts Marketing Management System (EPMMS). Delivered as a Web application, the EPMMS service allows participating dealers to discount select parts to all insurers and to customize availability and pricing according to local market needs, the company said.