Aug. 21, 2012—International Research Incorporated (I.R.I.) recently launched a website designed to provide the collision repair industry with prevailing shop labor rates charged across the country.
The website, bodyshopratesurvey.com, allows collision repair shop operators throughout the U.S. to participate in labor rate surveys for free. I.R.I. said its website is not associated with or funded by any insurance company, trade association or special interest group.
Individual surveys and shop identities are not published publicly. Shop identities are only used to ensure that one survey is submitted per location, and that they apply to the correct geographic area, according to the website.
David Brown, spokesperson for I.R.I., said users of the website are able to access and sort the database of survey results. Data can be sorted by geographic location, shop size, retail rates and discounted direct repair and fleet rates. Although participation in the labor rate surveys is free, an annual $189 fee is required to access and sort the data. The fee gives users unlimited access to the information for one year.
I.R.I.’s labor rate surveys focus on a handful of U.S. states each month. In August, the survey is focused on Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. In September, the survey is focused on Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, California and Washington. Visit the website for a complete survey schedule.
"Technology has made it possible for this information to be gathered, calculated and available to every collision repair center, insurance company, consumer, law maker and insurance commissioner in the country at a very low cost, allowing them to be done annually,” I.R.I. said. “Trade Associations no longer need to raise thousands of dollars to conduct surveys and individual shops won't spend hours of their precious time conducting surveys only to be told that ‘they are the only shop in the area with those results.’ Our website makes the entire survey process very transparent, which we believe is a good thing for all the stakeholders.”
