"Who Pays for What" summer survey findings released

About 51 percent of shops say they are paid “always” or “most of the time” to pressure test and purge a vehicle cooling system when necessary as part of a repair, yet more than 40 percent of shops acknowledge never having billed for this not-included procedure.

ABRN Wire Reports

Oct. 2, 2017

3 min read

That’s among the findings of this summer’s “Who Pays for What?” survey – results being released as the latest of the quarterly surveys, which covers aluminum repair rates and shop supplies, opens and runs through October 31. Mike Anderson of Collision Advice, creator of the surveys, said it’s become increasingly important to check the OEM repair procedures in relation to testing and purging cooling systems. “Many automakers now are using electronic check-valves on their cooling systems,” Anderson said. “You can’t just manually bleed those cooling systems any more. You need to use a scan tool to initialize an electronic check-valve. So the labor time for this may vary based on whether this procedure can be done manually versus requiring a scan tool.” In addition to the cooling system operation, the July survey, conducted by CRASH Network and Collision Advice, asked shops about their billing practices – and insurers’ payment practices – regarding about two dozen frame and mechanical related operations. The current survey focuses on aluminum repair and shop supplies; shops can take the survey before the end of October by clicking below:https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BM6QJ2D

Survey participants receive a report with complete survey findings at no charge, broken down by region, insurer and DRP vs. non-DRP. The report also includes analysis and resources to help shops better understand and use the information presented.

“More than 89 percent of those taking the survey this summer said participating in ‘Who Pays for What?’ is helping them improve their business, which is great to hear,” Anderson said. “We’re working to add even more information and resources in the report to try to get that even closer to 100 percent.”

Anderson said the survey, which will take about 15-30 minutes, should be completed by the shop owner, manager or estimator who is most familiar with the shop's billing practices and the payment practices of the largest national insurers. Each shop's individual responses are held in the strictest confidence; only aggregated data is released.

The results of previous surveys are also available online (https://www.crashnetwork.com/collisionadvice).

Collision Advice (www.CollisionAdvice.com) is an independent training and consulting firm featuring some of the most respected and experienced experts in the collision repair industry. CRASH Network (www.CrashNetwork.com) is a subscription newsletter offering news and information not available from other industry sources.