'Who Pays for What' Survey: Shops Aren't Itemizing Diagnostic Labor Time

About one-third of shops itemize on invoices the diagnostic labor time they spend researching diagnostic trouble codes in addition to the charge for the vehicle scan itself, according to just-released results from a “Who Pays for What?” survey. 

Among the more than 500 shops responding to the survey questions related to diagnostic time, about 40 percent acknowledged never having included an itemized charge for diagnostic time. The number is down from 50 percent in 2020, but among those that do, 21 percent say they are paid “always” or “most of the time” for the charge by the largest eight auto insurers. Forty-six percent say they are paid at least “some of the time.” 

Mike Anderson of Collision Advice, which conducts the “Who Pays” surveys in conjunction with CRASH Network, said diagnostic time is becoming an increasingly significant portion of collision repair work. 

“I know first-hand how much time it takes to research and troubleshoot DTCs,” Anderson said. “Diagnostic labor time should really be separated from the scan labor time because there are just too many variables involved. Just as judgment times vary based on the size and location of the damage and the substrate involved, diagnostic time varies as well. Isn’t the time it takes to research one diagnostic trouble code different from researching five?” 

It’s not just the time spent looking up the code, but also navigating to the OEM repair flowchart to determine the most probable cause. 

“If there are several possible causes, it might be the first one you try, or the last one. All this takes time,” he said. 

The latest quarterly “Who Pays for What?” survey is now open through January. It focuses on “not-included” refinish labor operations. Shops can take the survey here.  

Survey participants receive a free report with complete survey findings along with analysis and resources to help shops better understand and use the information presented. 

The survey can be completed in about 15 minutes by anyone familiar with their shop's billing practices and the payment practices of at least some 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 here.