For decades, the body shop/insurance relationship has been defined by friction, dueling estimates, opaque communication, and supplements that linger for weeks while vehicles gather dust and customers lose patience. For many collision centers and carriers, those supplements do not stall because people are unreasonable; they stall because the system is noisy. Documentation and policy language drift past each other, repair methodology runs into adjuster authority, OEM procedures clash with legacy habits, and fragmented communication turns minor disagreements into long delays. The costs compound, shops carry unfinished work and starved cash flow, carriers absorb rental days and cycle-time hits, and the shared customer pays with time and frustration.
As a mediator and former claims/operations leader who has sat on both sides of the desk, I saw a way to change the tempo, not the contracts: dedicate a single, structured afternoon each month to address stuck supplements together. Call it “Mediation Day.” The idea is simple: a recurring forum where decision-makers from both sides meet with a neutral facilitator to resolve aging files in a focused, time-boxed setting. It is not about rewriting relationships or re-litigating estimates; it is about restoring momentum with shared facts and clear outcomes.
When we piloted this cadence, the impact was tangible. In just six months, we cleared 60 supplements that had been stalled for 10 to 90 days, reduced cycle time on those repair orders by 2.4 days, and saw rental exposure drop by roughly 18%. Just as important, the work’s temperature changed. What had been a series of heated, piecemeal escalations became shorter, evidence-based conversations that ended with aligned expectations and documented decisions. We did not change anyone’s DRP contracts, rewrite procedures, or add head count. We changed the process and the tone.
What makes Mediation Day effective is not a secret recipe; it is professional discipline. Evidence takes precedence over opinion, the proper authority is present to make decisions, and time discipline keeps discussions crisp and productive. Safety remains nonnegotiable; structural integrity, restraints, ADAS, corrosion protection, and welding standards take precedence over preferences. And when a determination is reached, it is documented immediately, so everyone leaves with the same understanding. These are not shortcuts; they are standards that honor both the craft of repair and the realities of underwriting.
The disputes themselves are familiar across the industry, corrosion protection and seam-sealer questions, calibration expectations, sectioning versus replacement, refinish and blend parameters. In a Mediation Day environment, those issues gain context. OEM procedures and objective artifacts — photos, scan data, measurements — tend to clarify answers faster than back-and-forth emails ever could. Disagreements do not disappear, but they become smaller, quicker, and more professional because the conversation centers on what is demonstrable and necessary to deliver a safe, accurate repair.
The larger payoff is cultural. A recurring, neutral forum resets expectations, lowers friction, and creates space to test minor improvements, establish shared language for corrosion protection, set clearer thresholds for calibration, or adopt tighter documentation habits that prevent the same dispute from resurfacing. Over a quarter of shops report older supplements, shrinking by half and six-figure improvements without a single lawsuit. Carriers see cleaner files and fewer last-minute crises. Most importantly, customers experience timely, high-quality repairs with fewer delays.
If your organization is wrestling with aging supplements, consider a Mediation Day. It is not a magic wand; it is a cadence that replaces friction with facts and stalemate with steady progress. One focused afternoon each month can streamline decisions, improve cash flow, and rebuild trust across the repair-insurance aisle. And in a business where time, safety, and reputation are everything, that shift is worth making.
