July 5, 2016—The third of four different “Who Pays for What?” surveys for 2016 is open through the end of July. The survey, conducted by CRASH Network and Collision Advice, focuses on “not-included” operations related to structural/frame and mechanical repairs.
The survey will take approximately 15-30 minutes and participants will receive a 60-page report with complete survey findings broken down by different factors with resources to help shops better understand the data. Click here to access the current survey.
Previous survey results can be accessed here.
Data from the April “Who Pays for What?” body labor survey shows that although 50 percent of shops surveyed said they are paid “always” or “most of the time” for the additional labor it sometimes take to “gain access” through a damaged door or hood, 25 percent of shops surveyed said they have never included a charge for this on an invoice.
“This is quite shocking to me,” Mike Anderson, president of Collision Advice and a FenderBender columnist, said. “This is a procedure that technicians have to do quite a lot. If I need to open a door that’s jammed in, I may have to cut a hole in the door to access the latch to release it. That’s a pretty common occurrence, so I was quite surprised that many shops aren’t getting paid to do it. Published labor times are for new, undamaged parts on new, undamaged vehicles. We’re working on damaged vehicles, so technicians often have to do things in order to get access.”
More than 900 shops from all 50 states participated in the April “Who Pays for What?” survey. Each of the four surveys examines a different area of shop operations. Previous areas examined by the survey include body labor, aluminum repair and refinish operations.