Among those billing for the work, however, just 13 percent said the eight largest national insurers “always” or “most of the time” pay for it; new survey opens
Portland, Ore.—More collision repair businesses appear to be recognizing that the additional repair work sometimes needed before refinishing new replacement bumpers is a not-included procedure in the estimating systems’ labor times, according to data from the most recent “Who Pays for What?” survey.
The survey asked shops about billing for labor to repair molding or manufacturing defects on new replacement bumpers, such as casting lines or shipping braces that need to be trimmed.
Nearly half of shops (49 percent) said they had never included a charge for such work on an estimate — though that was down 10 percentage points from a year earlier.
Among those billing for the work, however, just 13 percent said the eight largest national insurers “always” or “most of the time” pay for it, up only slightly from 10 percent in 2025.
“Manufacturing casting lines and surface panel defects may need to be repaired or corrected to bring some new bumpers to ‘new undamaged condition’ before refinish times begin,” Mike Anderson of Collision Advice, who conducts the surveys with CRASH Network, said. “It’s important to identify these issues during the initial mirror-matching process of the parts to determine if additional labor is necessary.
“All three information providers acknowledge their published times are based on new undamaged parts, with correcting manufacturing defects excluded from their published times.”
Take the new survey
The latest quarterly “Who Pays for What?” survey is now open through the month of October. It focuses on scanning and calibrations, aluminum repair, and shop supplies. 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.
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