A new independent study conducted by Richfield Associates and commissioned by ComputerLogic revealed that 94 percent of collision repair industry professionals believe the current paint and material compensation system is a poor methodology.
The professionals polled included:
• Association executives
• Dealerships
• Manufacturers
• Independent shops
• Distributors
• Estimating software providers
• Multi-location networks
• Multi-location operators
• Consultants
• Trade publication editors
• Insurance carriers
Asked to rank how important the paint and materials compensation issue is on a scale of 1 to 10, out of all the professionals polled, association executives ranked it the most important at 8.3, while insurers ranked it least important at 5.0.
Independent shops with gross annual sales of $2 million to $10 million thought it a more important issue than independent shops with less than $2 million in gross annual sales, scoring it a 7.6 (4th) compared to the less-than-$2 million shops’ score of 6.4 (10th).
The study also determined that the average dollar rate used in 2005 was $24 per refinish hour/unit and, if adjusted to keep pace with the proportional paint and material increases over the past seven years, a rate of $37 should have been extended in 2011.
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