National AutoBody Research (NABR) has announced the launch of its Ray Gunder Real-Time Labor Rate Survey in Florida and Georgia.
This survey measures the current range of market prices for shop labor and material rates in the collision repair industry, based on factors such as a shop’s location, training, equipment and certifications.
As repair shops complete the survey, NABR’s Variable Rate System (VRS) automatically and continually calculates the range of market-based rates for several labor rates including body, paint, frame and mechanical labor, as well as paint and material rates.
“In our research of the auto collision repair industry, we found that existing labor rate surveys were not useful for shops or insurance companies because those surveys were taken only annually or once every several years and resulted in only one rate per market and one rate for all shops,” said Richard Valenzuela, CEO of NABR. “Those surveys did not make any consideration for changes in the market or key differences among shops.
“The reality is that the marketplace is constantly changing with forces of supply and demand, advancements in technology and shops’ continually increasing costs, for example. Within one market, there is a range of competitive labor rates, not just one rate. Also, there are differences among shops in their level of training, investment in equipment and technology, certifications and cost of doing business. Accordingly, there should be differences in rates that reflect the different quality among shops and their individual cost of doing business.”
NABR’s new real-time labor rate survey takes all of these important elements into account. It provides not only a range of competitive prices within one market, but also the true, real-time market rate today, not the rate from years past. The VRS survey technology also calculates different market rates for different shops that are more highly trained, have more certifications, and have invested in equipment and technology.
“The VRS system is a real game changer for our industry,” says Ray Gunder, owner of Gunder’s Auto Center in Lakeland, Fla. “For years, the industry has experienced stagnant and depressed labor rates. With the VRS, the industry finally has a way to determine the right labor rates to charge to earn a fair and reasonable profit. I chose to partner with NABR because of what they bring to the industry.”
Following Florida and Georgia, NABR will continue its surveys nationwide to add labor rate data from additional states into its VRS system, creating the industry’s first and only third-party, independent and objective source of national labor rates.
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