Some Louisiana collision repair facilities are reporting a labor rate decline of up to $5 per hour after State Farm announced last July that it would be making “market refinements” to its repair facility survey.
“DRP and non-DRP shops are getting slammed with these lower rates,” wrote Alysia Hanks, executive director of the Louisiana Collision Industry Association (La-CIA), in an email to La-CIA members. “I wish there was a magic word I could give you all to make this problem go away. All I can tell you is we are working very hard to fight this, but we need your help. We need you to be proactive in your stance against these changes. We need you to share with us what is going on. We need you to reach out to the other shops in your area and make a stand not only for your shop but the whole industry.”
Back in July, State Farm spokesman Justin Tomczak said, “We are refining market boundaries used to determine prevailing competitive prices (PCP) to serve our customers and to better align with government-defined market areas.”
State Farm said updates may result in PCP adjustments in some areas in addition to the periodic changes in PCP relating to updated repairer pricing and capacity information.
The insurer also reminded repairers that they can voluntarily update their repair capacity and pricing information at any time on State Farm’s b2b website.
