National AutoBody Research (NABR) announced the launch of the Arizona VRS Labor Rate Survey, sponsored by three Arizona collision repairers: Arizona Collision Center in Tempe, Lake Pleasant Collision Center in Peoria, and Vince’s Auto Body, Inc., in Sedona and Camp Verde.
Taking the online survey is free for all Arizona collision repair shops and can be found on the NABR website.
NABR states that the Arizona VRS Labor Rate Survey provides Arizona shops “an independent, third-party survey of statewide labor rate data, reporting results based on shops’ actual prices, not on an artificially defined single prevailing rate, thereby revealing the true, market-based labor rate ranges throughout the state of Arizona.”
“Our industry has needed a system like this for way too long,” said Rob Stringer, owner of Arizona Collision Center in Tempe, Ariz. “In the VRS, we now have something sustainable to prove what the fair and reasonable labor rates are in our market area, not just accept the word of an insurance appraiser. Since becoming a VRS subscriber, we now print the VRS labor rate report for our local area and post it in the front lobby daily. The team has started to push the rate increase now that we have something to back it up. I am very excited to share this with my colleagues in the industry, because I know it works. This system is making a difference in our industry.”
Dawn Bachler, owner of Vince’s Auto Body, Inc., with husband Jim Bachler, added, “As a collision center in today’s competitive market, we constantly struggle to get paid fair rates and get paid for all the services we provide. We often hear, ‘No one else charges for that,’ and in our speaking to repair facilities across the U.S., they often hear the same thing. Now, with the Variable Rate System, we have independent, third-party data and the technology tools both to prove true, competitive rates without creating any anti-trust issues and to prove we are not ‘the only one’ charging for certain operations and materials. It’s time we take back control of our businesses and industry, and the VRS enables each of us to do that.”
“We simply want to be compensated fairly for the quality of work we do, not at the well-below-market price that insurers want to pay,” said Matt and Aly Wiggins, owners of Lake Pleasant Collision Center in Peoria, Ariz. “We all need to be reasonably and sufficiently profitable so that we can reinvest in the training and equipment necessary to keep up with technology, repair cars right, and ultimately keep consumers satisfied and safe. The Variable Rate System enables us to price our labor profitably using real market data and their online pricing tools, all based on our own cost of doing business.”
Richard Valenzuela, CEO of NABR, added, “NABR is pleased to see such a highly motivated group of quality shops come together to bring the VRS to their state. They cared so much about their industry, the shops in their state, and their employees and customers that they came together on their own to invest in the survey and our innovative VRS technology to help restore the free market to labor rate prices in Arizona so that all shops may earn a fair, reasonable and sufficient profit.”
