Reprinted with permission from CollisionWeek Magazine
Jun 11, 2015
AASP/NJ Executive Director Urges Shops to Use Variable Rate Survey
Through cooperation between the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey (AASP/NJ)
and National Autobody Research (NABR), the Variable Rate Survey, part of the Variable Rate System,
created by Sam and Richard Valenzuela of NABR, can help repair facilities calculate a labor rate for the
state of New Jersey.
“One of the greatest things about the survey is that it mainly compares your rates to the rates of shops
similar to yours,” explains AASP/NJ Executive Director Charles Bryant. “If you’re a shop that has
made the investment in extensive training and certification, you have three frame machines, 40,000
square feet, a fence around your lot and a full security system, you might need to charge more for your
labor rate than a two bay shop with none of the same amenities or training. You’re going to charge more
if you have made the investment to become an I-CAR Gold Class shop than you would if you had not.
When you get a report, the system takes all of these factors into account.”
Repair facilities can fill out a five-minute survey for free. The more shops that participate, the more
accurate the labor rate becomes. There is a $99 monthly fee if a shop wants to receive results from the
labor rate survey.
At this point, over 140 shops have participated in the survey, and their contribution has already affected
the local labor rate. However, it is necessary that all shops take the five minutes to input their
information in order to truly make a difference.
“It’s such a valuable tool, but only if we use it,” says Bryant.
A newer section of the database that has been developed is a directory of procedures and what insurers
compensate for them in what areas.
“Time and time again, shops have been told by insurers, ‘We don’t pay for that,’ in regards to certain
procedures,” remarks Bryant. “For example, a particular insurer may pay for Remove and Install on
batteries in South Jersey, but not in North Jersey. But without a database like this, how would a North
Jersey shop know that? Now there’s something the shop owner can hand to the appraiser and say, ‘Yes
you do.’”
Bryant encourages shops to take advantage of this unique opportunity.
“The bottom line is,” he says, “the insurance industry has been successful at artificially suppressing the
labor rates for years, to the point that a lawnmower or bicycle shops that conducts repairs on these
machines that generally cost only a few hundred dollars and require much less investment are able to
charge and get paid almost double what insurers want to pay collision shops that are repairing the
modern vehicles on the roads today that costs thousands of dollars. Now there is a tool to stop this
unfair practice, but it will take masses of shops to participate to create change.”
More News
Jun 11, 2015
AASP/NJ Executive Director Urges Shops to Use Variable Rate Survey
Through cooperation between the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey (AASP/NJ)
and National Autobody Research (NABR), the Variable Rate Survey, part of the Variable Rate System,
created by Sam and Richard Valenzuela of NABR, can help repair facilities calculate a labor rate for the
state of New Jersey.
“One of the greatest things about the survey is that it mainly compares your rates to the rates of shops
similar to yours,” explains AASP/NJ Executive Director Charles Bryant. “If you’re a shop that has
made the investment in extensive training and certification, you have three frame machines, 40,000
square feet, a fence around your lot and a full security system, you might need to charge more for your
labor rate than a two bay shop with none of the same amenities or training. You’re going to charge more
if you have made the investment to become an I-CAR Gold Class shop than you would if you had not.
When you get a report, the system takes all of these factors into account.”
Repair facilities can fill out a five-minute survey for free. The more shops that participate, the more
accurate the labor rate becomes. There is a $99 monthly fee if a shop wants to receive results from the
labor rate survey.
At this point, over 140 shops have participated in the survey, and their contribution has already affected
the local labor rate. However, it is necessary that all shops take the five minutes to input their
information in order to truly make a difference.
“It’s such a valuable tool, but only if we use it,” says Bryant.
A newer section of the database that has been developed is a directory of procedures and what insurers
compensate for them in what areas.
“Time and time again, shops have been told by insurers, ‘We don’t pay for that,’ in regards to certain
procedures,” remarks Bryant. “For example, a particular insurer may pay for Remove and Install on
batteries in South Jersey, but not in North Jersey. But without a database like this, how would a North
Jersey shop know that? Now there’s something the shop owner can hand to the appraiser and say, ‘Yes
you do.’”
Bryant encourages shops to take advantage of this unique opportunity.
“The bottom line is,” he says, “the insurance industry has been successful at artificially suppressing the
labor rates for years, to the point that a lawnmower or bicycle shops that conducts repairs on these
machines that generally cost only a few hundred dollars and require much less investment are able to
charge and get paid almost double what insurers want to pay collision shops that are repairing the
modern vehicles on the roads today that costs thousands of dollars. Now there is a tool to stop this
unfair practice, but it will take masses of shops to participate to create change.”
More News