Leaving Money on the Table? “Who Pays for What?” 2025 in New England

by Chasidy Rae Sisk

While many question the old adage that “requesting leads to obtaining,” the inverse is almost certainly a universal law: silence ensures you get nothing. If a shop fails to advocate for its own costs, the chances of seeing those funds materialize are essentially zero.

The truth of the matter is evidenced by the results of the 2025 “Who Pays for What?” quarterly surveys, provided free to the industry courtesy of CRASH Network and Collision Advice. These surveys explore, track and analyze how billing and negotiation practices vary between shops across the country by examining a variety of “not-included items.”

“Our goal has always been to help shops become aware of the not-included procedures they are doing or materials they are using and understand how often other shops are being compensated for them,” Mike Anderson (Collision Advice) explains. “The whole reason we do these surveys, and ask you to participate, is because we believe doing so will have a positive impact on your business.”

While each survey acknowledges “none of the procedures in this survey are universally paid by insurers, none are universally rejected by insurers either,” it also draws the conclusion that “whether or not a repair facility is reimbursed for a particular item depends, to a certain degree, on whether or not the shop negotiates for it.”

This is clearly evidenced by a deeper review of the figures presented within the four reports published last year. Combined, the surveys examined 95 not-included operations, and of those, the top 10 most-paid procedures (based on the majority of shops reporting they get paid “all or most of the time”) were negotiated for by at least 95 percent of shops. In contrast, the 10 least-paid procedures show negotiation rates of less than 50 percent on average.

“Who Pays for What?” further breaks down its data into various regions. The New England region includes MABA members in Massachusetts as well as shops in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. Examining how the New England figures compare to the national data shows a trend that reinforces the claim that reimbursement correlates to negotiation.

Almost 60 percent of the time, the operations that were requested less often were paid less frequently, while those operations where negotiations were attempted yielded more frequent payouts. “Ask and you shall receive,” but if you don’t ask, you aren’t getting jack squat!

In 2025, New England shops reported negotiating more often and getting paid all or most of the time on 40 procedures; in these cases, they asked 10.8 percent more frequently, and they were 11.3 percent more likely to get paid most/all of the time. Of the 15 procedures where they negotiate and get paid less often than their national counterparts, New England shops asked for payment on those procedures 10.8 percent less often and collected 11.2 percent less frequently.

The 2025 Refinish survey found that New England shops are most likely to get paid to extend clear to the natural breaking point (86.4 percent) and blend adjacent panels for color match (85.9 percent). They reported receiving payment 81.6 percent of the time on three operations: mask to apply chip/gravel/stone guard or rough coat, mask beyond 36 inches and apply chip/gravel/stone guard or rough coat. They are least likely to get paid for: removing static (0 percent), wet bed application for blending (2.4 percent) and fuel surcharge for paint booth (2.8 percent); they negotiated for these operations 31.1, 17.9 and 32.5 percent of the time, respectively.

When it comes to frame and mechanical operations, the three not-included operations that most often see payment are disconnect and reconnect the battery (91.7 percent), jig rental (90.2 percent) and administrative fee for total losses (89.8 percent); these are negotiated by 99, 86.4 and 95.4 percent of New England respondents. Despite similar negotiation rates, only 65.7 percent of shops in this region report being paid all or most of the time for administrative fees on total losses, compared to 74 percent nationally.

The three least commonly paid frame operations include stall cure time (0 percent), tire run-out test (0 percent) and photo-based estimate (8.1 percent); respectively, these negotiation rates are 13.2, 10.3 and 77.9 percent. It’s worth noting that New Englanders actually negotiate for photo-based estimates more often than the national average – 77.9 percent compared to 70.4 percent nationally – yet their likelihood of payment is less than half (8.1 percent) of the national numbers (23 percent).

Scanning and calibrations finally seem to be getting a foothold in the industry with shops and insurers accepting the importance of these valuable operations. In New England states, 99.6 percent of surveyed shops negotiate for pre-repair scans, post-repair scans and calibration of other systems, and that dedication has yielded mostly favorable results with 87.6, 86.8 and 88.5 percent (respectively) of shops reporting that they get paid all/most of the time for these items. Although nearly a third of New England shops attempt to negotiate for electric vehicle recharge, 0 percent reports getting paid all or most of the time.

Body labor operations is the only survey where New Englanders reported getting paid all/most of the time less than 80 percent for the top paid procedures. Of the 23 procedures on the list, only two had numbers over 70 percent: rust-proofing (77.8 percent) and installing sound-deadening material (76.6 percent). “Apply seam-sealer on bolted-on panels” came in third at 68.7 percent. These were negotiated 95.7, 93.7 and 100 percent of the time respectively. On the opposite end of the spectrum, only 4.5 percent of surveyed New Englanders reported commonly being paid for repairing e-coat surface imperfections (4.5 percent), but less than 30 percent requested this procedure. Not surprisingly, one of the largest variances between the number of shops negotiating for an item and actually getting paid relates to additional labor to install non-OEM parts. Although 94 percent of New England shops negotiate this line item, less than 40 percent actually receive compensation for it.

“Despite what you may be told, you are not ‘the only one’ doing and charging for the nearly 100 not-included procedures and items we cover throughout the year,” Anderson stresses, noting, “It has been said there are people in life who WATCH stuff happen, and there are people in life who MAKE stuff happen!”

The most effective way to drive industry-wide improvement is to ensure your facility actively participates in the bargaining process. Collective pressure is key; when the majority of shops begin consistently billing for specific non-included tasks, insurance providers face a new standard that makes reimbursement for those services far more probable.

Anderson suggests that shop estimators and staff use the quarterly reports “to identify which of the procedures the shop is performing on some or all jobs. Then consider which, if any, of those items the shop wants to include on estimates and invoices when appropriate…maybe you’ll want to start with those items most frequently being paid by insurers. Next, prepare your staff to negotiate for these items, perhaps choosing two or three to focus on each quarter.”

He recommends asking yourself four questions:

1.  Is it required to return the vehicle back to its pre-accident condition? To justify these charges, facilities must conduct thorough due diligence: investigate official OEM repair guidelines, cross-reference technical bulletins from paint suppliers, and perform comprehensive vehicle diagnostics. Taking these steps provides the concrete evidence needed to back up every line item.

2.  Is it included in any other labor operation? Estimators can answer this question by reading the p-pages, accessing the Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ Blueprint Optimization Tool or by submitting an inquiry through the Database Enhancement Gateway (DEG).

3.  Are there pre-determined times? The best resources for determining whether a pre-determined time has been established for a not-included item are the estimating systems or the DEG.

4.  What is it worth? While there is no way to establish a specific price range for a procedure, Anderson encourages shops to “figure out what your labor is going to be and any materials you’re going to use. The time you charge should reflect how long it takes the average technician to gather up their tools, equipment and supplies and perform the task in a safe and proper manner and then return their tools and equipment.” Time studies are a useful way to identify a fair and appropriate charge.

“Arm your estimators with the tools and resources needed to answer those questions, and you can be among the shops successfully being paid for many of the procedures in this survey,” Anderson urges.

Facilities can also take a proactive stance by contributing to the quarterly “Who Pays for What?” surveys, which help refine the precision of the industry’s data. While official figures from the US Census and the National Automotive Dealers Association suggest there are nearly 40,000 repair centers nationwide, only about 620 locations on average took the time to weigh in during 2025. Even though this turnout actually outperforms most other sector studies and maintains a slim three percent margin of error, increasing the volume of contributors will help produce even stronger results.

Participation among New England shops could certainly warrant some improvement. While 9.9 percent of responses for the Refinish survey came from New Englanders in 2025, the other surveys saw between 7.1 and 7.5 percent of responses from the region. Of the six states, Massachusetts repairers were the most active with an average of 18.5 shops participating in the surveys; the average number of participants from Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont were (respectively) 11.75, 2.5, 2.5, six and 1.25.

The 2026 Refinishing survey was published in February, and the Frame and Mechanical survey results should be available by the time this magazine reaches readers. The survey on Body Labor Operations is anticipated to open in July, and repairers are encouraged to participate at crashnetwork.com/collisionadvice. Everyone who completes the survey receives a report once the results are compiled. Results are also available for download via the website.

Want more? Check out the May 2026 issue of New England Automotive Report!