The Ball Is in Our Court – Now We Have to Show Up!

by Evangelos “Lucky” Papageorg, MABA Executive Director

For years, Massachusetts collision repairers have been saying the same things.

Labor reimbursement rates are inadequate. They do not reflect the cost of operating a modern collision repair facility, and they have failed to keep pace with wages, training, equipment, technology, certifications, utilities, materials and virtually every other expense associated with properly and safely repairing today’s increasingly complex vehicles. We have testified before legislative committees, attended hearings, met with legislators and regulators, and provided documentation supporting what our industry has experienced firsthand. Most importantly, we have consistently maintained that the true economics of operating a collision repair facility need to be examined using real, supportable data.

Well, people have listened. The Massachusetts Legislature has now created a permanent Auto Body Labor Reimbursement Rate Advisory Board (ABLRAB), charged with creating, implementing and overseeing a labor reimbursement rate survey of the collision repair and insurance industries. The first survey is required to be conducted no later than January 1, 2027. Think about that for a moment. After everything this industry has fought for, the Legislature has mandated the collection and analysis of the very information we have spent years saying needs to be examined. The ball is now in our court!

That was one of the most important messages we attempted to convey at the October 21 MABA General Membership Meeting. A tremendous amount of information was presented regarding labor rates, the newly constituted ABLRAB, the upcoming survey process and the opportunities now before our industry. The purpose was not simply to tell attendees what MABA has been doing legislatively and regulatorily. It was to provide shops with information they can take back to their businesses and put into action.

At the same time, we have another important opportunity through the National AutoBody Research (NABR) LaborRateHero survey. These are two separate efforts, but together they present collision repairers with an extraordinary opportunity to establish a factual record of the rates being charged in the marketplace and the economic realities facing professional collision repair businesses. The information we provide can have real consequences – but only if we participate, and only if the information we provide is accurate.

That brings me to perhaps the most important message in this column: KNOW YOUR RATE. POST YOUR RATE. DEFEND YOUR RATE. Every collision repair facility should know what its labor rate needs to be based upon the actual cost of operating that business. Not what an insurer tells you it should be. Not what somebody down the street happens to charge. Not simply what you have been paid for the last 10 or 15 years. And certainly not a number established through a contractual arrangement with an insurer that may bear little relationship to the actual cost and value of the services your business provides. Your posted labor rate should be a true, accurate and supportable representation of what your business charges for its services outside of a negotiated contractual arrangement.

Know your costs and the investment required to repair today’s vehicles. Consider what you spend on training, equipment, OEM information, certifications, scanning, diagnostics, calibrations, tools, technology and qualified personnel. Consider what it costs to attract and retain skilled technicians, along with utilities, insurance, property, environmental compliance and the many other expenses associated with operating a professional collision repair facility. Determine what your business actually needs to charge to remain sustainable and profitable while performing safe and proper repairs. Establish your posted rate accordingly – and then have the conviction to stand behind it.

It is equally important that everyone participating in these surveys read each question carefully and answer exactly what is being asked. The ABLRAB process is intended to examine both posted and contractual labor reimbursement information, but those are two very different sets of data and should come from the appropriate sources. As was done with the original 2025 ABLRAB survey, contractual labor reimbursement rate information should be obtained directly from the insurance companies being surveyed. The collision repairer’s responsibility is to accurately report the labor rate it posts and charges its customers. An insurer’s contractual or program reimbursement rate is not a shop’s posted labor rate and should not be substituted for it simply because that is the amount an insurer regularly places on its estimates or agrees to reimburse. If we want these surveys to produce an accurate picture of the Massachusetts marketplace, shops must report their actual posted customer labor rates, while insurers provide the contractual reimbursement rate data applicable to their agreements. The two should not be confused, combined or treated as though they represent the same thing.

There is another part of this conversation our industry needs to confront: we need to stop subsidizing the insurance industry at the expense of our own businesses. Collision repairers invest the money, employ the technicians, purchase the equipment, obtain the training, acquire the repair information and ultimately assume responsibility for performing the repair. Yet too often, shops are expected to make the repair fit within a reimbursement structure established by an entity that does none of those things. Every time a business absorbs a legitimate cost simply because an insurer refuses to recognize it, that cost does not disappear. Someone pays for it, and far too often that someone is the repairer.

More importantly, there is a point at which inadequate reimbursement becomes more than a business issue. When financial pressure causes necessary operations to be questioned, proper procedures to be challenged or required processes to be omitted simply to make an inadequate number work, the consequences can ultimately reach the vehicle owner. That is where we must draw the line. There is only one way to repair a vehicle – the right way. The repair should be dictated by what is necessary to properly and safely restore that vehicle, not by an arbitrary reimbursement amount designed to reduce the cost of a claim.

For years, MABA and others throughout this industry have worked to get the labor reimbursement issue before legislators and regulators. We asked them to look at the data and recognize what has happened to collision repair labor reimbursement in Massachusetts. We asked for a meaningful process through which the issue could finally be examined. The Legislature acted. A permanent Board now exists. A survey is mandated. The opportunity we asked for is finally in front of us.

That is why the information provided at our October 21 meeting was so important. Understanding your costs, establishing a legitimate posted labor rate and recognizing the difference between that rate and one established through an insurer contract or referral program will be critically important as these surveys move forward. For those that were unable to attend, the message is equally important: this is not something MABA, our Board of Directors, our legislative agent or a handful of engaged shop owners can do for you. We can advocate, educate and create opportunities, but ultimately the data must come from the collision repair businesses themselves. A united industry voice only exists when individual shops are willing to use theirs.

Imagine what happens if collision repairers fail to participate. What will we say afterward? That nobody listened? They gave us the opportunity to speak. That there wasn’t enough information? We were given the opportunity to provide it. That the resulting numbers didn’t accurately reflect the marketplace? Then we had better make certain that the numbers we submit do. We cannot spend years demanding change and then sit on the sidelines when we finally have the opportunity to provide the information necessary to support that change.

I am therefore asking every registered collision repair facility in Massachusetts – MABA member or not – to participate. Complete the NABR LaborRateHero survey. When the ABLRAB survey is distributed, complete that survey as well. Before you do, take a serious and objective look at your business. Know your costs. Determine a legitimate labor rate. Post it. Charge it. Defend it. And when asked for that posted rate, report it accurately. Do not allow an insurer’s contractual program rate define the value of your labor, your employees, your investment or the professional services you provide to the motoring public.

This isn’t about MABA, one repair shop, one insurer or one association. It is about whether the Massachusetts collision repair industry is finally willing to stand together and establish, through credible data, what it actually takes to operate a professional collision repair facility in 2026 and beyond. Individually, one shop’s response may seem insignificant. Collectively, hundreds of Massachusetts collision repairers providing truthful, accurate and supportable information become something entirely different: a united voice that cannot easily be ignored.

We have asked for this opportunity for years. We have worked for it. We have fought for it. Now it is our responsibility to do something with it.

The ball truly is in our court.

LET’S MAKE DAMN SURE WE DON’T DROP IT!

Be sure to look for the results in the February 2027 issue of New England Automotive Report!

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