Who Pays for What: 40% of shops not charging tor DTC research
About 40% of shops that participated in the latest “Who Pays for What?” survey say they’ve never itemized time spent researching diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) on invoices, according to the results.
This number is down from 50% in 2020, the survey says.
Of those who did itemize the time, 21% said they are “always” or “most of the time” paid for the charge by the largest eight insurers and 46% said they are paid “some of the time.”
Diagnostic time is becoming an increasingly significant portion of collision repair work, according to Collision Advice Owner Mike Anderson, who conducts the survey in partnership with CRASH Network.
“I know firsthand how much time it takes to research and troubleshoot DTCs,” Anderson said. “Diagnostic labor time should really be separated from the scan labor time because there are just too many variables involved. Just as judgement times vary based on the size and location of the damage and the substrate involved, diagnostic time varies as well.
“Isn’t the time it takes to research one diagnostic trouble code different from researching five? And it’s not just looking up the code. You also have to navigate the OEM repair flowchart to determine what the most probable cause is. If there are several possible causes, it might be the first one you try, or the last one. All this takes time.”
The survey also found that 92% of those who negotiated for a pre-repair scan were paid by the top insurers.
Twenty-eight percent were paid “always” or “most of the time” for an in-process scans and 93% were paid “always” or “most of the time” for post-repair scans.
The survey saw a 3.3% decrease in payment for vehicle safety inspections, with 32% saying they were paid “always” or “most of the time.”
Safety inspections were a hot topic at the 2025 SEMA Show in Las Vegas with hours of discussion by four Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) panels.
Ninety-percent of shops were reimbursed “always” or “most of the time” for calibrations by insurance companies 90%, up by 0.9%.
Seventy-percent of shops were reimbursed for seat calibrations “always’ or “most of the time.”
The new quarterly “Who Pays for What?” survey is now open through the month of January. It focuses on “not-included” refinish labor operations. The survey can be taken here.
Survey participants receive a free report with complete survey findings along with analysis and resources to help shops butter understand and use the information presented.
A survey can be completed in about 15 minutes and each shop’s response is confidential, with only aggregated data released.
Previous survey results can be found here.
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