LOR continues to slightly decline reaching 16.3 days in Q1, remains higher than COVID era

Overall length of rental (LOR) for collision-related rentals in Q1 2026 was 16.3 days, a 0.4-day decline from Q1 2025, according to Enterprise Mobility’s new LOR report.

In Q1 2025, collision-related LOR declined by 0.9 days compared to Q1 2024, when overall LOR was 17.6 days.

“We have previously discussed the outsized impact on LOR in 2022 and 2023, given the post-COVID effects of vehicle production and supply chain issues,” the report states. “When we compare Q1 2026 to Q1 2020, overall LOR is currently 3.1 days higher; LOR in Q1 2020 was 13.2 days. And in Q1 2019, overall LOR was even lower at 12.8 days.”

John Yoswick, editor of the weekly CRASH Network newsletter, added in the report: “Some reduction in LOR in Q1 could be based on shops’ ability to get repairs started faster. The ‘Who Pays for What?’ survey of 600 shops conducted in January by Collision Advice and CRASH Network found that the average scheduling backlog of work at shops around the country was 1.8 weeks. That was up modestly from the prior quarter, but down from 2.6 weeks in Q1 2025.”

“Fewer than 10%of shops had backlogs of four weeks or more; that was about half the percentage with that length of backlog in the first quarter a year earlier,” he said. “At the other end of the spectrum, 18% of shops reported having no backlog at all, being able to schedule new work in immediately; that was up from less than 12% of shops in Q1 2025.”

Average shop backlogs varied widely by region, according to Yoswick.

“The West region, which includes Arizona, California, and Nevada, continued to report the shortest backlog in the country, at just under one week, on average,” he said. “Shops in the Northeast, along with Alaska and Hawaii, had average backlogs of about 2.5 weeks in Q1 2026.”

By state, Rhode Island recorded the highest LOR at 20.8 days, followed by Alaska (19.8 days) and West Virginia (19.6 days).

Hawaii and North Dakota had the lowest LOR at 12.4 days each, followed by DC at 12.7 days.

Rhode Island and Wyoming (17.6) had the highest LOR increases, with both seeing a 1.2-day increase over Q1 2025.

An additional 16 states saw larger decreases in Q1 2026 than in Q1 2025, including Oklahoma, with the largest decrease (2.6 days), down to 16.4 days.

The report notes that parts are the largest cost portion of the repair estimate, and delays in parts delivery impact cycle time.

“Looking at the median versus a simple average helps identify any outliers that could affect cycle time,” said Greg Horn, PartsTrader’s chief industry relations officer, in the report. “The median plus two standard deviations fell a full day for Q1 2026 versus the same quarter in 2025.

“PartsTrader data reports a 2-day decline in North Dakota’s delivery days, and increases in the delivery days in Minnesota, Wyoming, Ohio, and Rhode Island. The similarity in parts delivery data for those parts that are experiencing delays verifies that parts delays are a major cause of longer rental length. With recent reports of automotive-grade aluminum supply shortages, we may see delays in obtaining replacement aluminum panels and a potential increase in repairable rental days.”

Ryan Mandell, vice president of strategy and market intelligence for Mitchell International, added that the percentage of parts repaired continues to increase, reaching 16.2% (undeveloped), up from 14.4% in Q1 2025 (fully mature).

“Repairing more parts allows shops to not only achieve higher margins but also faster cycle times, further contributing to reductions in LOR,” he said in the report. The use of alternative parts increased to 41.6% in Q1 2026 (undeveloped), a rise from 39.5 percent (fully mature) in Q1 2025.”

The average deductible is up slightly from Q1 2025, at $832 versus $819, according to Mandell.

For rentals associated with drivable claims, LOR was 15 days, a 0.2-day decline from Q1 2025. LOR for non-drivable vehicles was 22.4 days, a half-day decline.

LOR for total loss claims was 14.9 days, a 0.1-day drop from Q1 2025.

“Heading into Q1 2026, both the number of production employees at shops and the aggregate number of hours those employees were working were down. Data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the total number of production employees in the industry dropped by 0.5% in November 2025 compared to October 2025, following a nearly 2% drop the month before. The average number of hours they worked each week also fell about 1.3% from the prior month.”

He added that more recent survey findings “may indicate some reversal in that trend.”

CRASH Network January 2026 survey data shows that more shops were looking to hire technicians.

More than 2 in 5 said they would hire a body technician right away if a qualified applicant came along, and about 1 in 5 shops said they would hire two or more techs.

Thirty-one percent of shops said they wouldn’t hire any, down from 44% who said that in mid-2025, Yoswick said.

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Featured image credit: nensuria/iStock

Graphs provided by Enterprise Mobility