Length of rental levels off Q2-over-Q2 to 15.1 days

Enterprise Mobility reports that the overall length of rental (LOR) for collision-related rentals in Q2 2026 was 15.1 days, the same as Q2 2025.

“This marks the first Q2-over-Q2 comparison with no decrease since Q2 2022, when LOR rose 4.5 days due to the post-COVID effects of vehicle production and supply chain issues,” the report states.

Alaska recorded the highest LOR at 21.2 days, followed by Rhode Island (19.1) and West Virginia (17.9). North Dakota had the lowest LOR at 10.7 days, followed by the District of Columbia (12.2) and Hawaii (12.3).

Wyoming had the largest LOR increase, up 1.5 days to 16.4.

Drivable LOR was 14.1, a 0.2-day increase from Q2 2025. Alaska had the highest drivable LOR at 19.9 days.

Non-drivable LOR was 20.7 days in Q2, down 0.1 days from Q2 2025. Alaska had the highest non-drivable LOR at 30.6 days, significantly higher than West Virginia (26.9) and Wyoming (24.8). The District of Columbia had the lowest non-drivable LOR of 17.2 days.

John Yoswick, editor of the weekly CRASH Network newsletter, offered insights within the report based on data he’s received. He said recent competing trends could be contributing to some of the LOR’s leveling off.

“Shops certainly can get jobs in faster,” he said. “The ‘Who Pays for What?’ survey of nearly 500 shops conducted in April by Collision Advice and CRASH Network found the average scheduling backlog of work at shops around the country was just 1.5 weeks in April, down 1.5 days from the start of the year.

“A record-high 24% of shops nationwide reported having no backlog at all, scheduling new work in immediately — a percentage not seen outside of the two quarters of pandemic shutdowns in 2020.”

Yoswick added that shops’ work in process (WIP) also declined in Q2.

According to CRASH Network’s June “Collision Industry Business Perspectives” survey, WIP fell to its lowest level in at least four years, with WIP equaling 50% of shops’ typical monthly volume, on average. This was down from 56% in Q1, and below the previous low of 53% in Q2 2025, Yoswick said.

“On the other hand, the number of production employees working in the industry fell by 400 in April, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS),” he said. “While the decline brought the industry ‘headcount’ back to what it was a year earlier (230,800), that’s more than 10,000 fewer production workers than there were in 2024.

“The average number of hours those employees worked each week also has fallen by a full two hours, from 38.8 last April to 36.8 in April 2026. That means the combined total number of hours worked by production employees declined by 5.2% in April compared to a year earlier.”

Ryan Mandell, Mitchell International vice president of strategy and market intelligence, added that Q2 2026 saw a modest decline in the incidence of airbag deployment, down from 2.25% in Q2 2025 to 2.06%.

“In addition, average first-party deductible amount decreased from $858 in Q2 2025 to $841 in Q2 2026, indicating a trend toward more competition in the auto insurance market and a greater likelihood of smaller claims being filed,” he said.

Mandell also noted that the percentage of parts repaired continues to increase, with initial (undeveloped) Q2 results at 17.3%, up from 15.7% in Q2 2025. Parts also continue to account for a larger share of repair costs, reaching 46.68% compared to 46.36% in Q2 2025.

PartsTrader Chief Industry Relations Officer Greg Horn states in the report that parts are the largest cost portion of the repair estimate.

“Comparing ordered parts to Enterprise’s drivable and non-drivable rental days, median days (plus two standard deviations) for all part type deliveries were 0.7 days less in Q2 2026 versus Q2 2025,” he said. “Splitting out the data by part type, OEM delivery days decreased slightly in Q2 2026 compared to the second quarter of 2025. The majority of parts on the repair order will be OEM, and non-drivable repair orders contain a higher percentage of OEM parts. This may help explain why non-drivable LOR was down when drivable increased slightly.”

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