I-CAR to implememt 5% price increase

I-CAR will implement a 5% price increase on select training products and services starting next year, according to an email it sent last week. 

“I-CAR has worked to maintain stable pricing while vehicle technology advanced rapidly, and we continuously expanded our offerings and invested in training, technology, curriculum enhancements, and new programming,” the email states. “During this same period, marked by significant inflation, materials, labor, and delivery costs have increased significantly.”

Current pricing will remain in effect until Dec. 31, with the price increase starting January 2027. 

The products and services that will see the increase are: 

• • Professional Development Program (ProLevel) online curriculum 
  • Vehicle and Technology Specific Training courses 
  • Welding Training and Certification and Recertification 
  • Hands-On Skills Development courses 
  • In-Shop Knowledge Assessment
  • Get to Gold Class package 
  • Collision Repair Subscription (upon renewal)

Courses already purchased will remain available for completion as long as the course remains active in the I-CAR catalog, the email states. 

“Proper training helps reduce rework, improve efficiency, support OEM compliance, and improve technician productivity,” the email states. “This adjustment ensures I‑CAR can continue to deliver high-quality training, technical resources and expertise, industry programming, and workforce development initiatives that help the industry keep pace with rapidly evolving vehicle technology.”

In June, when I-CAR released its 2025 Impact Report, I-CAR President & CEO Kyle Thompson shared that “Vehicle technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and the results in the report show how we are collectively rising to meet these challenges with precision, accountability, and a forward-looking commitment to driver safety.”

He adds that I-CAR has a record number of students training and technicians and shops earning their Platinum and Gold credentials. This includes more than 10,000 Gold Class shops.

As vehicle complexity is accelerating, I-CAR has expanded its education portfolio and strengthened access to technical information, hands-on training, and current repair protocols to keep pace.

I-CAR also launched a U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship program in 2025 to establish a structured entry point for new repairers, Thompson writes.

“Our path forward is clear: strengthen and expand access to training, grow the industry’s talent pipeline, advance Gold Class Participation and ensure every repair professional has the foundational knowledge required to keep pace with rapidly evolving technology,” he says.

I-CAR also talks about its non-profit status in the report, saying it is at the core of who they are.

“It means our focus isn’t on generating returns for shareholders; it’s on strengthening this industry,” the report says.

It adds that I-CAR takes that fiduciary responsibility seriously.

“As stewards of the Industry Impact Fund, we invest strategically in initiatives that benefit the industry,” the report says. “In a field shaped by rapid technology change, these reserves allow I-CAR to adapt. Every reinvested dollar is guided by industry voices and aligned with our vision: complete, safe and quality repairs.”

John Van Alstyne, I-CAR’s former president and CEO, told Repairer Driven News in 2024 that despite rising repair costs, I-CAR pricing had remained flat or slightly increased since 2010. 

The only price increase since 2010 was 3% in 2016. 

“Vehicle technology has driven significant changes to repair processes, content materials, everything,” Van Alstyne said in 2024. “We’ve also evolved our training program to be really focused on these more complex skills, especially in the structural repair area. There is more training required. And as the industry told us, we had to increase that level of training to more people within the shop.

“The total cost to train is up, but it’s up in the same relationship that cost to repair is up because the cost to repair a vehicle is greater than it was 5, 10 years ago. You have ADAS today, you’ve got mixed materials today, you’ve got a lot more technical content in vehicles today than we had just a few years ago.”

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Logo courtesy of I-CAR