Length of rental slightly up in Q3, shop scheduling backlogs down

Enterprise Mobility reports that overall Length of Rental (LOR) for collision-related rentals in Q3 2026 was 15.5 days, up 0.4 days from Q2 and 0.1 days from Q3 2025.

“This modest rise is notable when comparing Q3 2025’s results to Q3 2024, when overall LOR declined 0.9 days; Q3 2026’s results are the first Q3-over-Q3 increase since 2022,” the report states.

John Yoswick, editor of the weekly CRASH Network newsletter, said a July “Who Pays for What?” survey showed a record-high 45% of shops reported having a scheduling backlog of one week or less. It also showed that backlog averaged 1.6 weeks, compared to 1.8 weeks in Q1 and 1.5 in Q2.

“Apart from the early months of the pandemic in 2020, that was the highest percentage of shops reporting such an open schedule in the nearly 10 years since the quarterly “Who Pays” surveys began asking about scheduling backlog,” Yoswick said in the LOR report.

He added that work in progress (WIP) fell to another new low in Q3 2026, reaching 49% in September, according to CRASH Network’s “Collision Industry Business Perspectives” survey.

Ryan Mandell, Mitchell International’s vice president of strategy and market intelligence, added that the percentage of parts repaired continued upward in Q3, reaching 17.8% from 16.4% in Q3 2025.

Q3 drivable LOR was 14.6 days, a 0.2-day increase from Q3 2025. Alaska and Rhode Island had the joint-highest LOR at 18.9 days each, followed by Massachusetts at 16.8 days.

North Dakota had the lowest drivable LOR at 9.8 days, followed by Hawaii (11.2 days) and the District of Columbia (11.4 days).

Iowa recorded the largest increase, with drivable LOR up 1.7 days year over year to 12.9 days. Georgia (15.6 days) had the largest decrease, down 0.9 days.

Greg Horn, Chief Industry Relations Officer at PartsTrader, said drivable LOR “aligns closely with parts delivery days.”

Non-drivable LOR didn’t change compared to Q3 2025, remaining at 21.2 days.

Alaska had the highest non-drivable LOR at 30 days, followed by West Virginia at 26.3 days and Wyoming at 24.4 days. West Virginia (21.2 days) recorded its largest decrease, down 3.1 days from Q3 2025.

Total loss claim LOR was 14.2 days, a 0.3-day increase above Q3 2025. West Virginia had the highest total loss LOR at 18.1 days, followed by New Hampshire at 17.4 days and Rhode Island at 17.2 days. South Dakota had the lowest total loss LOR at 11.3 days.

“Total Loss frequency rose again to 21.0%, up from 20.3% in Q3 2025,” said Mandell in the report. “With more borderline vehicles ending up as write-offs, this contributes to some of the reduction in repairable claims volume the industry has been experiencing.”

According to JD Power’s 2026 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study, overall customer satisfaction decreases by 12 points (on a 1,000-point scale) due to total loss determinations, and increases by 4 points when damages are repairable.

Overall, the report found that 26% of auto insurance claims were classified as total losses in 2026, up from just 16% four years ago.

In the Q3 LOR report, Mandell adds that average first-party deductibles are declining, down to $809 in Q3 from $844 in Q3 2025.

“This may be an indicator that we are seeing more consumers switch insurance carriers as more competitive rates enter the ecosystem,” Mandell said. “This carrier switching is a catalyst for consumers to improve their coverage as they are able to attain a more favorable premium and thereby reduce their deductible or add back first-party coverages. Both of which are signs that we may see gradual increases in claims volumes in the near future.”

The Q3 Quarterly Insurance Signals Intelligence Report from JD Power and TransUnion shows auto insurance carrier switching increased even though year-over-year (YoY) shopping was flat.

The latest report shows shopping reached 13.2% and switching 5.1%, both up 0.6 percentage points from Q2.

A recent LexisNexis Risk Solutions whitepaper details survey findings on auto insurance shopping trends, stating that 72% of consumers who shopped for auto insurance are open to switching carriers. Of those, 17% said they were definitely seeking a new auto insurance company.

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Featured image credit: dima_sidelnikov/iStock

Maps provided by Enterprise Mobility