New ‘Who Pays for What?’ survey on not-included body operations open, Q2 survey results released

Of the nearly 100 repair procedures covered in the “Who Pays for What?” collision repair surveys throughout the year, destructive testing of welds is one of the “top three most important,” according to shop consultant Mike Anderson of Collision Advice, who conducts the surveys with CRASH Network.

“This step is so critical to ensure safe and proper repairs,” Anderson said in a press release. “A proper weld involves so many factors that it is nearly impossible to tell if the settings are correct without first performing a destructive weld test. And it needs to be performed for every type of weld being made on the vehicle.”

A decade ago, more than 80% of shops had never sought payment for the destructive testing procedure, which Anderson said at the time, raised concerns about whether it was something most shops were doing. That has continued to fall over time, with 32% of shops this year acknowledging they had never sought to be paid for destructive testing of welds, according to the release.

The percentage of shops that believe the eight largest national insurers asked about in the surveys will never pay for the procedure has also fallen over time, from nearly 80% in 2015 to half that today.

However, this year’s survey findings include some troubling data, Anderson said.

“The percentage of shops reporting they are paid ‘always’ or ‘most of the time’ by the eight largest insurers for the labor involved in destructive testing of welds — though still significantly higher than what it was a decade ago — actually dropped 9 percentage points in the survey conducted in April compared to the prior year,” the release states.

Anderson adds, “I won’t be satisfied until I’m convinced, most importantly, that this critical step is being performed 100 percent of the time, but the lack of reimbursement for it causes me great concern as well. This is a non-negotiable procedure. Every OEM states that we need to do this. Shops need to do this, and insurers should be paying them for this not-included procedure.”

The latest quarterly “Who Pays for What?” survey is now open through July. It focuses on not-included body labor operations. Shops can take the 15-minute survey here.

Survey participants receive a free report with complete survey findings, along with analysis and resources to help shops better understand and use the information presented.

The survey can be completed by anyone familiar with their shop’s billing practices and the payment practices of at least some of the largest national insurers. Each shop’s individual responses are confidential; only aggregated data is released.

The most recently completed survey on frame and mechanical procedures was released in June. A webinar on some of the results and how the surveys work was held at that time by CRASH Network and Collison Advice.

Forty-nine percent of shops said they’re always, or most of the time, getting paid to pre-measure a vehicle, which is down by 9%, Anderson said.

“With ADAS, this is more critical than ever before,” he said. “In the ’80s, you could look at the door gaps or something, they might be misaligned, but today, the way vehicles are built, they could divert inertia forces, and you would not know unless you measured it.”

The survey also found a decrease of 6.3 percentage points in the number of shops that are paid always or most of the time for labor to remove undercoating and seam sealer from pinch-welds before clamping vehicles for anchoring, and to repair “witness marks,” or clamp damage, after removing clamps.

Of those that negotiate for this, 52% are paid “always” or “most of the time.”

“Remember, failure to secure a fixture clamp to pinchwelds without first removing all undercoating and seam sealer when called for by the automaker increases the likelihood that the vehicle can slip when you are pulling it, causing further damage or adversely impacting the accuracy of the measurements, so those coatings need to be removed in order to perform a proper and safe repair,” Anderson wrote. “Toyota, for example, very clearly states this in its published repair procedures as well as in a CRIB bulletin; Nissan also came out with a position statement on this procedure. Other OEMs will address this within their repair manual. The repair after clamp removal is sometimes referred to as repair of ‘witness marks.’

“Part of what is concerning for me is the number of photos that I see on shops’ social media that show vehicles being anchored in ways that are NOT approved by the automaker. Not all OEMs allow a shop to anchor a vehicle on the pinchwelds, and it is CRITICAL that shops do the research to determine what is and is not permitted for a safe and proper repair on each vehicle.”

A Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) Quick Tip video is also linked in the report, which discusses important factors to consider when putting vehicles on frame machines for unibody repair, emphasizing the importance of following OEM repair procedures.

The full Q2 2025 frame and mechanical Who Pays survey results and other previous survey results are available here.

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