CRASH Network survey shows 50% of shops are fully staffed
Nearly half of the collision repair shops surveyed by CRASH Network in June were fully staffed and weren’t looking to hire.
CRASH reports the finding to be the highest percentage since June 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.
The survey found that only 30% of shops said they were looking to hire a body technician, a surprising statistic amid a years-long technician shortage. The most recent industry data from the TechForce Foundation reveals the shortage stands at over 100,000 job openings expected through 2028.
According to CRASH, the percentage of shops in need of a body tech typically hovers around 60%, and didn’t dip below 50% between 2021 and 2023, even in the summer of 2020, when 28% of shops were still looking for body technicians.
The percentage of shops seeking body helpers and painters’ helpers, positions also typically in higher demand, has dipped to 11% and 8%, respectively, according to the survey results. And fewer than 1 in 10 shops said they need a new estimator,
“Less than 1 in 5 shops said they would hire two or more techs if given the opportunity, and 44% said they wouldn’t hire any,” CRASH reports. “Taken together, the survey findings indicate there are now just 79 openings for a body tech for every 100 shops, far below the 164 openings per 100 shops recorded back in the fourth quarter of 2021.”
“We are currently laying off people and hoping for their return when the market rises,” the owner of a large independent shop in Washington State reportedly told CRASH.
At another large shop in Memphis, Tennessee, the manager said, “Work flow does not justify new hiring at this time,” according to the CRASH survey results.
Meanwhile, Enterprise Mobility reports that the Q2 overall Length of Rental (LOR) was 15.1 days, down less than a day from Q2 2024 and matching the decline seen in Q1 2025.
LOR remains elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels, reflecting impacts from ongoing supply chain and vehicle production challenges, according to the report. The Q2 LOR is 2.9 days higher than in Q2 2020 (13.2 days) and 3.1 days higher than in Q2 2019 (12 days).
Enterprise Mobility previously reported that in Q1 2025, the overall LOR decreased to 16.7 days. At the time, Yoswick called the backlog trends a potential “new normal” for the industry.
“An increase in backlog between the fourth and first quarter is not unusual, but this increase was slightly larger than typical, perhaps an indication that the industry is finding its new ‘normal’ range after eight consecutive quarters of backlog declines,” he said.
According to an Aug. 1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report, private sector and government employment “changed little” in July, up by 73,000, and has shown little change since April. BLS says the unemployment rate also didn’t change much, currently at 4.2% or 7.2 million people.
Among the unemployed, those looking for their first job increased by 275,000 in July to 985,000. Those who aren’t working and want a job stood at 6.2 million in July, up by 568,000 compared to July 2024.
In a March interview, Mike Rowe, a longtime TV personality and CEO of the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, has also addressed the disappearance of America’s “willingness to work.” The foundation champions careers in the skilled trades.
“The skills gap is real,” he told Fox Business. “The will gap is also real.”
According to Rowe, 6.8 million “able-bodied men” are unemployed and not looking for work. He noted 586,000 open manufacturing jobs, for example, and called that a big problem.
“If we can’t fill the 586,000 [job openings] we have right now, what are we going to do with the 1 or 2 million that get created? …Part of the answer has to be making a more persuasive case for the jobs that currently exist,” he said. “It’s a problem with many solutions.”
Last month, at the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) meeting, I-CAR announced the launch of its national Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) for the collision repair industry, backed by $7 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
At the time, I-CAR’s Anna Loftus said, “We’re all invested in bringing more entry-level trainees into our industry, and this puts us up there with other premiered skill trades that have long been understood as high-paying and stable and all the other things that we all like to be associated with any career pathway that we’re on.”
In a press release, I-CAR’s Dara Goroff said, “In addition to providing a way for employers to up-skill apprentice technicians, this program also improves recruiting outcomes by offering access to our enhanced job board on CollisionCareers.com, which now connects interested job seekers to entry-level and RAP positions at participating Gold Class shops.”
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