‘Who Pays for What?’ survey finds payment for seatbelt inspections is on the rise

Nearly 50% of shops are regularly paid for the labor involved in inspecting seatbelts by the eight largest national insurers, which is twice the percentage it was in 2016 when the question was first asked, according to the latest “Who Pays for What?” survey results.

The Q3 survey, held in July, was on body labor operations, to which 603 collision repair facilities of various types and sizes responded.

Mike Anderson of Collision Advice notes in a press release about the survey results that the not-included repair operation — for which every OEM has a specific procedure — is a necessary and required part of safe collision repair. He added that he will not be satisfied until 100% of shops are performing it.

“As I conduct workshops across the country for automakers and wholesale parts managers, it is concerning to me to hear how few seatbelts are being sold,” said Anderson, who conducts the “Who Pays” surveys with CRASH Network, in the release. “This leads me to believe that too many in the industry do not understand how critical this procedure is, or aren’t looking at the OEM information on this to know how to properly inspect a seatbelt. It’s often more than just a visual inspection.”

DRP shop respondents said USAA (44%), GEICO (41.7%), and Allstate (35.6%) were the top three insurers that always pay them for the operation. Non-DRP shop respondents said the top three insurers that always pay them for the operation are GEICO (28.2%), Progressive (27.5%), and Nationwide (25.5%).

In 2016, 63% of shops said they had never included the operation on a final invoice. Now, that’s fallen to 20%, the release says.

Comparatively, 56% of those who had included the operation in 2016 said insurers would never pay for it.

Today, 1 in 4 still believe that insurers won’t pay them for the procedure, the release says. According to survey results, 49% of shops that charge for the operation are paid all or most of the time by the eight largest national insurers, and another 26% are paid at least some of the time.

“I am glad to see the big improvement, but more is needed,” Anderson said in the release. “As an industry, we must accept responsibility for researching and following the requirements for this on every single vehicle we repair.”

In the following Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) Quick Tip video, Anderson and Database Enhancement Gateway (DEG) Administrator Danny Gredinberg outline the importance of seatbelt inspections and some of the general requirements to complete them.

The July survey also found that, compared to 2024, fewer shops are always paid or paid most of the time for air bag and SRS component inspections.

Of those that negotiate for this, overall, 49% said they’re paid “always” or “most of the time.”

Anderson noted a column he wrote for Autobody News about a shop that inspected the air bags in a Toyota and found damage.

The example comes from a conversation Anderson had with Tyler Smith, owner of Rick’s Paint and Body, a Lexus-authorized collision center in Augusta, Georgia. Toyota and Lexus recommend post-collision repair inspections on many of their vehicles, Anderson wrote. For example, the Toyota Camry and Lexus ES 350 call for air bag inspections, even in non-deployment crashes.

At the time, Smith told Repairer Driven News that insurance companies tend to fight against paying for air bag inspections unless a deformity is found.

“Depending on the insurance company, they don’t want to pay for the post-collision repair procedures hardly at all,” he said. “That is a fight. We show it to them where the manufacturers state that these have to be inspected, and they try to weasel their way out of it.

“Once we show the deformity, then usually we can get it paid for. There have been significant cases where there was not any deformity and the insurance companies would just refuse to pay for it [post-collision inspection].”

Anderson emphasizes in the latest “Who Pays for What?” survey results that every OEM has procedures for the items that should be inspected after a collision, such as seatbelts, air bags, air bag sensors, steering columns, and dash carriers.

“We have found such inspections to be the single biggest friction point in the industry between shops and insurers,” he wrote. “I-CAR has an online form shops can use to submit questions or inquiries about these inspections if they are needing clarity or are having reimbursement issues from a third-party payer.”

The latest quarterly “Who Pays for What?” survey is now open through the end of October. It focuses on billing and payment practices related to scanning and calibrations, aluminum repair, and shop supplies. 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 results of previous surveys are available here.

Anderson will lead all three sessions of the OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit on Thursday afternoon during the SEMA Show, Nov. 4-7, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This year’s summit will focus exclusively on manufacturer-documented safety inspection procedures and how the processes influence repair accuracy, post-repair safety, liability, and consumer trust. Register online at scrs.com/rde.

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Featured image credit: thongchuea/iStock

Chart provided by CRASH Network and Collision Advice