By John Yoswick
Just getting a basic invoice from a dealership or other vendor for any advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) calibration work that your shop sublets to those companies may not be adequate evidence the work was done fully and correctly, two speakers said at the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) earlier this year.
“Remember, the liability still remains with you since you chose that third-party,” Roger Cada of Accountable Estimating said. “Some third-party providers don’t do all the things you think they should be doing. So how do you keep records to show that it was done correctly?”
Jake Rodenroth of asTech noted that many of these calibrations are new procedures for everybody: dealerships, glass providers, mechanical repair shops, even companies such as his that are establishing centers specifically to conduct calibrations.
“Don’t assume that they did it right,” Rodenroth said. “You really need to audit them. To do that, you need to understand the requirements yourself. Just handing if off to a sublet is not good enough.”
Those requirements for calibration of the blind-spot monitoring system on a 2018 Honda CR-V, for example, include ensuring the suspension has not been modified, that the tire size and pressure are correct, that the gas tank is full, that all excess cargo is removed, and that there are no objects on the instrument panel, hood or windshield. Rodenroth suggests getting documentation that tire pressures were checked, getting a receipt for fuel that was purchased, and documenting vehicle mileage before and after calibration to help ensure required test drives were done.
“If you’re using dealers or [any sublet provider], go there and take photos for the claim file of the vehicle actually set up with the targets,” Rodenroth advised. “That helps document and justify that it was done.”
One panel discussion at the conference revolved around the relationship between insurers and repairers when it comes to the increasing technology of vehicles. There have been efforts in at least six states this year to enact legislation requiring shops to follow OEM repair procedures, and for insurance companies to pay those shops accordingly. But one repairer said while such mandates could be helpful, they won’t resolve all shop-insurer disputes, in part because in some instances those OEM procedures are somewhat vague.
“We need some more help from the manufacturers with some clarity,” Darrell Amberson of LaMettry’s Collision in Minnesota said. “Getting into the calibrations, I’m seeing some wording, for example, that says calibrate a radar system if there’s an impact in the surrounding area. What is the ‘surrounding area’? Is that within a foot, two feet, three feet? We need some help on that.”
He said other procedures call for a calibration of a particular system “in the event of a collision,” without further defining if that means any type of collision, no matter how minor.
“What is a collision? I find myself often having discussions with insurance companies, testing us on that,” Amberson said. “At what severity do we do this step?
Panelists at CIC were asked how a shop can address an insurer who says that decisions about whether they pay for vehicle scanning are made on a “case-by-case basis,” given that automaker repair procedures call for such scanning on virtually every vehicle shops are repairing. Amberson said when he presses someone making that statement, they “have a hard time articulating the standards.”
“I ask them, ‘What’s the criteria? When do you pay for it and when do you not?’ Often, they struggle to answer that,” Amberson said. “For us to come up with standards on our own, by our own assumptions, frankly just doesn’t make sense. When it comes to electronics, the only way to look at a system is through a scan tool. So under what circumstances do I look at it and when do I not? They struggle to answer that. So for our company, we have the philosophy that whether we get paid for it or not, we do a pre- and post-repair scan on every car. If nothing else, I can sleep at night by doing that.”
Jason Bartanen, director of industry technical relations for I-CAR, compared scanning to three-dimensional measuring, saying “it’s impossible to analyze all the damage on a vehicle” without it.
Rodenroth said he tells shops to put the automaker position statements on scanning away and instead pull the actual specific repair procedures for the job.
“There’s a lot of opportunity to justify the diagnostic requirements [aside from] just the position statements.” Rodenroth said.
Greg Potter of the Equipment and Tool Institute pointed out that you can’t go to your doctor’s office without them doing some basic screening.
“If I go in there just to get a signature, I’m getting weighed and my blood pressure taken,” Potter said. “It’s unfathomable to me to think that you’re going to work on a vehicle and not [scan] it. If there’s something very wrong with it, and you give it back to the customer [without doing] anything about it, and then something happens, I think you’re going to have some explaining to do.”
Cada, who had a 30-year career in insurance, said the key is tying the need for the scan to “the event” covered under the insurance policy.
“If you can relate that back by documentation to the types of damages on the car, then you’re going to have success,” Cada said. “But if you’re scanning and find that what’s in there is nothing that was related to this loss, then it’s going to have to fall back on somebody else, because it’s probably not covered by the contract.”
Panelists were asked how a shop can address being challenged by an insurer about increases in total repair costs when such increases are largely being driven by factors, like vehicle technology and materials, beyond the shop’s control.
“I think the opportunity for repairers is to have more complete line notes that explain what you can and cannot do with those substrates or electronics,” Rodenroth suggested. He also suggested pointing to instances where the shop used OEM repair procedures — such as those offered by some automakers for repairing headlight brackets — rather than just installing a new part.
“That way it doesn’t appear to be too one-sided,” Rodenroth said. “Bumper covers are another opportunity. Some OEMs say no, you can’t repair that bumper cover because of ADAS technology. But GM and Audi, for example, give direction about what you can and cannot do with regards to repairs. When you encounter those repair opportunities, and it is a good repair supported by the repair manual, certainly bring it to the bill-payer’s attention.”
Amberson offered his own straight-forward suggestion.
“My advice to the repairer is simply to do the right thing,” he said. “Fix the car properly. Pay attention to the repair procedures. And let the chips fall where they may. We’re businesses. We deserve to be paid for what we’re doing. Nothing more and nothing less. I know it’s a challenge sometimes to convince an insurer they have to pay for extra steps. Statistically, we know that shops that scan cars and perform calibrations [have] a little higher severity than other shops. Our cycle time is a little worse than some other shops. But we’re doing the right thing on a more sophisticated, safer car. It’s to be expected they’re not going to be as inexpensive to repair.” •
