How we estimate repair costs

Short version: a typical repair price is labor hours × the shop's labor rate, plus parts, plus paint and materials, plus calibration when sensors are involved. We build each part of that sum from dated public sources and show the result as a range.

The formula

Body shops price collision work from estimating systems that assign labor hours to each operation. We follow the same structure:

Labor — body, refinish (paint) and mechanical hours, each multiplied by an hourly door rate.
Parts — the price of the replacement part when a part is replaced rather than repaired.
Paint and materials — charged per refinish hour on most U.S. estimates.
Calibration — when a bumper, windshield or mirror carries driver-assistance sensors (parking sensors, radar, cameras).

The data behind it

Our reference dataset was compiled on October 12, 2026 from 834 source URLs. For U.S. ranges it uses:

Price trends: Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price indexes for motor vehicle maintenance and repair and for motor vehicle body work, used to bring older figures forward to today.
Labor rates: a 2025–26 survey of 476 Massachusetts body shops, the hourly rates assumed in AAA's 2023 study of driver-assistance repair costs, and paint-and-materials charges from a 2025 national shop survey reported by Repairer Driven News. BLS wage data for technicians is used only as a lower bound: what a technician earns is not what a shop charges per hour.
Refinish rules: the published refinish guidelines of the MOTOR/CCC estimating guide (for example, how clear coat and blending into neighboring panels add time).
Parts: online prices from franchised-dealer parts stores for original-equipment (OEM) parts on 18 popular U.S. models, 2021–2022 model years.
Plausibility checks: industry averages such as CCC's average repair cost per claim and Mitchell's average repairable severity, used to catch totals that are out of line — not to set a range directly.

The full list of publishers is on Sources.

How a range is built

We describe the scenario in one sentence above every range: the repair, the type of shop and the type of vehicle.
The 1.5x rule: the top of a range is never more than 1.5 times the bottom. If real prices vary more than that, we don't widen the range — we split it into separate scenarios (for example, repair vs. replace, with vs. without parking sensors, sedan vs. SUV).
Ranges are rounded to the nearest $10. Each table names its sources directly beneath it.

What the data does not cover yet

We would rather say this plainly than hide it:

There is no national public survey of U.S. body shop labor rates. Rates vary a lot by state and city; our labor figures are anchored on one state survey and one national study.
Our U.S. parts data is dealer (OEM) pricing only. Aftermarket and used parts are often cheaper, so a quote using them can be lower than our range.
Calibration costs rely on AAA's 2023 study and a secondary report of Mitchell's 2025 figures.
Hidden damage behind a panel can only be found by a shop.

Updates

Every cost page shows when its numbers were last checked. When we update a page, we re-check its sources and bring figures forward with the latest BLS price index. Corrections are welcome — see Contact.

How this relates to the app

The Car Repair Cost app uses the same reference data, but starts from a photo of your damage and produces a line-by-line estimate for your car. It is an estimate too, not an inspection or a quote.

Estimate only — not an inspection or a repair quote.