Risley details CCC estimate and supplement data on diagnostic scanning and calibrations and new integration partnerships to help capture procedures earlier in repair process and improve documentation.
The collision repair industry has reached a pivotal moment in diagnostic scanning adoption while facing new challenges with calibration identification in estimates that impact cycle times, according to new data from CCC Intelligent Solutions.
In our exclusive video interview embedded below, Dan Risley, CCC’s industry analyst, revealed that scanning has largely stabilized with approximately 90% of all vehicles receiving at least one scan—a plateau that represents the maturation of what was once a contentious industry practice.
On diagnostic scanning, nine out of 10 estimates now include at least one diagnostic scan over the last several quarters.
“There’s not much of a change over what we’ve seen historically over the last few quarters, and perhaps even the last few years. We’re seeing about 90% of all vehicles are getting at least one scan, and that’s pretty flat,” Risley said. “I think it’s table stakes at this point. I think the industry could kind of settle. The conversations that were had just maybe four or five years ago about whether or not a car actually needed to be scanned is no longer really a conversation. It’s just being done.”
However, while scanning has found its footing, calibrations tell a different story entirely. ” Calibrations is the story, and that is the noise in the industry, for sure,” Risley explained. “If you look at the trends, and you look at the chart [embedded above], you could see just over the last couple quarters, the last couple years, we have seen significant changes in the percentage of vehicles that have at least one calibration.”
The data shows that over 50% of vehicles one year and newer had at least one calibration, though industry experts believe this number should be substantially higher.
“After talking to other industry subject matter experts, talking to the OEMs, everybody believes that that number is actually low compared to what it actually should be. That number should be well north of 50%,” Risley said.
Perhaps most concerning is new CCC reporting Risley shared showing that calibrations are identified on the original estimate only 40% of the time, meaning 60% appear on subsequent supplements. This timing issue has measurable consequences for repair cycle times.
“What we’re showing is that 40% of the time calibrations are being added on the estimate of record, which means 60% of the time it’s showing up on supplement one and later,” Risley said. “The difference is, as you know, if something shows up on a supplement or results in a supplement, that often means that the cycle time will be pushed out. If the cycle time is pushed out, that means length of rental is pushed out. It also means that CSI is negatively impacted.”
The cycle time impact is significant and measurable. “If you look at the latest, the last quarter of data, it’s almost a two day swing when you go from zero calibrations on a claim to one calibration, and then another two days on top of that, if you have more than one calibration,” Risley revealed.
While roughly 30% of calibrations appear on the first supplement—which could represent a deliberate shop strategy to wait for disassembly—Risley noted that calibrations appearing on supplement two or later cannot be explained by process decisions.
“That does not speak to why 30% of the time does it show up on supplement two, three, four, or later. So obviously, kind of debunks that a little bit, because if you’re not identifying an EO one and you’re waiting till supplement two or later, that’s obviously going to have a downstream negative impact.”
Risley believes the gap between actual and expected calibration rates is no longer due to information or process deficiencies.
“I don’t think it’s an informational issue anymore, and I don’t think it’s a process issue anymore, because I think that all those things are there’s remedies in the marketplace for those,” he said. “I would suspect that if we do this again next year, that 50% on the newer model vehicles is probably going to take another significant leap upwards,” said Risley.
He anticipates newer vehicle calibration rates could reach 60-65% in the near future, driven by improved information availability and tools that integrate with the estimating process.
“I would not be surprised if we saw something in the very near future where we’re hitting now, 60%, 65% of newer model vehicles, and I’m talking to probably in a very short order, just because of the amount of information that’s being made available to the shops and the tools that are being made available, just making it much easier during the estimating process,” Risley continued.
The overall average calibration rate across all vehicle ages currently sits just north of 30%, which Risley attributes to the average Direct Repair Program claim involving vehicles that are 5-6 years old. As newer vehicles with more advanced driver assistance systems age into the typical collision repair mix, these percentages are expected to rise significantly.
“We know that there’s going to be more calibrations on cars. So whatever we’re seeing from a data trend perspective now, I would anticipate that if we don’t start taking steps as an industry to make corrective action, we’ll probably see some of those cycle times pushed out even a little bit further, because we know that more cars are going to have calibration,” Risley siad. “It’s just good data for us to have some visibility into to help us better manage our businesses.”
Integration Strategy and Documentation
To address the timing challenges surrounding calibration identification and improve documentation and workflow, CCC has established partnerships with seven integration companies: Opus IVS, asTech, Airpro, Elitek Vehicle Services, All Clear, Revv ADAS, and Kinetic. Four integrations are currently live, with three additional partners expected to launch in Q43 2025.
“Our integration partners with that integration, as a shop was writing an estimate, they could simply click on a button, and it could pull in all those calibration recommendations directly into CCC ONE,” Risley explained. “In addition to that, you know, we’re hearing a lot of noise around, hey, documentation is king. That’s not necessarily new noise, but it’s certainly more important, especially when you’re talking about safety features and identifying and showing that the work was performed.”
The integration automatically captures critical documentation including copies of scan reports, calibration reports, and invoices.
“If you’re using one of those seven integration partners, that information, those PDFs, are electronically and automatically sent directly back into CCC ONE so the shop always has it in their hands to show that the work that was performed on that particular vehicle.”
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