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About 46 percent of repairable vehicle estimates in the fourth quarter of 2021 contained at least one line item for any vehicle diagnostic scan, according to the 2021 CCC “Crash Course” released last month. Fifty-eight percent of current-year or newer repairable vehicle appraisals included a scan charge, and 55 percent...

WIRED magazine on Monday took phone insurance industry’s change to photo-based estimating and photo estimating artificial intelligence — as well as body shops’ criticism of the concepts. The article presents the broader trends featuring multiple collision industry voices highlighting discrepancies between photo-based estimates and just what the businesses actually detect:This...

Legislation related to OEM procedures, labor rate surveys and DRP network promotion produced extensive discussion Monday about how exactly direct repair programs operate in Texas. The House Insurance Committee conversation Monday included a representative for various major insurers declaring their DRP shops are told “‘do what must be done'” for...

A bill amending New York’s shop choice law to preserve collision repairer autonomy on part selection has returned for any fifth legislative try. Assembly Bill 6902 would append Insurance Law 2610 to report that first-party collision and comprehensive insurers could not “require a repair facility to utilize a specific vendor...

Chubb on Thursday confirmed that it had offered the Hartford $65 per share for that company, representing a 26 percent premium over the company’s recent average stock price. “We've not yet received an answer to the proposal but are getting excited about constructive, private discussions to be able to expeditiously...

The Hartford board of directors on Tuesday unanimously voted against Chubb’s offer to buy the rival carrier for more than $23 billion in cash and stock. Hartford directors felt it wasn’t worth going any more with Chubb’s cold-call offer of $65 per share for that Top 20 auto insurer. “The...

The Collision Industry Conference on Wednesday reiterated that it is April 21-22 meeting in Arizona would offer the option of attending personally or virtually over Zoom. “Due to Arizona COVID restrictions, the in-person is restricted to active 2021 Gold Pin participants,” the CIC wrote in a news release. “Those unable...

NJM Insurance said it discarded its March 31 cutoff for COVID-19 vehicle cleaning charges and instead would reimburse the operation “for the near future." The insurer as late as Friday was declaring it would not purchase the work effective April 1. "Effective 4/1/2021, NJM won't be accepting the charges for...

USAA, the nation’s fifth-largest auto insurer, confirmed Tuesday it will keep covering COVID-19 auto cleaning through June 30. “We're extending cleaning through June 30, 2021,” USAA spokeswoman Lara Hendrickson wrote within an email each day before what would have been the last day's such reimbursement. This news follows at least...

NJM Insurance on Tuesday said hello discarded its March 31 deadline for COVID-19 vehicle cleaning charges and instead would reimburse the operation “for that near future." The insurer as late as Friday was declaring it would not pay for the work effective April 1. "Effective 4/1/2021, NJM won't be accepting...