Therefore it should come as no surprise that insurers want the work accomplished quickly, competently and at a good price.

"You've got to find the right balance," says State Farm's Luedke. The specifics of each shop's efficiency are predicated on what the owner's peers in a given community are accomplishing, he explains. If two shops deliver the same price and quality, State Farm will go with the most efficient, he adds.

"The repair facilities themselves provide that information related to cycle times to us through their estimating systems, and then we simply compare their performance to others in their geographic market," says Luedke.

And for those who wonder, regional differences are taken into account with regard to cycle time. "It's more expensive to buy something in New York than it is in Manhattan, Kansas," Luedke says. "A shop in Baltimore isn't going to do us a lot of good in Minnesota."

A mutual interest

"We all have a mutual interest in that we want to move the job through as quickly as possible," says Darrell Amberson, president of Lehman's Garage in Bloomington, Minn. As for pressure being applied to speed things along, Amberson believes part of it is self-induced to meet a shop's profitability goals.

"For us, the cycle times [requested by insurers] have not been unreasonable for the most part," he says. "If there's a delay, they're usually pretty understanding."

These attitudes, however, vary according to which insurance company is involved, says Amberson, who is also collision division director for the Automotive Service Association (ASA). "Sometimes some of these sources are at odds with each other."

While one insurer will encourage Lehman's to use more aftermarket or salvage parts, another will be happier with the fit, form and function efficiencies of OEM components. However, delays can occur when a high-end vehicle requires hard-to-find parts.

"Acquisition and handling of parts is a key factor in cycle time," . "You need to get all the parts you can before the technician can begin. Get a damage estimate as quickly as possible; that's the biggest thing that slows down cycle time. While the supplement process is going on, the car is not making it to the repair process. That creates a backlog."

Pricing and parts procurement are common issues resulting in an array of variables that shop owners must contend with, such as when a carrier calls for the cheapest parts available. If insurers can save a buck on a part, they will, even if it means delaying the repair a day or two, according to Amberson.

Yet, never does a vehicle leave Lehman's until it is properly repaired and road-ready. "If I have to pay for an extra day's cycle time [by covering the rental car expense] I'll pay for it. We want the job to be right," Amberson says. "I want insurers to be reasonable with me and I want to deliver the best cycle time I can without compromising the repair."

Short-cutting a job can quickly land a shop's proprietor in a courtroom, says JOVI Enterprises' Steadman. "There are a host of liability issues, but the ones that come to mind are diminished value and consumer safety," he says.

"Insurers are placing a tremendous pressure on shops to fulfill their commitment under their DRP programs." It's up to the business owner to adapt production procedures accordingly.

"The biggest issue can be poor quality if the shop does not take the proper measures to adjust," Steadman says. "You just can't speed up a workflow process without tightening up other controls, such as quality, without a problem occurring. Quality control should be throughout the process of repair and not just at the end. At the end it's too late.