(at least until they get bumped)
MODERN VEHICLES CARRY COSTLY TECHNOLOGY. OLDER VEHICLES ARE OFTEN WORTH LESS THAN THE COST OF FIXING THEM. THE MIDDLE GROUND IS DISAPPEARING.
Modern vehicles are marvels of engineering — ones that are becoming very costly to repair!
Shops now handle machines packed with cameras, radar sensors and software systems. The process takes longer and the bills run higher. The nature of damage has changed. What once looked minor often is not. A light bump once meant cosmetic work. Today it can trigger diagnostics, sensor checks and system calibrations. A tapped bumper may involve radar units or ADAS.
Dealing with this complexity is the central challenge facing the collision industry. Businesses are developing new processes in response. CCC Intelligent Solutions reports scans on 88% of direct repair program estimates by the third quarter of 2025. Calibrations appear on 36%.
Average claim severity reached US$4,768 through the third quarter of 2025. Labour rates rose 3% year over year. Total loss frequency climbed from 22.1% to 22.8%. More than 72% of those losses involve vehicles seven years old or older. And therein lies the rub. Older vehicles are often worth less than the price of putting them right. The repair middle ground is disappearing. The fleet is also aging. S&P Global Mobility places the average vehicle age at 12.8 years. Shops now manage both ends of the spectrum: sophisticated new vehicles and aging ones that quickly become writeoffs.
Electric vehicles show where the trend is going. Repairable battery-electric vehicle claims in Canada reached 4.77% in 2025, up 24 percent year over year. Average EV severity reached $7,253. In the third quarter, 85% of EV parts spending involved original equipment parts, compared with 62% for internal combustion vehicles.
None of this argues against safer vehicles. Automatic emergency braking reduces frontto- rear crashes by 50% and injury crashes by 56%. But safer does not mean simpler. Nor cheaper. It is difficult to see prices falling, even in the long term. The industry is still in the midst of a worsening labour shortage. At the beginning of 2026, some 6,800 vacancies were unfilled. Modern vehicles demand diagnostics, documentation and specialized procedures. Trained technicians are in short supply, and the leading businesses in this industry will likely have to pay dearly to secure the talent they need.
Customers and insurers often struggle to understand the benefit of scans post-accident calibrations. Few will follow the finer points of market forces or labour shortages. What they see are higher bills and longer cycle times.
Communication has therefore become another challenge for the industry. Collision professionals work with technical language that can sound opaque to anyone outside the trade: scans, calibrations, ADAS procedures, sensor alignments, software resets. To a technician these are routine steps. To a customer they can sound mysterious, even suspicious.
When people hear unfamiliar terms attached to a rising bill, the instinct is to assume they are being taken for a ride.
That perception creates friction where clarity is needed most. Collision professionals must now do more than restore damaged vehicles. They must translate the work itself.
Plain explanations matter. Customers need to understand why modern vehicles require diagnostics after a minor impact, why sensors must be recalibrated and why manufacturer procedures cannot be skipped. Without that understanding, legitimate work can look like unnecessary expense.
Modern vehicles are truly wonders of scientific acheivement. Explaining how to repair them, however, is more of an art.
