Toronto, Ontario — In late November, Audatex/Solera reported that changes to its blend refinish threshold had been fully implemented. The company has since offered further insight into the changes made to its Database Reference Manual (DBRM) Blend update.
While the previous version of Audatex/Solera’s blend refinish service automatically calculated blend refinish at 50 percent of Audatex refinish labour, Audatex/Solera has continued to expand.
In recent updates made to the DBRM—specifically page 140, section 4-4 Refinish Guildelines Regarding Blending—Audatex will now allow repairers to specify the blend refinish percentage to be used when calculating blend refinish labour at the profile level, thus further allowing insurers and shops to agree on a default blend refinish time.
In an October release, Audatex/Solera noted that using the updated service, repairers can enter a value between 50 percent and 150 percent. This value is used to determine the blend refinish labour by multiplying it against the full panel refinish time. Features during this month also included the ability to quick copy OEM part numbers, license plate number field searches, and user setting updates including the ability to use special characters, email validation and a start page all in user settings.
Furthermore, when generating an estimate, the blend refinish will be calculated using the value specified at the profile level. If no value is specified, a default value of 50 percent blend refinish will be used.
As before recent updates, an estimator can manually override the blend refinish percentage specified at the profile level and it will be denoted with an asterisk on the estimate.
Audatex/Solera also outlined how a new note can now be added to the bottom of all estimates to show the blend refinish percentage used.
With these updates, Audatex/Solera also remind that estimating databases are meant to be used as a guide only, and that repairers should continue to use their best judgment when relying on refinishing tools.
