An AAA process change made effective Sept. 1 asks ACE Member Preferred Repairs (MPR) shops to enter scans, calibrations, and programming into CCC One utilizing 23 standard line entries. 

“As we continue to develop our network and adjust to industry trends, we are excited to announce a process that will enhance estimate accuracy and provide the ability to process claims quicker,” AAA said in an email to MPR members. “This effort will focus on the process of entering vehicle diagnostic repairs into the estimate and effectively billing for them.” 

Erie Insurance started requiring shops in its Direct Repair Program to use the 23 standard line entries in early August. 

Dan Risley, CCC vice president of quality repair and market development, said in an email to Repairer Driven News that the CCC Diagnostics Workflow exists because the company’s repair customers said they wanted a way to manage diagnostics better. 

“After years of observing the diagnostics process, CCC saw a way to streamline the most common diagnostics operations,” Risley said. “We created three database entries for pre-, post-, and in-process scans. We then expanded those three to 23.” 

Those 23 entries include:

• • Pre-repair scan
  • In-process repair scan
  • Post-repair scan
  • Calibrate adaptive headlight
  • Calibrate automatic high beams
  • Calibrate backup camera
  • Calibrate blind spot radar
  • Calibrate front radar sensor
  • Calibrate heads-up display
  • Calibrate lane keep assist camera
  • Calibrate lidar sensor
  • Calibrate night vision
  • Calibrate occupant classification system
  • Calibrate park distance sensor
  • Calibrate rear radar sensor
  • Calibrate steering angle sensor
  • Calibrate surround view camera
  • Calibrate drive
  • Other calibration operation
  • Program module
  • Program TPMS
  • OEM access fee
  • Other diagnostic services

Risley said repairers can choose to use the database entries, part code table, or create a manual line entry. He’s also previously said the “other calibration operation” and “other diagnostic services” options can be used. Users can insert a note that describes the calibration or programming included in the estimate. 

“Customers told us they liked having access to database entries, but they wanted a way to pre-store rates so they wouldn’t have to type in the price every time they add a line,” Risley said. “That led to the creation of CCC Diagnostics Workflow.  CCC Diagnostics Workflow gives our customers the flexibility they asked for. It simplifies the process by providing collision repairers with the ability to create profiles for shop, insurer, and OEM-certified repair programs for the various types of scans, calibrations, and programming events configurable by year, make, and model.

“The dashboard in CCC Diagnostics Workflow helps shops manage scans and calibrations throughout production — from estimate through to vehicle delivery. CCC Diagnostics Workflow assists with improving estimate thoroughness, documentation of work performed, and cycle time.” 

Customer feedback has shown one of the biggest challenges for repairers and insurers is the increase in the number of audits resulting from manual entries and misspellings as well as requests for supporting documentation, Risley said. 

“The 23 database entries address an area of friction experienced across the industry,” Risley said. 

GEICO announced an agreement in July for standardized pricing with asTech. GEICO said shops using the asTech Rules Engine will be eligible for an OEM or OEM-compatible scan if they correctly follow the Rules Engine process to select the appropriate scan for the vehicle.

When asked what CCC says to critics that suggest this is the start of a CCC-based “rules engine” and the basis to report on specific pricing averages per operation, Risley responded, “CCC, through our industry-leading software, has been creating ways to improve communication and interactions between repairers and insurers. With CCC One and CCC Diagnostics Workflow, we are working to create a common language in how these providers and others, including OEMs, speak about and define damage, procedures, part types, and more. We are proud of the work we do to bridge understanding across the industry and of the tools we provide for all our customers to manage their performance.” 

When diagnostic companies were asked if the 23 standard items would provide CCC with any new data that the company is not already getting there were conflicting responses between AirPro and Opus. Repairify did not answer the question.

“Our understanding of this change is that if we implement it and our customers opt-in, we will not be transferring any different information than we are today,” Josh McFarlin, AirPro president and COO, previously said. “The intent of the change, as we understand it, is to create standardized labels for the work types being performed.”

While Opus responded, “Yes. Opus currently reports ADAS calibrations as Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. Level 1 is a calibration that involves software coding or programming, Level 2 is a dynamic calibration, and Level 3 is a static calibration with targets required. The CCC 23 line items do not contain ADAS Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3. Instead, they break out the ADAS calibrations by system type. Reporting this as 23 line items will now include the data of the system type being calibrated.”

AirPro, Opus, and Repairify agreed that the 23 standard line items do not include all the work that is performed in the diagnostics and calibration space.

“CCC has identified 23 standard line items and we have well over 1,300 different service operations that we perform on a regular basis for our customers,” McFarlin said. “We use this level of detail to assist with documentation and it supports our itemized services pricing model that we make available to our customers as an option. As an example of the gap: we have identified 187 different ADAS calibration operations based on year/make/model and nomenclature specifics, the standardized list from CCC has 15 different calibration categories.”

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