State Farm communicated details in an email on Tuesday announcing the expansion of their calibration pilot, based on an agreement with OPUS IVS, to four new states.

It announced the program in October for Colorado and Michigan. An email sent to Select Service repair facilities Tuesday says the program will be expanded March 10 to Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin. State Farm additionally provided a link to calibration pricing table as part of a CCC job aid. 

In State Farm’s October email, it said the pilot was to assist in accurately identifying necessary calibration operations to repair vehicles in a safe and quality manner. 

Brian Herron, Opus IVS president, said Wednesday that the pricing table is not a part of Opus’  agreement with State Farm. 

“They reached out to all of the mobile providers in those areas and negotiated the price with them,” Herron said. 

He added that the program is still a pilot and the pricing tables could change as State Farm receives feedback. 

“We are not involved in the administration of it,” Herron said. “I just know from the sidelines, they are still wanting to collect feedback about what the experience is for the stores. Are they getting calibrations done accurately and effectively?” 

Tuesday’s email states Select Service shops will incur a $3 charge per VIN when an estimate is run through Opus’ ADAS Map. It says the charge represents a 40% discount from the retail price of $5 per VIN. The email also says this operating expense “should not be passed on to State Farm or our customers.” 

It is unclear in the email why an expense which is directly incurred as a result of an estimate written to document a loss would be identified as an operating expense rather than a loss cost.

Herron said Opus is providing a discount to the shops for their participation in the pilot. 

“We wanted to give the shops a fair price for the scrubber,” Herron said. 

State Farm’s email goes on to explain the part code table that includes calibration entries for use on repair estimates. It instructs shops in the pilot to utilize ADAS Map to assist in determining necessary calibration operations and to enter those operations onto repair estimates using the part code table. 

A Repairer Driven News reader and shop owner within a pilot state but who does not participate in State Farm’s Select Service network also provided a screenshot of a recent supplement from State Farm. The screenshot provides a sublet price for a Level 3A additional calibration. The insurance company’s sublet price is less than what a Level 3A calibration is listed for in the part code table sent to shops Tuesday. 

The supplement also notes a list of vendors to call to perform the calibration. 

In Tuesday’s email, State Farm told shops in its network that they could choose their daignostic tool and remote service provider.

“However, the amount billed for calibrations should not exceed the price State Farm would have paid per the part code table,” the email says. “State Farm has also identified local mobile/car-side service providers that will perform calibrations at State Farm’s part code table pricing.” 

The list includes 20 different calibration items and associated prices for the procedures. 

Robert Grieve, owner of Nylund’s Collision Center in Englewood, Colorado, said setting a price for calibration procedures lower than what it would cost the shop only hurts the customer. 

His shop is not a State Farm Select Service repair shop. 

“The whole thing is frustrating because we’ve made hundreds of thousands of investments to do calibrations in-house and now you are going to waltz in and say this is what we are going to pay for it without having one bit of understanding,” Grieve said. 

Collision repair shops need expensive tools, well-trained and expensive employees, and a lot of space to perform calibrations correctly. He said this all goes into the cost of performing a calibration for a shop. 

Grieve said he rents another building to perform calibrations. He said the building has additional expenses such as electricity, internet, and insurance. 

 Not passing on a $3 or $5 charge per estimate also could add up for repair shops, Grieve said. He added that at times a vehicle may need to be run through the system more than once. 

He also questioned liability concerns with State Farm’s statements. “What if you missed one and you don’t do it because you don’t know because you are going off this sheet? What if that calibration happens to impact [automatic emergency breaking] and you didn’t do it because it is not on the list? Who is responsible? Is it State Farm? Is it the scrubbing company? Is it the shop?”  

Herron said the ADAS scrubber works by recommending calibrations based on the vehicle and information uploaded about the damage by the repairer. The scrubber also provides service information from the OEMs. 

He said the scrubber does not take the place of repairers looking at OEM procedures. 

“The shop is always going to be responsible for the repair plan of the vehicle,” Herron said. 

He added repairers do have the option to send a ticket if they find something missing and the company does research the tickets it receives.  

State Farm declined to answer questions from Repairer Driven News regarding liability and how it determined its prices.

GEICO announced a standardized pricing agreement with asTech for its Auto Repair Xpress (ARX) via an email in July.

asTech notes the company provides $31 million indemnification on all “OEM-compatible” and OEM operations; however, repair businesses could still be held liable if they stray from OEM procedures, sources say. 

When asked by RDN if asTech’s indemnification alleviates a collision repair business’s liability if there is an issue involving death or serious injury as a result of an improperly calibrated vehicle asTech responded: 

“This is a complex and case-specific situation,” asTech said in its emailed response. “If a collision shop fails to follow OEM specifications and does not notify asTech, it does not absolve them of liability. However, if they follow all recommendations from asTech and the OEM, our indemnification would apply. Each case would need to be evaluated individually.”

Most OEM procedures specify OEM software and tools to be used to complete scans and calibrations safely. asTech promotes what it calls an “OEM-compatible” option utilizing aftermarket alternatives that it suggests are the same as OEM software. The company has said it self-verified the OEM-compatible option. 

“If [OEM] repair procedures say you need to use certain tools and you don’t use those tools there is a risk to doing that that you are taking on as a shop,” said David Willett, Sparks Underwriters chief underwriting officer, on Friday. “You are now saying you know something that they don’t know.”

Willett said indemnification from equipment providers does not change the shop owner’s responsibilities and duties that they owe to the customer. 

“No one else is going to take on the shop owner’s liability,” Willet said. 

Other entities, such as equipment providers, have their own lawyers, he said. He added shop owners should be prepared that indemnification is not going to cover a shop’s full liability. 

Willett said OEMs also aren’t perfect. However, historically, OEMs pay for any mistakes found in their procedures, he said. 

“If they tell you to do a procedure and you do it that way, you can hand any issues over to them,” Willett said. “No one can get in the way of you and that.”

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