Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
Why is my body shop slow in 2026?
Does word of mouth still work for collision repair shops?
How do I market a collision repair shop in 2026?
What is customer-pay collision repair?
How do I get more body shop customers?
How do I reduce DRP dependency?
What does collision repair marketing cost?
Why are auto body parts so expensive in 2026?
What's a healthy parts margin for a collision shop in 2026?
What should I say when a customer asks why repairs cost so much?
Should I add a tariff surcharge line to my collision estimates?
How often should I check my parts margin?
What's the average tariff impact on a collision repair order in 2026?
Try This: The Parts Margin Audit
Here is a number every shop owner should know by the end of the week.
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Pull your last 20 completed ROs. For each one, find two things:
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The parts margin you quoted at the start of the job.
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The parts margin you actually realized after final invoices, returns, wrong-part eats, and any adjustments absorbed to keep the customer happy.
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Subtract one from the other. That is your leak per RO.
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Multiply it by your monthly RO count.
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That is the number you are trying to manage.
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To put it in real terms: a shop running 60 ROs a month and leaking $100 per quote on parts is giving back $72,000 a year. Most owners we talk to are leaking more than that and do not know it.
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Shops that do this exercise honestly are usually shocked. The leak is almost always bigger than they thought. Not because they are sloppy. Because the cost of doing business changed underneath them and nobody sent a memo.
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Once you know the number, you can do something about it. You can tighten quoting discipline. You can push back with a supplier. You can have a conversation with the customer that you have not been having. You can decide where the line-item approach makes sense and where the surcharge line makes sense.
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You can't manage what you don't measure. Right now most owners are managing this one by feel.
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What's Working in Shops Holding Margin
1. Quote validation, every time, no shortcuts
Shops getting hit hardest are quoting from last quarter's numbers. Shops holding margin are pulling live pricing on every quote, every time. Even for parts they think they know. A bumper quoted in February is not the same bumper today. Twenty seconds in the system on every line saves $187 on the Tuesday Tundra.
2. Line-itemizing the parts on the customer estimate
Not because the customer asked. Because when they see "Rear Bumper Cover - $612" instead of "Parts - $1,847," they stop feeling like they are being charged for air. The number is the same. The trust is different. And the number gets paid faster.
3. Tariff line items on the invoice
A few shops have added a separate "supplier surcharge" or "supply chain adjustment" line. It is not hidden. It is not deceptive. It is clear. Customer sees the part, sees the adjustment, sees the labor. That kind of transparency does more for the customer relationship than quietly absorbing the cost ever did.
4. Tighter scope on cash quotes
When a customer is paying out of pocket and the deductible math does not work, shops are getting precise about what is in scope and what is out. "We can repair this for $X, or we can replace it for $Y, and here is what each one means for safety, longevity, and how it will look in two years." Customers respect being given a real choice. They walk out feeling like they made a decision, not like they got squeezed.
5. A weekly margin check, not a monthly one
A few shops have started doing a Friday afternoon spot check on parts margin for the week. Not full P&L. Just a quick look at what was quoted versus what actually came in. The gap is the leak. Catching it weekly catches it before a month of jobs disappears into it.
None of this is revolutionary. It is just stuff that was not necessary five years ago and is necessary now.
What's Actually Causing the Parts Squeeze
Here is the part nobody at the counter has time to hear.
Roughly 44% of OEM collision parts sold in the U.S. are made overseas. Tariffs that took effect in 2025 are working through the supply chain right now. According to PartsTrader's 2026 industry analysis, they are adding around $100 to the parts line of an average repair order. That is the average. On a big bumper job with a sensor or a quarter panel, it is a lot more than that.
Detroit's Big Three absorbed billions in tariff costs through 2025 to keep wholesale prices stable. They told their investors it was not a long-term plan. GM took a $1.1 billion hit in Q2 alone. Ford ate $800 million. Stellantis flagged $1.7 billion.
That money has to come out of somewhere. It is coming out of the parts line.
An IMR survey of 500 shops in December 2025 found that 46% of owners named "finding affordable parts" their top challenge for the year. 38.6% said tariffs hit them directly. For shops with eight or more bays, that number jumps to 70%.
So no. It is not just you. And it is not getting better on its own.
You can't pass all of it on to the customer. You also can't eat all of it. Pass it on and the customer-pay job goes to the shop down the road. Eat it and you give back your parts margin. That margin is already pinched from labor rate stagnation, calibration sublet costs, and supplements taking three rounds to settle.
Shops getting through this are not picking one side. They are managing the gap with discipline that did not used to be necessary.
Customers are not the enemy. They do not want to fight with you. They just want to understand why their repair costs what it costs.
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Shops getting through this stretch are treating their customers like grown-ups and telling them the truth. Nothing changed on the shop's end. A supplier raised it, a manufacturer raised it before them, and a tariff is finally working through the system.
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Customers do not love hearing that. But they understand it. The Tundra customer pays the bill. Yours will too, if you have the right conversation with him.
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You are not getting killed on parts because you are doing it wrong.
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You are getting killed because the rules changed and nobody handed out the new ones.
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Shops figuring it out are doing it one Tuesday at a time. One Tundra at a time. One honest conversation at a time.
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If you made it this far, you already know this is not getting fixed by hoping. It is getting fixed by knowing your number, having the right conversations with your customers, and tightening the gap between what you quoted and what actually hit your books.
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The parts margin leak is one of five places most collision shops are quietly losing money. The free Collision Visibility Check from The Garage Agency walks you through the other four in about ten minutes. No call. No pitch. Just a clear look at where you stand.
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The Garage Agency works exclusively with collision repair shops. You fix cars. We fix your marketing.
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One More Thing
Guide #4: You Been Getting Killed on Parts Too?
Why auto body parts are so expensive in 2026 (and what shops are doing about it)
Auto body parts cost more in 2026 because of tariffs that took effect in 2025. About 44% of OEM collision parts are imported. PartsTrader says those tariffs are adding around $100 to the parts line of an average repair order. That cost is showing up at the counter, on supplements, and inside your parts margin. Most shops have not adjusted yet.
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Have you had this conversation at the counter recently?
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A customer is standing there. The estimator hands him the quote for a rear bumper job on his Tundra. He looks at it. He looks back up. Then he asks the question every shop owner is hearing right now.
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"Why is this so expensive?"
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You know exactly why. You also know there is no way to explain it in thirty seconds without sounding like you are making excuses. That same bumper you quoted three months ago is up $187. Same part, same supplier, same shop. Just a different Tuesday.
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So you eat part of it. Because what else are you going to do.
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This used to happen once in a while. Now it happens every week in most shops we talk to. Sometimes twice.
If that has been your last sixty days, you are not imagining it. You are not bad at quoting. You are not losing your touch. The math actually changed.
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The average collision shop is giving back $72,000 a year to parts margin leak in 2026 and does not know it.
