During 2022, the costs of consumables for bodyshops exploded as a combined effect of the high energy price and the constant rise in the price of spare parts, an item that accounts for around 70% of the average cost of repairs. This is what Federcarrozzieri highlights. The association that represents Italian bodyshops raises a double alarm: costs grow repairs for cars and motorcycles, e times increase waiting for citizens.
Expected price increases of +15% in 2023
Operators in the sector have only partially succeeded in absorbing the higher costs charged to them, with the consequence that in the current year the price lists relating to repairs to the public have recorded increases. Further increases are planned for 2023, with the costs of the interventions destined to rise by an average of +15% compared to the beginning of 2022.
From the bumper to the side doors of the SUV, the price list
The Federcarrozzieri Study Center has analyzed some of the most common types of intervention, verifying how the expenditure borne by motorists will change in 2023 due to the high energy cost and the higher costs of spare parts: for example, repairing the rear bumper of a small utility vehicle damaged following a rear-end collision will cost an average of 1,950 euros compared to approximately 1,700 euros at the beginning of 2022, with an increase of +14.7%. To replace a windscreen spending on a city car will rise from an average of 1,120 euros to about 1,300 euros (+16%). In case of damage to the side doors of a high-level SUV, the cost will go from 9,700 euros in the first months of 2022 to 11,200 euros in 2023 (+15.4%).
Wait times are growing
But there is also another alarm raised by the association: the crisis in raw materials and components has increased the difficulty of procuring spare parts and materials, extending waiting times to the detriment of motorists. To this is added a further trend phenomenon, namely the presence of technologically more sophisticated motor vehicles which, as such, require a greater use of manpower times for their restoration. Factors which, calculated by Federcarrozzieri, lead to an increase in repair times to the detriment of motorists of up to +20% compared to last year.
Vehicle repair guidelines
More and more consumers, adds the association, are turning to improvised and unauthorized body builders. «Federcarrozzieri contributed to the formulation of the guidelines for the repair of vehicles in a workmanlike manner (art. 1 paragraph 10 Competition Law n. 124 of 2017) which provide consumers with a tool to understand and evaluate the quality of the repair also with respect to processing methods and the materials used», explains the president of the association Davide Galli. «These provisions provide that information on the spare parts to be replaced must be provided right from the manufacturing estimate, each identified with their code, which allows the consumer to know exactly which spare part will be fitted, its price and its specific type. Furthermore – concludes Galli – the estimate must contain the number of hours of labour, the labor rate, the cost of the paint materials, consumables and for environmental purposes, the item relating to the waste disposal costs”.