SCA Claim Services is working to address the gap in average costs to repair an EV compared to a traditional ICE vehicle -- estimated at 47% in CCC's latest Crash Course Report -- by helping repairers write more accurate estimates.
Over the summer, the appraisal company appointed Ron Trozzo -- formerly of Tesla Collision and Tesla Insurance -- its new nationwide ADP director for its Auto Operations division, who said at the time his "immediate goal is to streamline processes and foster innovation, while my long-term vision includes setting new industry standards in EV claims and collision management."
SCA also developed a dedicated EV repair estimation program to eliminate wasteful spending on repairs due to missed damages and unnecessary charges, and has a dedicated team training and supporting its EV appraisers to ensure damage appraisals are done correctly the first time.
Autobody News spoke to Trozzo about the new EV repair estimation program and some of the misconceptions auto repairers may harbor that are contributing to unnecessary increased costs.
Unnecessary Charges
Trozzo said many of the unnecessary charges on EV repair estimates are related to calibrations: "When it's actually needed or necessary versus when it's a 'nice to have,'" he said.
If a calibration is truly needed, there will be an OEM repair procedure supporting it, he said.
When shops charge for unnecessary calibrations, it's usually due to being "a little bit overzealous," Trozzo said, and "not going through the blueprinting methodology that they should implement in order to read those OEM repair procedures."
However, it also on the insurance carriers to not blindly accept those estimate lines without documentation.
High-voltage EV battery removals are also related to unnecessary charges, Trozzo said.
"What we see a lot of times is the battery being removed off the car to complete standard repairs," he said. "It's pretty rare the battery should be removed from the vehicle."
He said most repair procedures only require the battery to be isolated. While Trozzo said all repairs should be researched, procedures like repairing outer rocker, dog leg or quarter panels, or those involving the floor or rear of the vehicle typically do not require it.
"An inner rocker panel may require that HV battery to be removed and isolated. However, that should be a very rare occurrence in the process," Trozzo said.
"I don't think there's any malice involved," Trozzo said of the unnecessary battery removals. "I just think that there's a misconception that the battery needs additional kid gloves in order to protect it, where the repairs that were produced had the battery in mind already."
Trozzo said that comes from a lack of knowledge about EVs, and perhaps a bit of fear of the long-burning -- though rare -- fires that have been caused by EV batteries. "Nobody would like their shops to burn down," he said.
Repairers need to stay up to date on training for new technology, and remember to always refer to OEM procedures -- which can change frequently.
Missed Damages
On the other hand, some EV repair estimates miss procedures because repairers assume they aren't as complex as they are.
"We may think that a bumper repair is simple, and we may forget that there's a radar behind it and therefore we don't do a calibration, and the customer shows up six months to a year later with reported issues," Trozzo said. "We may forget that certain sensors must be reset and depending on the vehicle manufacturer, the process may be as simple as going into their vehicle and selecting the right option when it's in the service menu, or it's complex as staging the right environment for those sensors to work correctly. "
Trozzo again emphasized the importance of researching repair procedures, for both EV and ICE vehicles, to drive consumer confidence in the industry's ability to return their highly technical cars to their pre-accident condition.
"We should look at applying the higher degree of sophistication that EV brings down to ICE cars, which would ensure success for both vehicle types," he said.
Trozzo worked for both Tesla Collision and Tesla Insurance for about four years, which gave him an appreciation for the increased time, expertise and technical knowledge needed to successfully repair an EV compared to an ICE vehicle.
SCA's New Product
"We want to provide a quality product to our client where all -- customer, shops and client -- are satisfied with the results," Trozzo said of SCA's EV repair estimation program. "I am currently less concerned about the cost of the repair, but instead the quality of the estimate."
The fact most EVs require all OEM replacement parts, rather than any of the alternative parts that may be allowed in an ICE vehicle, is partly driving the higher costs to repair them.
Calibrations and scans also drive up repair costs for EVs, as some OEMs require conditions like "clean rooms" to complete, which can be costly to implement.
"I think total costs to repair [EVs] as an industry will start to go [down] once we simplify some of these procedures and there alternative parts available," Trozzo said.
"The industry is going through a transformation, and I think the victors on the other side are those that can embrace the change and implement some best practices," Trozzo said. "Therefore, I'm really proud in terms of SCA how fast it's coming around to be one of the first ones in the EV market space, working alongside manufacturers and clients to bring a change that the system needs, in order to make sure that the cost of repair is actually what it should be and not a dollar more."
Abby Andrews