A Quick Breakdown Of The Terms On Your Auto Body Quote
If you were recently involved in an accident and your vehicle sustained some serious auto body damage, you are going to need to take your vehicle to an auto body repair shop. The first thing that the auto body repair shop is going to do is assess the condition of your vehicle and write you out a very detailed quote of the work that will be required to fix your detail. Here is a quick breakdown on what the quote will look like and what all of the terms mean.
Cover Page
Your quote will most likely have a cover page on it. It will have your contact and insurance information, as well as a description of the main type of impact from your crash. It will also include a brief rundown of all of the features on your vehicle. This rundown will include details about your transmission, power options, décor, convenience features, radio, safety features, seats, wheels, paint and other.
For example, under convenience, features such as a keyless entry or rear defogger would be listed. Under power features, things such as power mirrors and power doors would be listed. This information is listed for insurance purposes.
Main Quote
After the cover page, the work on your vehicle will be detailed. Across the top it will say: Line, Oper, Description, Part Number, Qty, Extended Price, and Labor.
Line is just the number line on the quote page; this is there to make it easier to talk about specifics of the quote. For example, you can ask them what about line 12-14, instead of trying to describe and get them on the same page as you.
Oper describes the type of operation or work that they will do on your vehicle. Under this column there are numerous other abbreviations they will use to describe their work. Here are four of the most common abbreviations you will see on your quote.
- Rpr: Repair
- R&I: Remove & Install
- Repl: Replace
- Blnd: Blend (typically referring to paint)
Description: This usually includes specific information about what area of the vehicle they are referring to, such as LT Quarter panel, or what they will be doing to that area, such as Add for Clear Coat.
Part Number: There will only be something under this column if there is a specific part that they have to purchase for your vehicle.
Extended Price: This is the price for any parts or outside services that will be used. This does not include labor prices.
Labor: This column will show exactly how much labor it will take to fix your vehicle from the auto body shop technicians.
Paint: Since the labor costs at most auto body shops differ for auto body work and painting, this is where all the paint hours that your vehicle will require are detailed.
Under these headings, each step of the repair job will be detailed out. You should be able to follow along and understand exactly what the auto body shop will need to do to fix your vehicle. Sometimes, there will be subheadings for specific areas of your vehicle that will appear on their own line, such as "Front Bumper" or "Front Door;" these subheadings are to point out when a different area of your vehicle will be worked on and are supposed to make the quote flow more smoothly.
Summary Page
At the end of your report, there should be a summary page. The summary page will show the total costs for all the parts. It will also break down the body labor, frame labor and paint labor. All labor should show the total number of hours required for that type of labor, the rate at which you will be charged for that labor, as well as the total costs.
Some shops also break down paint supplies in the same way as labor, and others just give a total cost for paint supplies. There may also be miscellaneous fees or supplies listed as well. If you live in a state with sales tax, that information will be included in the summary page.
The summary page should allow you to quickly see and understand what the big picture will be labor- and cost-wise to repair your vehicle.
After the summary page, there will most likely be a legal disclaimer from the shop and/or your insurance company about the repairs, as well as a key that explains all symbols used in the quote.
If you have any questions about the information on your quote page, have either your insurance adjuster or the collision expert you are working with explain to you in more depth what the quote is going over. For more information, talk to an auto repair shop like Foster's Auto Service Inc.
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