Collision Shop DRP Profit Calculator

Is the insurer's direct repair program worth signing for your body shop?

Enter what a typical repair order looks like at your prices and at the program's, the jobs you already do for that insurer, and the volume they promise. It shows your month with and without the program, the new volume you need to break even, what one program job gives up, and the lowest labor rate worth accepting.

Planning arithmetic on your own numbers. Not affiliated with any insurer or estimating system.

1. Your shop and the program

Repair orders a month that are not from this insurer

Repair orders a month you already do for this insurer

New repair orders a month the program promises you

2. A typical repair order

Body and structural hours per repair order

Refinish (paint) hours per repair order

Parts you buy per repair order ($)

Parts markup over your cost at retail (%)

Other cost per repair order: waste, sublet net, supplies ($)

3. Your retail prices

Body labor rate ($/hr)

Refinish labor rate ($/hr)

Paint and materials rate ($ per refinish hour)

What paint and materials cost you (% of that charge)

4. The program's terms

Program body labor rate ($/hr)

Program refinish labor rate ($/hr)

Program paint and materials cap ($ per refinish hour)

Parts discount off your selling price (%)

Your extra paperwork cost per program job: photos, scoring, supplements ($)

Program or network fee (% of the repair order)

5. People and overhead

Technician flat-rate pay ($ per flagged hour)

Payroll taxes and benefits on that pay (%)

Hours one technician flags in a month

Fixed monthly cost per technician: tools, guarantee, extra bay ($)

Rent, utilities, insurance, office staff, other fixed per month ($)

Your own pay per month ($)

Questions people ask

Is a collision repair DRP worth signing?

It depends on three numbers: what each program job gives up against the same job at retail (the labor rate cut, the parts discount, the materials cap and your extra paperwork), how many jobs you already do for that insurer that will be repriced, and how many new jobs they promise. The planner puts the month with the program next to the month without it.

How many new repair orders do I need from an insurer to make a DRP pay?

The planner finds the new volume from which the program stays at least as good as having none. It counts the repriced jobs you already do and the whole-technician steps the extra hours force, so a lucky month at a hiring step is not read as the answer.

What labor rate can I accept from a DRP?

The planner searches program labor rates, body and refinish together, and shows the lowest at which the program still earns at least what you make without it at today's promised volume. It is a floor for a negotiation, not a market rate.

Why is my profit per hour so different on DRP work?

Parts and materials margin shrink with the same labor, and the rate cut lands on every flagged hour. The planner shows what an hour earns each way.

Is this legal, tax or financial advice?

No. It is arithmetic on the numbers you type in. Insurer contracts, steering rules, state regulations, tax and employment law are out of scope.

Not decided

Whether the insurer will actually send the promised volume (the number is theirs and not a measurement; ask for it in writing and for what happens if it falls short), cycle-time and customer-satisfaction scores the program may require, steering and consumer-choice rules, contract terms and exit clauses, how the program changes the retail jobs you keep, seasonality and tax. The defaults are placeholders, not forecasts: check every figure against your own estimates and books.