Collision Repair Costs Hold Steady as Total Losses and Deductibles Rise

Collision repair inflation has cooled, but that hasn’t made claims easier for drivers or repairers. CCC Intelligent Solutions’ mid-year update to its 2026 Crash Course report points to rising total loss frequency, older vehicles in the loss mix and higher deductibles that are changing which repairs get reported. For repair businesses, the central challenge is a system handling fewer claims while retaining a larger share of expensive losses.

Fewer claims, more total losses

Through September, claim frequency was down 3.5% from the same period a year earlier. That decline was narrower than the 8.3% drop recorded through September 2025. Repairable estimates fell 5.4%, compared with a 10.4% fall in the prior-year period, while total loss valuations rose 1.1% after declining 3.1% a year earlier.

Non-comprehensive repairable claims declined 4.2%, against an 8.9% decrease in 2025. Total loss valuations in that category increased 1.4%, following a 1.2% decline a year earlier. Collision and comprehensive claims made up 80% of the total reduction in claim volume in 2026, down from about 90% in 2025.

CCC attributes part of the change to drivers’ sensitivity to premiums and their willingness to pay smaller losses themselves. Higher deductibles make minor damage easier to postpone or cover out of pocket. That leaves fewer small repairable claims in the pool, which can make the remaining claims look more severe and increase the share classified as total losses.

The pattern is visible in the deductible mix. Repairable collision claims with deductibles of at least $1,000 reached 28.4% in the first half of 2026, up from 25.7% a year earlier and 20.3% in the first half of 2022. A VIU by Hub Insurance survey cited by CCC found that 67% of policyholders would struggle to cover an unexpected $1,000 home or auto expense; 21% described it as a serious hardship or significant struggle.

Total loss frequency rose alongside those shifts. Through Q2, 23.5% of claims across all loss categories were deemed total losses, an increase of 0.8 percentage points year over year. Non-comprehensive total loss frequency reached 24.1%. Both measures continued upward from their 2022 lows of 18.2% and 19.4%, respectively.

That result matters beyond repair operations. CCC’s Moments of Truth study found that 40.4% of insured drivers with a confirmed total loss changed carriers, compared with 7.6% after a repairable claim. As total losses become more common, the handling of those cases can shape whether customers stay.

Older vehicles and slower cost growth

Age is becoming a stronger factor in the loss mix. Driveable vehicles deemed total losses accounted for 11.2% of cases in the first half, up from 10.3% a year earlier and 6.3% in 2022. Historically, more than 80% of driveable vehicles written off have been at least seven years old. Non-driveable total loss frequency across all loss categories also climbed, reaching 52.5% in H1.

Vehicles aged seven years or more represented 74.3% of total loss valuations in H1 2026. Those between seven and 12 years old made up 41%, compared with 33.4% in 2020. Their lower adjusted values can mean a vehicle reaches the total loss threshold after damage that still leaves it operable. Yet age doesn’t guarantee a straightforward repair: older vehicles can still need diagnostics and specialized procedures.

Repair cost growth, meanwhile, has flattened. Average total cost of repair (TCOR) reached $4,821 in H1, 0.6% above the same period in 2025. That’s a sharp slowdown from the 15.7% increase in H1 2022, although the average has climbed from about $3,331 in 2020 to more than $4,800. Average part prices remained 8% higher year over year through early 2026, while labor rates rose 1.5%.

The underlying repair bill remains more than 40% above 2020 levels. In Q1, 27% of non-comprehensive claims involved more than 15 parts, and fewer than 32% exceeded 30 labor hours. Both measures were shifting toward less-intensive repair categories.

Self-pay work and diagnostics expand

Self-pay repairs are taking a larger role alongside insurance work. They accounted for 26% of repair orders in H1 2026, up 0.5 percentage points year over year, with an average ticket of $1,941. More than 71% of self-pay orders were below $2,000. By comparison, the average repairable insurance claim was $4,821, and more than 75% of those claims exceeded $2,000.

Diagnostics are also appearing earlier in the repair process. In Q1, 74.8% of repairable appraisals included a scan and 29.9% included a calibration, up from 70.9% and 23.3% a year earlier. Among direct repair program appraisals, scan penetration reached 89.8% and calibration penetration was 40.6%.

More than 83% of scans appeared on the initial estimate, compared with 47% of calibrations. For direct repair program claims, the figures were 93.1% for scans and 50.9% for calibrations. CCC’s data suggests scanning is commonly identified at intake, while calibrations are less consistently captured at that stage.

Hybrids and EVs carry different repair costs

Hybrids represented 9.9% of repairable claims in Q2 across all vehicle ages, compared with 4.3% for EVs. Among vehicles three years old or newer, hybrids accounted for 19.0% of repairable claims and EVs for 9.5%.

For vehicles in that younger age group, average hybrid TCOR was $6,415, or $435 below the EV average of $6,850. Since 2020, hybrid repair costs have risen 53.6%, while EV costs increased 16.3%. EVs remain the most expensive fuel type to repair in the group. The full 2026 Crash Course report, released in March, provides the wider context; the mid-year figures show that slower inflation hasn’t erased the pressure from older vehicles, higher deductibles and technology-related repair work.

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