Mitchell Releases Summer Industry Trends Report

For Immediate Release:
August, 2007

Contact:
Kam Hashim
Boston Communications
617-619-9803
kam@prboston.com
www.prboston.com

Report examines the relationship
between aftermarket parts and supplements

San Diego, CA  – August 13, 2007 – San Diego, CA – August 13, 2007 – Mitchell International, a leading provider of information, workflow, and performance management solutions to the collision claims and repair industries, today released the third quarter 2007 edition of its Industry Trends Report (ITR)—the company’s quarterly publication that highlights news items as well as industry statistics.

This edition’s Quarterly Feature explores whether or not specifying aftermarket parts on initial estimates affects supplement frequency and the effect that this practice has on cycle times. The Feature also looks at the substitution rate of common aftermarket parts for OEM parts and investigates whether CAPA-certified parts perform differently than non-CAPA parts.

The recently published study reviewed over 500,000 aftermarket parts and an additional 145,815 CAPA-certified parts and factored in all supplement types. The study’s results indicate that supplements, regardless of reason, can add an average of 1.5 days to a repair’s cycle time.

“Our study provides significant insights into exactly how cycle times are affected by supplements generated due to the use of aftermarket parts,” said Greg Horn, Vice President of Industry Relations, Mitchell International.  “Because we sampled such a large data set and examined the results so carefully, we were able to gain an accurate view of how much the use of different part types affects supplements, and in turn, cycle times.”

Other notes of interest in the current issue of Mitchell’s ITR include:

• In Q2-2007, the average Property Damage appraised vehicle Actual Cash Value was $11,370, compared with Q2-2006's average of $11,696, an increase of a mere $34.

• During Q2-2007, Mitchell reported that paint and materials average dollars per repair labor hours rose slightly, but the total cost of those materials as a percentage of the estimate dollars decreased slightly compared to Q2-2006.

Complete content is available in the latest Industry Trends Report, which may be downloaded in PDF format by visiting www.mitchell.com. First published in April 2001, Mitchell’s Trends Report has grown in both content and circulation, now reaching more than 23,000 collision and casualty industry professionals.

About Mitchell International, Inc.
Mitchell International is a leading provider of information, workflow, and performance management solutions to the automotive insurance claims industry, serving carriers, collision repair facilities, and other commercial participants in the physical damage and auto-related medical claims markets. Mitchell facilitates millions of electronic transactions between more than 16,000 business partners each month to enhance their productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction levels. For more information on Mitchell International, visit its Web site at www.mitchell.com.

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