In the future, the Web promises to speed and reduce the cost of maintaining shops' relationships with their customers, both vehicle owners and insurers. To many in the industry, this situation is inexcusable. To reap the benefits of e-commerce, shops and insurers are required to use multiple estimating systems that connect with the proprietary communication networks from the big three estimating providers. This requirement has increased the cost of doing business for repairers who must license software and train their staffs on multiple systems to maintain a wide-range of insurer relationships. Insurers understand that their customers ultimately shoulder these costs, and many have worked to promote open systems.
Some insurers allow repairers to use any of the three major estimating systems.
But they have done so by installing all three systems internally to enable communication with the repair community. Many repairers hope that with these systems will limit the number of in-house estimating systems they must use, provided insurers accept data from any estimating system. This would translate into a major cost savings for repairers and insurers, who would no longer need to license and train their staffs to support multiple estimating systems. Shops and insurers will find they can select estimating systems more upon the basis of database accuracy, estimating system features, and cost and support instead of the ability to communicate electronically. Improved Shop Communication Beyond insurer relationships, the Internet will aid shops in their communications with individual vehicle owners.