What’s Making Car Repair So Expensive? Sensors

“The change that we’ve seen in the last five years is greater than we’ve seen, probably, in the last five decades.” That’s how Todd Dillender, chief operating officer of Caliber Collision, one of America’s largest car repair services, describes the rapidly rising cost of collision repair.

Why? Because a fender bender no longer just bends a fender. Today, it destroys sensitive electronics that can cost thousands of dollars to repair.

One-Third of Repair Costs Involve Advanced Driver Aids

Advanced driver assistance systems – systems like blind-spot monitors and smart cruise control that can brake and accelerate to keep pace with traffic – require extensive networks of sensors around the exterior of a car to work.

Those are driving a spike in repair costs. A recent AAA study found they “can add up to 37.6% to the total repair cost after a crash.”

AAA found that “the average cost of replacing ADAS components in a minor front collision repair was $1,540.” Replacing a side mirror – which often houses cameras and sensors used in blind-spot monitors – costs an average of $1,067.

Insurance Costs Spiking

The high price of repairs has helped push car insurance costs to new highs. As of March, the U.S. Department of Labor reported the average car insurance premium had increased by nearly a quarter in just one year.

High insurance costs have more than one in five drivers forgoing insurance in some states.

Even When They Don’t Break, Recalibrating Sensors Is Costly

Simply knocking a camera or radar sensor out of alignment can cause significant repair expenses.

Hami Ebrahimi, chief commercial officer at Caliber, told CNN, “The recalibration procedures are different depending on the systems in the car and what type of system that specific vehicle has.” Some require dynamic calibration. That means technicians must drive the car for set distances at prescribed speeds to allow computers to reset sensors properly.

That requires technicians to keep up to date with training on hundreds of models, making them more highly skilled, expensive employees than in years past.

These Systems Aren’t Going Away

Increasingly, car shoppers can’t opt out of buying the expensive systems.

In some cases, they’re mandatory. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently announced a rule requiring all new cars to carry automatic emergency braking systems by 2029.

In others, they prevent enough accidents to be worth their high cost. A pair of 2022 studies showed that automatic emergency braking systems cut the number of crashes almost in half, even as the systems show drastic room for improvement in many studies.