The aim of this analysis of paint refinish data is to identify significant differences in average paint blend and masking for overspray hours in estimates, rather than to advocate or refute any OEM refinish procedure or recommendation. Every damaged vehicle is unique, and the proper repair procedure must be done on an individual basis.
"Contrary to what you might think, recent Mitchell data shows that older vehicles - surprisingly including larger trucks and SUVs - tend to receive lower hourly additional paint operations compared to newer cars, newer being one-year-old or less in this case. In contrast, these new vehicles, again those one-year-old and less, may require more blend time than a two-year-old vehicle," said Horn.
Horn added, "There is a good reason behind these differences in paint refinish estimate hours. Larger vehicles like SUVs and trucks feature ample panels with enough area to allow shops to effectively blend the base color within the damaged panel.”
"Our study also took country of origin vehicle mix into account to determine paint refinish hours. In estimates where blending was specified, we found that when we compared blend times by vehicle country of origin, age and type, we saw higher blend hours for European and Asian nameplates compared to U.S. manufactured vehicles - including estimates where masking for overspray was specified."
