CCC Information Services used NACE Las Vegas to ballyhoo the fact that estimating system users ranked Pathways® as their preferred estimating system in an independent survey published last August. The survey, conducted by Collision Repair Industry Insight, a subscription newsletter (www.collision-insight.com), gave the CCC system an overall ranking of 3.6 out of 5.0, with Mitchell earning a 3.39 and ADP 3.19. The body shops polled in the annual survey ranked each system in 14 categories. CCC scored highest in several key categories, including "ease of use" with a score of 4.08; "telephone support" with 3.88; "cost of ownership" 2.85; "ease of making custom entries" 4.05; and "response to labor review requests" 2.95. The "accuracy of the labor data base" category saw CCC and ADP equal at 3.54. Mitchell had the edge in "accuracy of parts price information" with 3.96.

CCC's Jim Dickens and Mary Jo Prigge

The Collision-Insight survey indicated that 67% of respondents used CCC systems, 46% used ADP and 28% used Mitchell. While these numbers may not be indicative of actual market share, CCC says that it does indeed have the largest market share with systems installed at over 15,000 collision repair facilities.

"Clearly, we're very pleased with the results of this independent survey," said Mary Jo Prigge, president of CCC U.S. in an interview at NACE. "We've always emphasized ease of use and customer support, and it's gratifying to hear our users say we're doing a good job."

Brave new world

Prigge, whose responsibilities include both collision repair shop and insurance company customers in the United States, is leading CCC's efforts to remain the market share leader in estimating systems as the big three info providers face a brave new world - open standards that hold the promise of shops using only one estimating system to prepare estimates for all of the insurance companies they serve.

If this promise becomes a reality over the next several years, the info providers will be locked in a battle to be the "chosen system" as shops drop their leases on redundant systems they no longer need.

"We welcome open systems and have been a leader at CIECA [the open systems standards group for the collision industry] as the standards were set. We've always emphasized customer service, which is why we're confident of increasing our market share as this thing shakes out," said Jim Dickens, CCC's group vice president with responsibility for collision repair customers and database operations.

CCC only recently announced that it had returned to profitability after being battered by a write-off of investments it made in dot-com businesses and ancillary insurance operations that drained its operating profits. Earlier this year it announced that DriveLogic, a CCC dot-com subsidiary, was being folded back into the company and would form the basis for CCC's Internet-based end-to-end claims solution.