Posted labor rates for mechanical repairs at U.S. collision shops are climbing at nearly twice the pace of body and refinish rates, according to new national data shared by National Autobody Research (NABR). For shops weighing whether to keep mechanical work in-house or send it to an outside vendor, the widening gap adds a new data point to that decision.
The figures, drawn from NABR's LaborRateHero platform, compare national average posted rates for June 2026, May 2026, and June 2025 across four core labor categories. Mechanical rates rose from $161 an hour in May to $163 in June, a 1.2% increase, and are up 11.6% from $146 a year earlier.
Frame posts the largest monthly gain
While mechanical rates lead on an annual basis, frame labor posted the largest single-month increase, rising 1.7% from May to June. Frame rates are up 6.4% over the past year, close to body labor's 6.2% annual increase. Refinish rates rose the least year over year, up 4.9%.
A shop that moved mechanical work in-house
The shift mechanical rates are showing nationally echoes a decision one Illinois shop made ahead of the trend. In a January episode of The Collision Vision podcast, produced by Autobody News and hosted by Cole Strandberg, John Melendez, owner of JDM Collision in Thornton, Ill., said bringing alignment and other mechanical work in-house cut cycle times and reduced the shop's liability exposure tied to subletting that work to outside vendors.
“I got tired of getting a car back that wasn't properly aligned … and your exposure, your liability exposure, when you sublet out is still the responsibility of that shop,” Melendez said.
He also said consolidating the work under one roof helped the shop catch additional damage earlier in the repair process. “The cycle time did decrease … not having to take people to drive down the street to an alignment center changed everything,” he said.
| Category | June 2026 |
May 2026 |
June 2025 | Month over Month | Year over Year |
|
Body |
$86 |
$85 |
$81 |
1.2% |
6.2% |
|
Refinish |
$85 |
$84 |
$81 |
1.2% |
4.9% |
|
Frame |
$117 |
$115 |
$110 |
1.7% |
6.4% |
|
Mechanical |
$163 |
$161 |
$146 |
1.2% |
11.6% |
Broader industry data shows a smaller increase
A separate, larger data set shows a more modest pace of change across the industry as a whole. According to CCC Intelligent Solutions' Crash Course 2026 report, the mean labor rate across all labor types rose 2.9% over 2025, the smallest annual increase since 2021. That figure comes from a different data set: CCC says its Crash Course insights are derived from claims-related transactions processed through its own platform, rather than NABR's shop-reported posted rates, so it is not directly comparable to NABR's numbers, but it offers a separate reference point for the pace of change in labor pricing industrywide.
The debate over how labor rates are set and characterized remains active elsewhere in the industry. In November 2025, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists raised concerns about insurers shifting language around labor rate methodology without providing shops documentation to support the change.
This data marks the first installment of a recurring feature Autobody News is developing with NABR to track posted labor rates across these four core categories on a monthly basis, with month-over-month and year-over-year comparisons.
To submit their posted labor rate survey, shops can go to www.LaborRateHero.com and click “Submit Rates” in the top navigation bar, or go directly to the online survey here.
Data Methodology
NABR's data comes from labor rates shops post themselves, rather than rates negotiated with individual insurers. LaborRateHero enables shops to input their posted labor rates rather than insurer-contracted rates to gain insight into industrywide pricing trends.
NABR has also pushed back on the industry's use of the term “prevailing rate” to describe labor pricing. On its website, the company states “there is not one single labor rate in a market,” saying rates instead vary based on a shop's location, capability, the vehicle involved, and the type of repair performed.
