A battery disconnect and reconnect is one job. Everything the OEM requires afterward is another, and the 2026 "Who Pays for What?" survey on frame and mechanical operations treats them as two separate line items entirely.
The survey, conducted by Collision Advice and CRASH Network, drew responses from 473 shops in 49 states during April. It found that shops negotiating for battery reconnect procedures, the OEM-required steps performed after a battery has been disconnected and reconnected, are paid always or most of the time in 58% of cases, a slight increase from the prior year.
Two different charges, one shared starting point
The survey defines "disconnect and reconnect battery" as the physical act of disconnecting the battery before repairs and reconnecting it once repairs are complete. That procedure topped this series' look at the frame and mechanical procedures shops get paid for most often, with 80% of shops that negotiate for it paid always or most of the time.
Battery reconnect procedures are defined separately in the report as performing all procedures the OEM requires after a battery has been disconnected and reconnected, including initializations and steering angle sensor work. A shop can bill for the disconnect and reconnect labor itself and still leave the OEM-required follow-up work off the estimate entirely.
Sixth on the ranking chart, and a quarter of shops still don't ask
Among shops that put battery reconnect procedures on an estimate, 58% are paid always or most of the time, according to the report. As with every procedure in the survey, that figure excludes shops that never attempted to negotiate for it.
The procedure ranks sixth of the 21 operations on the survey's overall ranking chart, between jig rental and removing coatings from pinch-welds. Twenty-four percent of shops said they have never asked to be paid for it.
One Asian OEM required 11 procedures after reconnect, Anderson found
Researching the procedures required when a battery is disconnected and reconnected is critical to a safe and proper repair, and it needs to happen on every single vehicle, every time, according to Mike Anderson, president of Collision Advice. Anderson wrote in the report that when he analyzed the procedures called for by one Asian OEM, he found 11 procedures required after reconnecting the battery.
Many people assume those procedures are limited to electronics or one-touch convenience features, Anderson wrote. In some cases, a steering sensor zero point calibration may be required, which can affect ADAS functions. Disconnecting the battery also often sets diagnostic trouble codes, and those codes cannot be checked without a post-repair vehicle scan performed in conjunction with reconnecting the battery, he wrote.
The report also asked shops how often they research the OEM procedures required after a battery is reconnected. Thirty-five percent said all the time and 27% said most of the time, while 10% said they never do.
It's "D&R battery," not "R&I battery"
In the report's section on disconnecting and reconnecting the battery itself, Anderson draws a related distinction. Disconnecting a single cable is "D&R battery," for disconnect and reconnect, not "R&I battery," he wrote. The distinction reinforces that reconnect procedures are their own separate, billable scope of work, apart from the physical disconnect and reconnect.
Where shops can find the OEM-required steps
Shops can find the OEM-required steps through automaker repair procedure websites or third-party services such as ALLDATA, Mitchell TechAdvisor, CCC ONE Repair Methods, and I-CAR's Repairability Technical Support Portal, all named as resources in the report. Estimating system P-pages will show whether a given step is included or not-included.
Anderson's broader guidance for negotiating any not-included item, covered earlier in this series, still applies: confirm whether the work is required to return the vehicle to pre-accident condition, check whether it is included in any other labor operation, look for a pre-determined time, and calculate what the labor is actually worth. The report also points shops to an SCRS Quick-Tip video specifically covering battery reconnect procedures.
The full Frame & Mechanical Operations Report is available to download now.
