Issue 001 · Wednesday, August 5, 2026 · 5 items + the background signal, 6 minutes
Every week we read the position statements, the rate surveys and the bill files so you don't have to, and send you the five things that actually change how you write an estimate, what you can charge for it, and who has to pay.
No fluff, no vendor spin. If it doesn't move a number on your P&L or expose you to a liability claim, it doesn't make the cut.
GM banned recycled ADAS parts outright — check your estimating defaults
GM issued an updated ADAS Consideration position statement on July 20 prohibiting salvaged, recycled, reconditioned, remanufactured, aftermarket and secondary-market ADAS components on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles. Radars, cameras, sensors, control modules, wiring, brackets and mounting hardware are all named. Only new GM Genuine parts are approved, and GM says damage, failure or nonperformance arising from non-GM parts is not covered under its New Vehicle Limited Warranty or any GM service plan. Two further statements dated June 23 do the same for windshields and supplemental restraint components.
Lucid followed on July 29 with a glass and glazing statement naming BetaPrime 5504G and BetaSeal U-428 Plus as the approved primer and adhesive, requiring Lucid-trained technicians for glass-triggered calibrations, and capping chip and crack repair at damage areas smaller than 1.25 inches — with none permitted within 3 inches of the glass edge or any ADAS camera. Ford's August On Target detailed 2026 Escape body-side construction in boron, martensitic and dual-phase 800 steel.
Why it matters: If your estimating system still defaults a recycled radar bracket onto a Silverado, that line is now an argument you will lose twice — once with the insurer and once with your own liability carrier. Pull the GM statement, print it, and keep it in the file with the estimate.
State Farm is returning $5 billion to drivers — and 57% of shops say it cut their rate
State Farm reported $12.9 billion of net income for 2025, roughly double the prior year, and closed the year at $170 billion net worth against $145 billion in 2024. It is now paying a $5 billion cash-back dividend, the largest in its history — about $100 per vehicle across more than 49 million insured vehicles, calculated as 4% to 10% of 2025 premium depending on the state. Rate cuts averaging 10% have gone into 40 states, worth $4.6 billion to policyholders.
The same report carried the other half of the picture. A survey of 230 shops found 57% said State Farm had reduced their labour rate with no explanation given — one cited a move from $60 to $55 an hour. A separate CRASH Network survey of about 300 shops found one in four had a rate cut from a single insurer, with State Farm named most often. Auto premium earned was $71.3 billion, 63% of combined net written premium.
Why it matters: You now have a public number to negotiate against. If a rate reduction lands with no reason attached, ask for one in writing and note the date — and if you are in Virginia, item 04 says they may owe you that explanation by law.
Calibration is on a third of repairs and nobody agrees who writes the rules
CCC Intelligent Solutions recorded calibrations on 35.6% of DRP appraisals in Q3 2025, up from 26.9% a year earlier, with diagnostic scans on 87.7%. PACE-ADAS partner Dan Dutra puts the true share of vehicles that need calibration at 80% to 90% and guesses only about 10% are being done and documented properly. His line on sublet is the one to write down: "It doesn't matter who your sublet is. You are responsible."
Behind it sits H.R. 7389, the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act of 2026, which cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee 48-1 on May 21 and awaits a floor vote. It folds in REPAIR Act language codifying the 2014 and 2015 access agreements, hands the FTC enforcement authority, and orders a study of practices restricting telematics and repair information. SCRS executive director Aaron Schulenberg is not convinced access is the binding constraint, arguing repair procedures don't require telematics data and that cost-cutting pressure is the real barrier.
Why it matters: Two jobs this month. Get your sublet calibration agreements in writing with the scan reports attached, because the liability lands on your repair order regardless. And decide now what you charge for setup, target space and documentation time — that is the line insurers will test first.
Since July 1, an insurer cutting your estimate by $3,000 owes a written reason
HB 808, patroned by Del. Dan Helmer, was signed April 13 as Chapter 672 and took effect July 1. It amends § 38.2-510, Virginia's unfair claim settlement practices statute. Where a loss estimate of $3,000 or more is reduced, the insurer must give the policyholder a detailed explanation of why any change reducing the estimate was made, identify who made or ordered each change, and retain every version of the estimate. It passed the House 97-0 and the Senate 33-7.
The bill came out of exactly the pattern in item 02. The Washington Metropolitan Auto Body Association told legislators that insurers increasingly use remote desk adjusters and automated review, and that "it is now common for a field estimate to be cut by 20% to 50% by someone — or something — miles away." Helmer's framing was that Florida and Maryland have taken runs at the same problem.
Why it matters: The duty runs to the policyholder, not to you — so build it into the customer conversation. When a supplement gets cut, tell the owner the law entitles them to a written explanation and the prior version of the estimate, and have them request both. That paperwork is your file.
A not-ready OBD car can now take an emissions waiver — and glass notices came with it
The half of HB 312 nobody is talking about is the emissions half. Since July 1, a vehicle that has failed an emissions inspection qualifies for a waiver if its onboard diagnostic system is in a not-ready condition when presented for reinspection. For anyone working the Air Check programme across Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Arlington, that changes the conversation on a drive-cycle car you cannot get ready in time — and it is the sort of provision that stays unused for a year because nobody at the counter has read the bill.
The same act, signed April 22 as Chapter 1045 and enforceable by the Attorney General under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, sets the glass notices. A glass shop must tell the customer whether the vehicle requires recalibration, whether the shop can perform it, and whether it succeeded — and if it fails or cannot be done, direct the customer elsewhere to have it completed. It passed the House 96-3 and the Senate 40-0; the identical Senate bill was SB 767.
Why it matters: Brief whoever writes emissions repairs on the not-ready waiver before the next drive-cycle car comes back failed. And if you sublet glass, the notice duty still lands at your front counter, because that is where the customer heard it — add the three recalibration statements to your glass authorisation form.
The fraud that reads your invoices before it sends one
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center took 24,768 business email compromise reports in 2025, with losses of $3.05 billion — a record, after dipping to $2.77 billion in 2024 from $2.95 billion in 2023. Across all internet crime the centre logged 1,008,597 complaints and $20.88 billion in losses. These are only the cases someone bothered to report to the FBI, so read them as a floor.
Business email compromise is the one that should worry a shop rather than ransomware. Someone gets into a mailbox, reads quietly until they understand how you invoice and who pays you, then sends a real-looking supplement or parts invoice with different bank details. No malware, no lock screen, no warning — just a payment that never arrives and an argument about who eats it. A trade that emails estimates, supplements and parts invoices all day is the exact shape this fraud is built for. Ransomware reports rose again too, to 3,611 from 3,156 in 2024.
The quieter signal is adoption. The Census Bureau now surveys businesses on AI use every two weeks, and by the May 3 collection 37% of firms with 250-plus staff were using it and 32% of those with 100 to 249, against under 20% of firms with fewer than 20 — a share that has barely moved since December. The national rate is 19.8%. Shops your size aren't refusing these tools so much as waiting for someone to show them a use that survives contact with a real repair order.
Business email compromise losses reported to the FBI ($ million)
2023
2,947
2024
2,770
2025
3,047
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 Internet Crime Report. Reported cases only; rounded to the nearest million from $2,946,830,270, $2,770,151,146 and $3,046,598,558.
What to do about it: You do not need a security programme. You need multi-factor authentication on email and on your accounting login, and one standing rule everybody follows: nobody changes bank details on the strength of an email or a phone call — you ring the number you already had on file and confirm. Tell your parts vendors you will do this, so they are not surprised when you do. That covers most of what actually happens to shops your size.
Since July 1, has any insurer actually sent your customer a written reason for cutting an estimate by $3,000 or more — or has nothing changed on your desk?
Wary of AI? Start with the part nobody writes honestly about.
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