In the past decade, the percentage of claims handled by dealership and single-location independent body shops has declined, while the percentage handled by multi-shop operations (MSOs) has doubled.
In 2000, according to CCC Information Services, independent shops processed about 85 percent of claims. Dealership shops and “regional MSOs” (those with shops only in one state) each handled about 4 percent of claims, and “national MSOs” (those with shops in multiple states) processed 5.8 percent of all claims.
By 2010, independents processed 78.6 percent of claims and dealership shops just 3.2 percent; regional MSOs had grown to 7.4 percent and national MSOs to 10.6 percent.