TRENDS: Parts usage trends over the past five years

CCC Information Services has seen a decline in the last four years in the cost of parts as a percentage of total repair costs. In 2007, parts accounted for 39.1 percent of repair costs. It hovered just above 38 percent for the next three years, before falling to 37.7 percent last year.
Part of that change could be caused by OEM parts usage – as a percent of all parts costs – declining as well. OEM parts account for 68.8 percent of parts costs in 2007. It has fallen steadily every year since, to just 63.3% last year.
Interestingly, CCC found the average number of parts per claim dipped along with the overall economy. There was an average of 8.2 parts per claim in 2007, and an average of 8 parts per claim last year; in the intervening years, however, this had fallen to as low as 7.8 in 2009.