That "25 minutes of labor" quote I saw on a customer's insurance estimate made me laugh

I was going over a repair sheet for a 2018 Civic with a crunched rear bumper and saw the insurance company allowed 25 minutes to replace the entire rear panel. Laughed out loud in the shop because I spent 2 hours just getting the old one off without warping the quarters. Has anyone actually finished a panel swap in the time those estimators give you?

3 comments

3 Comments

nora_park1mo ago

Man, that estimate timing is a joke... they clearly haven't done the job themselves.

the_amy1mo ago

Oh man, 5 years ago I had a plumber come out to fix a leaky pipe and he quoted me 3 hours for what ended up being a 45 minute job. He even charged me the full estimate lol. I think some of these guys just throw out numbers based on the worst case scenario they've ever seen. Like they remember that one time everything went wrong and they use that as the baseline for every job. It drives me crazy because then you're sitting there for two extra hours doing nothing while they're just padding the clock.

wesley1811mo ago

25 minutes" probably means that's how long they think the job would take in a perfect world with a magic wand.