Slow to repair

If your car gets damaged by a storm or a crash, it will take longer than ever for the body shop to fix it.

A study by J.D. Power found that it now takes a record 23.1 days from the time a claim is reported to an insurer to get a vehicle repaired. That's 6.2 days longer than last year, and 11 days more than before the pandemic.

The reasons? Slower parts availability and a shortage of body shop workers.

J.D. Power found that slow repairs are forcing many customers to pay out-of-pocket for rental cars because their insurance doesn't cover rentals for long enough.

Still, the survey and analytics company found that consumer satisfaction with the insurance claims process actually increased in this year's study, rising five points on a 1,000-point scale to an industry average of 878.

Mark Garrett, director of global insurance intelligence at J.D. Power, said insurance companies that improved the most showed concern for a customer's situation at the start of the process and kept them informed. "Being empathetic toward the customer situation goes a long way in building trust with them," Garrett said.