REGINA – Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) plans to pay more money to auto body shops for collision work to help them keep their doors open.
The businesses have complained for some time that they don’t make enough from collision repairs to cover new auto body technology and recruit technicians.
“Our labour rate the last year to 14 months has probably gone up 25 per cent,” said Larry Mueller, who owns and operates Auto Extreme Auto Body in Regina.
“The labour rate at a mechanic shop, where you get an oil change or brakes repaired, they’re all in excess of $120 an hour.”
Body work in Saskatchewan has an hourly rate of just under $70 per hour, but the new SGI agreement will bump that to $93 per hour by 2017.
In the end, SGI confirms it will mean a four per cent hike in premiums, but there’s no timeline in place.
The company makes those decisions on an annual basis, and says a new proposal is unlikely to go before the Insurance Rate Review Board until at least the new year.
With files from The Canadian Press.
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