If you stop and think about what the insurance companies know, and I mean really know...then you should conclude that they "already know" just how much more expensive waterborne paints are, down to the penny!

If you accept this premise, then the next position you should take is how to gather all those shops who are using such products in your "rating" area and present a common position to all those insurers who you engage in business.

It is not a rate fixing problem, it is a problem of repairing a vehicle while creating a profit wherein the shop increases it's probability of remaining in business so that when the owner receives the repaired vehicle and is told that the work is warranted/ guaranteed, the shop will be in business to do just that.

Remember, there would be no insurance company without a customer who wanted to protect what he or she considered an "asset" first. You are there to fix that asset and guarantee your work. Profit is the primary goal of every business. The insurance company works for the vehicle owner, you work for the vehicle owner.

Common sense, reasonable realities and the common laws of profit creation in business dictate your choices.

How one presents the argument is crucial to defending one's position(s). This is nothing more than a "divide and conquer" game by the insurance industry. Stop the division should be the primary goal. Always has been, always will be.

By stalling for months on "allowing" rate or material increases, the insurance industry knows "exactly" how much money it will be saving and what profits it will be generating while using those funds which should rightly be on your side of the fence.