Tariffs and increased costs of production have impacted the collision parts market. New OEM and recycled parts have seen the largest increases in cost.
When I first joined PartsTrader, I wanted to track pricing by part type to better understand how various industry and market pressures were affecting different categories of parts. To do this, we created a market basket of high-volume replacement parts that were available as new OE, certified aftermarket, and recycled options. This approach avoids skewing the data with lower-cost OEM clips and emblems when compared to larger alternative panels. It is similar in concept to how the Consumer Price Index measures inflation for U.S. households.
What we found is that since April 2025, with the implementation of tariffs on most imported goods, the price of new OE and recycled parts has increased at the highest rate of inflation among all part types we track. With approximately 44% of OE collision parts manufactured outside of the U.S., this is not surprising. Because recycled parts are typically priced as a percentage of the corresponding OE part, their pricing trends closely follow.
As I have mentioned in previous articles, certified aftermarket parts have remained remarkably resilient to these inflationary pressures.
Another observation is that our measured inflation rate appears lower than what is reported in other parts inflation studies. I believe this is largely due to what we at PartsTrader refer to as “competitive tension.” Each part submitted through the platform receives an average of 7.2 quotes in a one-time bid format. This creates a market where suppliers put forward their best price to win the business.
That dynamic helps keep pricing in check, especially when compared to traditional catalog-based procurement, where price increases are often passed through without the influence of real-time market competition.
Body shop adoption of the platform has increased significantly over the past few years, resulting in improved margins for repairers, increased sales opportunities for market-driven suppliers, and better overall outcomes for insurers.
