car insurance repair estimate

What Does R&R and R&I Mean On My Auto Body Repair Estimate?

Change is good, right? Yes and no. It depends on what kind of change we are talking about. With the change, there are some things that may take getting used to.

Take for instance car repair: You could get free estimates from body shops and go to a few different shops collecting estimates before insurance companies paid a claim. Technicians would do the same type of repair for every car using the same tools because a bumper would be a bumper and a broken windshield would be, well, a broken windshield.

That said, the only way an accurate repair plan can be created is after a technician performs thorough diagnosis of your vehicle. This can’t be done until a technician can take apart your vehicle and assess the damage to your vehicle. You wouldn’t want a doctor performing surgery without having a plan of what he needs to operate on. This same rule applies to when you’re getting your car repaired.

What can you do to get things moving on your repair?

There are times you’ll receive an initial estimate from your insurance company. This gets the ball rolling but it is nowhere near finalized or the total repair cost. There will most likely be additional hidden damage that will require a supplement and could possibly total the vehicle. 

Repair plans can contain phrases that can be very confusing if you don’t know what they mean. That’s why we’re here to help and tell you what two terms mean when you see them on your car repair estimate. Those terms are R&R and R&I.

What Is R&R? 

R&R stands for “remove and replace.” Remove and replace happens when a technician removes a specific part from the vehicle that is irreparable. As a result, the removed part is replaced with a new one. Some auto repair technicians might attempt to repair the part before replacing it with an entirely new part. However, R&R typically refers to removing the damaged part and replacing it with an entirely new replacement part.

Car repair is very complicated nowadays and requires extensive training from technicians to know how to properly perform a repair. Not following OEM repair procedures can cause the advanced safety features (also known as ADAS) your car is built with to no longer work. This is why it’s critical you take your vehicle to be repaired at a body shop that knows the importance of following OEM repair guidelines.

The complexity of car repair today creates more steps that need to be paid attention to, or it can create lasting damage to your vehicle. As mentioned above, a repair technician would know if a repair calls for R&R only after they complete a thorough diagnosis of the vehicle. This comes after the car is taken apart so technicians can accurately asses the damage and see what needs to be repaired. Keep in mind that the “replace” part of an R&R repair does not mean a replacement of the damaged part with it being repaired. R&R is a replacement for an entirely new piece for the car.

What Is R&I?

Unlike R&R, where a car part is replaced, R&I stands for “remove and install.” This happens when a part is removed from the damaged car and reinstalled later. The removed part may even be repaired separately if required. Just like in R&R, remove and install calls for a thorough inspection of the vehicle to accurately determine what needs to be done to the vehicle. Highly trained technicians will be able to diagnosis the vehicle and repair it following the repair procedures laid out by your car’s manufacturer, including OEM repair procedures.