Glenn Mitchell loved lists, and this love of lists gave impetus to the collision repair estimating information industry.

The parts manager of a car dealership in post-World War II San Diego, Mitchell created extensive lists of automobile parts numbers, prices and descriptions to aid his parts counterman in looking up parts for body shops. As knowledge of these lists spread by word of mouth, Mitchell began receiving calls from other car dealers, body shop technicians and even insurance adjusters, requesting his specific and well-documented information. That is when Mitchell had a breakthrough idea that would transform the collision repair industry. The idea? He realized that his informational lists were a valuable asset that could benefit the collision repair industry on a large scale.

From that realization, Mitchell, the founder of what today is Mitchell International, produced the first Collision Parts Publication in 1946, making it faster and easier to find and order the right parts.

Beginning in the 1950s, Mitchell was joined in the collision parts publication business by MOTOR, which had started publishing auto repair and parts books in the 1930s and added collision repair in the 1950s. In 1953, MOTOR Books published a body shop flat rates and parts manual, predecessor of the current Crash Estimating Guide. Both companies still produce books as well as parts and labor databases for the collision repair industry today.

Throughout the 1960s and most of the 1970s, books remained the bedrock of collision repair estimating information and still are widely used. Then in the late 1970s, a major innovation - the first automated estimating product - was brought to the United States from Europe by ADP. In 1983, Mitchell also introduced an automated estimating product.

In those days, automated estimating operated differently than today. The technology for creating an estimate on a PC desktop wasn't yet available. Instead, users of automated estimating would enter parts and labor information for an estimate into their computers one of two ways. Users of Mitchell's automated estimating system would scan information from Mitchell collision estimating books - which now included bar codes next to each part and labor time - into a portable bar code reader. The information was then downloaded into the user's computer. Users of ADP's automated estimating product entered their parts and labor estimating information directly into their computer using its data entry keys. With both systems, the computer then uploaded the information to a mainframe computer via phone line. The mainframe calculated and printed out the completed estimate on the user's printer in minutes.

The next major milestone for collision repair estimating occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the introduction of PC-based estimating systems by all three major collision repair data providers - ADP, Mitchell and CCC. These systems allowed users to automatically calculate complete estimates on their PCs, including P-Page logic calculations. The systems were CD-based, meaning they provided parts and labor data updates to users via CD ROMS that loaded onto the user's PC. This was a significant enhancement to the estimating process, making it faster and easier for users and also giving them greater ease in modifying the estimate.

In 1992, the communication of collision estimating information advanced with CCC's introduction of the first dedicated communications system to link insurers with collision repairers. Rather than insurers and body shops working from two different estimates, a single estimate, written by the collision repairer, could be communicated to the claims office for verification and payment. ADP and Mitchell have also created similar communication systems.

Collision estimating took another significant step in the mid-1990s, with Mitchell's introduction of the first Microsoft Windows-based estimating system. ADP and CCC created Windows-based estimating systems later in the1990s as well. The Windows environment, with its ability to have multiple applications open at one time and ease of movement between programs, was a good fit with the collision estimating work flow.

The late 1990s through the present have seen the rise of the Internet in the collision repair industry. Its influence in the estimating arena is apparent with the launching of Internet sites that provide online and wireless-enabled technology solutions. October 2000 brought the industry's first Internet-based estimating system, Mitchell International's FirstEstimate.com, which allows independent adjusters and collision repair shops of any size to write professional, accurate repair estimates.

A lot has changed in the past 50 years and with the increasing role of the Internet in the automotive industry, we can expect many more advances in the years to come.

Bonnie Ward is the public relations manager for Mitchell International.

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