GM's 2026 Pre- and Post-Scan Position Statement: What Collision Shops Need to Document

Key findings

1. 1GM's March 2026 position statement requires a pre-repair diagnostic scan on every vehicle being assessed for collision damage, not just those with visible electronic damage.
2. 2The same statement requires a post-repair scan after all work is complete to verify no DTCs remain and that calibrations are correct.
3. 3GM joins Ford, Stellantis, Honda, Nissan, and Toyota in publishing pre- and post-scan requirements - effectively making scanning a default expectation across the majority of the US fleet.
4. 4Pre-scan operations remain a not-included function in CCC ONE, Mitchell, and Audatex - shops must line them in manually with documentation to support payment.
5. 5I-CAR's Repairability Technical Support (RTS) portal continues to track OEM scan positions per VIN, and shops that build the scan record into the estimate at write-up reduce supplement frequency on ADAS-equipped vehicles.

Body

1. What GM's 2026 pre- and post-scan position statement actually says

GM's updated position statement, published March 2026, states that all vehicles being assessed for collision damage repairs must be tested with a pre-repair diagnostic scan during the estimation process to identify Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), and a post-repair scan after work is completed to verify the vehicle's electronic systems are functioning as designed. The document, hosted on GM's Trade Professionals portal at gmparts.com, removes the older qualifier that scans were required only when visible damage suggested electronic involvement. As of the 2026 revision, the trigger is collision damage assessment itself - not damage location, severity, or whether the airbags deployed.

Repairer Driven News covered the release on March 20, 2026, noting that GM's language now mirrors the long-standing positions held by Ford, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, and Stellantis. The practical effect is that shops working on any 2010-or-newer GM vehicle - Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac, including Silverado, Equinox, Traverse, Sierra, Yukon, Escalade, and Bolt EUV - now have an OEM-published, in-writing requirement to scan pre and post, and to document the results in the repair file.

2. How GM's position aligns with the rest of the US OEM landscape

GM's revision brings the company in line with the major OEM scan positions tracked on I-CAR's Repairability Technical Support (RTS) portal. Practitioners can pull individual position statements per make at rts.i-car.com, but the pattern across the fleet is now consistent: pre-scan required on collision damage assessment, post-scan required after repair, calibrations performed per OEM service information.

Coverage across these manufacturers represents the majority of the US light-vehicle fleet. SCRS and I-CAR have both stated publicly that a shop performing scans only on visibly damaged vehicles is not following the published OEM procedure for any of the brands above.

3. What the pre-scan and post-scan operations actually involve

A pre-repair scan is the use of an OEM or OEM-compatible diagnostic tool to interrogate every electronic control module on the vehicle, capture all current and stored DTCs, and produce a printable health report that becomes part of the repair file. The post-repair scan is performed after all mechanical, structural, and electronic repair work is complete - including calibrations - and verifies that codes set during disassembly or repair have been cleared and no new codes remain.

• Pre-scan output: full module list, all DTCs (current and history), software versions, calibration status flags.
• Post-scan output: confirmation no active DTCs remain, verification that calibration-required modules are within spec, technician sign-off.
• Tool requirements: GM specifies use of GDS2 or a tool that delivers equivalent OEM-level coverage. Generic OBD-II scanners are not sufficient for body, chassis, and ADAS modules.
• Documentation: scan reports must be VIN-stamped, time-stamped, and stored with the repair order.

4. The estimating problem: scans are still not-included operations

In CCC ONE, Mitchell Connect, and Audatex, pre- and post-repair diagnostic scans are not-included operations. They do not appear automatically when the estimator pulls labor for a fender, hood, or quarter panel. The estimator must add the scan as a separate manual line, attach OEM position statement documentation, and price the operation. SCRS' Database Enhancement Gateway (DEG) inquiries have repeatedly confirmed this status across all three estimating systems.

The result is a documentation gap. Shops that do not build the scan into the initial write-up either eat the cost or chase it as a supplement after the vehicle is already in the booth. On DRP programs, supplements after teardown drag down severity-per-claim metrics and increase keys-to-keys days, both of which feed back into program scorecards.

5. Where shops typically lose ground on GM scan compliance

The pattern of failure is consistent across shops we have observed and across published DEG inquiries. Most lost dollars and lost cycle time on scanning trace back to one of five points at write-up or repair planning.

1. 1Pre-scan not added to the initial estimate. The vehicle is written without the scan line, then the scan is performed during teardown and added as a supplement, increasing supplement frequency on the DRP scorecard.
2. 2Position statement not attached. The scan line is added but the GM position statement PDF or the I-CAR RTS reference is not attached, giving the carrier reviewer grounds to short-pay or deny.
3. 3Generic scanner used on ADAS modules. A general OBD-II tool reads powertrain codes but misses body, SDM, and ADAS modules, producing an incomplete pre-scan and an unreliable post-scan baseline.
4. 4Calibration triggers missed during planning. The pre-scan flags a module that requires calibration after repair, but the calibration line is not added to the estimate, surfacing only at post-repair scan.
5. 5Post-scan skipped or undocumented. The vehicle is delivered without a post-scan report attached to the repair order, exposing the shop on liability and on any DRP audit that requires final documentation.

6. How RocketPros aligns to GM's pre- and post-scan requirement

RocketPros runs alongside CCC ONE and Mitchell Connect at write-up and surfaces estimate-completeness signals against published OEM procedures and carrier program rules. For the GM 2026 position statement, that means flagging at write-up whether a pre-scan line is present on any 2010-or-newer GM VIN, whether OEM position statement documentation is attached, and whether the calibration triggers identified by the pre-scan have corresponding lines on the estimate. The published GM position statement remains the source of truth - RocketPros makes compliance with it mechanical.

On the back end, RocketPros reports claim-level metrics back to the shop: scan-line presence rate, supplement frequency on ADAS-equipped vehicles, and post-scan documentation completeness on closed ROs. Shops use these to identify whether scan operations are being missed at write-up versus added late as supplements - the difference between a clean DRP scorecard and a damaged one.

7. The carrier and DRP program perspective

From the carrier side, the GM position statement removes ambiguity that has historically been used to deny pre-scan payment. When the OEM publishes a clear, in-writing requirement that pre-scan is performed on every collision damage assessment, carrier appraisers and DRP program managers have less ground to push back on the line - provided the shop attaches documentation. Mitchell Industry Trends reports and CCC Crash Course commentary over the last 24 months have both flagged scanning and calibration as the fastest-growing component of repairable severity, and carriers are increasingly modeling this into program design rather than fighting individual lines.

DRP program managers benefit from shops that document scans correctly because audit-ready files reduce payer disputes and reduce reinspection cycles. The risk on the carrier side is the shop that performs the scan but fails to document - the carrier has paid for an operation that cannot be defended in audit.

Frequently asked

Citations

1. [1]Repairer Driven News - 'GM releases position statement on pre- and post-scans,' March 20, 2026.https://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2026/03/20/gm-releases-position-statement-on-pre-and-post-scans/
2. [2]General Motors Trade Professionals - Pre- and Post-Collision Diagnostic Scans Position Statement, 2026 revision.https://www.gmparts.com/content/dam/gmparts/na/us/en/index/trade-professionals/position-statements/02-pdfs/pre-and-post-collision-diagnostic-scans.pdf
3. [3]I-CAR Repairability Technical Support (RTS) Portal - OEM scan and calibration position statements tracked per make.https://rts.i-car.com/
4. [4]Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) - Database Enhancement Gateway (DEG) inquiries on pre- and post-repair scan not-included status across CCC, Mitchell, and Audatex.https://degweb.org/
5. [5]CCC Intelligent Solutions, Crash Course Report - US repairable severity benchmarks, scanning and calibration cost trends.https://cccis.com
6. [6]Mitchell International, Industry Trends Report - severity, supplement, and calibration trend data for US auto physical damage.https://www.mitchell.com/insights
7. [7]Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) - guidance on documenting OEM position statements with estimates.https://scrs.com/
8. [8]Automotive Service Association (ASA) - position on adherence to OEM repair procedures including scanning.https://asashop.org/
9. [9]IIHS-HLDI - research on ADAS prevalence and post-collision system performance in the US fleet.https://www.iihs.org/
10. [10]Assured Performance Network - OEM certification network requirements including diagnostic and calibration capability.https://assuredperformance.net/

What this looks like inside RocketPros

The audit logic, scoring, and documentation patterns in this paper map directly to four RocketPros modules. If you want this applied to your shop's real estimates, start with the module that fits the workflow you're trying to fix.

• RPS ComplianceTrack MPI, SGI, and DRP program risk before it affects scorecards.
• Estimate AnalysisCatch missed labor, materials, parts, and documentation gaps before submission.
• AutomationRead saved Mitchell, CCC, and Audatex files without manual upload.
• ADAS CalibrationSurface calibration triggers tied to sensors and OEM procedures.

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