Insurance Appraisers, Auto Damage
Appraise automobile or other vehicle damage to determine repair costs for insurance claim settlement. Prepare insurance forms to indicate repair cost or cost estimates and recommendations. May seek agreement with automotive repair shop on repair costs.
Most important skills
- Writing
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Time Management
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Social Perceptiveness
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Computers and Electronics
- Mechanical
- Administrative
- Education and Training
- Law and Government
- Mathematics
What the work involves
- Estimate parts and labor to repair damage, using standard automotive labor and parts cost manuals and knowledge of automotive repair.
- Review repair cost estimates with automobile repair shop to secure agreement on cost of repairs.
- Examine damaged vehicle to determine extent of structural, body, mechanical, electrical, or interior damage.
- Evaluate practicality of repair as opposed to payment of market value of vehicle before accident.
- Determine salvage value on total-loss vehicle.
- Prepare insurance forms to indicate repair cost estimates and recommendations.
- Arrange to have damage appraised by another appraiser to resolve disagreement with shop on repair cost.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Realistic, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Some College Courses (30.6% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (36.1%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (50.5%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Insurance Appraisers, Auto Damage is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 96% of occupations compared | 96% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 99% of occupations compared | 92% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 82% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 77% of occupations compared | 64% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 93% of occupations compared | 63% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 94% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 86% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 66% of occupations compared | 29% of surveyed respondents chose “Very serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 4.31%
- Constant contact with others: 95.69%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 8.44%
- Extremely important: 91.56%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 11.78%
- Fairly important: 4.36%
- Important: 22.23%
- Very important: 17.92%
- Extremely important: 43.7%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 18.3%
- Some freedom: 17.92%
- A lot of freedom: 63.78%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 4.31%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 32.55%
- Every day: 63.14%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 18.48%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 8.44%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 40.85%
- Every day: 32.22%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 11.94%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 40.85%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 22.94%
- Every day: 24.27%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 20.28%
- Fairly serious: 22.75%
- Serious: 28.25%
- Very serious: 28.72%
- Extremely serious: 0%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
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O*NET-SOC 13-1032.00 · SOC 13-1032 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8