Cash and claim mix

Definition

The split between jobs a customer pays for directly and jobs an insurer pays for.

Why It Matters

An insurer-paid job arrives through a network that sets the price and takes a fee for the referral, and a cash job is priced by the shop. The two look identical on the invoice and earn very differently, so a shop's revenue tells you almost nothing until it is split. Ask for jobs and gross margin under each for two years, because a book drifting toward network work is a book quietly repricing itself downward.