SAN DIEGO --- Mitchell International Inc., a leading research firm serving the collision claims and repair industries, has completed a study concluding that hybrid vehicle repairs are more costly than those of their more traditional, gasoline-powered counterparts.

The study was featured in Mitchell's third quarter 2008 edition of its Industry Trends Report (ITR) — the company's quarterly publication that highlights industry-related trends, news items and statistics.

"The ever-increasing gasoline prices have affected virtually every aspect of our economy, including increasing the demand for hybrid vehicles," said Jamison Day, Mitchell's senior director of information services. "Given their increasing popularity, we thought it would be interesting to see how the hybrid's average estimate amounts compared and explore what might be driving the differences."

The study looked across different regions and also drilled down into parts and labor dollar categories, Day said. "We saw that hybrid severities were consistently higher across different states and found that both parts and labor costs were higher for the hybrid vehicle repairs."

Complete content is available in the latest Industry Trends Report, which may be downloaded in PDF format by visiting www.mitchell.com.