Career Explorer Business and finance
Changing shape
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.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 7% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by -8.7% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on ethical judgement.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $78,240
- Job growth to 2035
- -8.7%
- Openings a year
- 700
- People doing it (2025)
- 13,500
- Usual route in
- College certificate, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Determine values or prices of goods or services
- Prepare documentation for contracts, applications, or permits
- Coordinate with others to resolve problems
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Examine financial activities, operations, or systems
- Inspect vehicles
What the work looks like
- Evaluate practicality of repair as opposed to payment of market value of vehicle before accident.
- 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.
- Prepare insurance forms to indicate repair cost estimates and recommendations.
- Estimate parts and labor to repair damage, using standard automotive labor and parts cost manuals and knowledge of automotive repair.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as specialized software and artificial intelligence (AI) make the appraisal process more efficient, allowing appraisers to focus on more complex claims.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- TellersChanging shape, Index 11, -13.2%
- First-line supervisors of gambling services workersGrows with AI, Index 48, +3.5%
- Bus drivers, schoolHuman edge, steady, Index 54, +0.7%
- Food science techniciansGrows with AI, Index 52, +4.8%
Also known as: Appraiser, Automobile Appraiser (Auto Appraiser), Automobile Damage Appraiser (Auto Damage Appraiser), Material Damage Appraiser, Damage Appraiser, Field Appraiser, Field Inspector, Insurance Appraiser.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.