Massey Collision Center Blog

To write and estimate from a picture it is best to start with 4 corner pictures. That is a picture of front and rear driver side, front and rear passenger side. This allows to see the overall state of the vehicle. The next photo should be of the VIN and mileage. The best way to get a picture of the VIN is on either the driver side door or the door frame around the driver’s door there is a placard with the VIN and lot of other information. Some of the other information can be handy to have so having that picture can be helpful. Next are various pictures of the actual damage it self. Flash, sunlight and focus can effect the ability to see damage on a picture so it is best to try from different angles. Also you can try with Flash turned off and with focus on macro or regular. For most cameras they have a picture of a flower for close focus and a mountain for long focus. If you are taking a close picture you can use the flower focus to get a better picture. You want to look for secondary damage also. A quick way to look for secondary damage is to look at the gaps on seems. Like along hood or truck edges or along doors. If you see some gaps that are not uniform or are too big or too small then it is a sign that there is secondary damage. Taking a photo of those gaps can be helpful.

Ultimately taking too many pictures never hurts. The more you can see the better. Some email filters may block out files that are too big so sometimes you need to send each photo on a different email to make sure the files are not too large and thus blocked.

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