I wonder how much repair time this truck needs on those quarter panels? I think the rear door needs replacement though.
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.
Every car registered in the United States has a unique identification number known as a VIN. This is a 17 digit number that contains information on where the vehicle was produced, the company that produced it and some model information. If you want to get into the details of each digit means you can go here. The VIN number can be found in several places. Most common is in the dash found at the bottom of the windshield on the driver side. Another common location is on the driver side door jam. On the door jam you can find a placard with a bunch of information about the car (good place to find the paint code here.) You can find a good diagram here.
So here is the first in what I hope to make into a long series of helpful post about the Collision Repair industry. I hope to learn more myself along the way. I guess in my mind the most basic aspect of the business is training. No matter what industry you work in there is at least some basic training to required. The same is especially true for Collision Repair. There are many shade tree mechanics who can put your car back together but if that guy does not know what he is doing then the structural integrity of that car is compromised and the next time that car is in an accident it my not protect the passenger the way it was designed. So find a shop or technician who has been trained in vital to your safety.
The industry standard in the United States is I-Car. I-Car was started in 1979 to ensure that the people putting your car back together knew what they were doing. Over the years they have developed an extensive program for training. They have two levels of recognition. A shop can be qualified as a Gold I-Car shop and an individual can be qualified as a Platinum individual. Both of these signified that the shop or person has not only attained a certain level of training but they must maintain through continual education.
Of course we need to post our commercial on the the blog
