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PDR guide

The hail repair workflow, from drop-off to paid

A hail car goes through the same stages in every shop: received, estimated, approved, repaired, supplemented if needed, invoiced and paid. Here is what happens at each one, what usually holds a car up, and what to capture early so the money arrives.

Updated 5 min readBy PDRCore

The stages at a glance

  1. Vehicle received
  2. Estimate written
  3. Approved
  4. In repair
  5. Repairs complete
  6. Invoiced
  7. Paid

A hail car isn't finished when it drives away. It's finished when it's paid, and on an insurance claim that can be weeks after delivery. Every stage below exists to make that last step faster.

1. Drop-off and intake

The repair order (RO) starts when the car arrives. Capture what is hard to get later, while the owner is standing there:

  • The VIN, which gives the year, make and model without guesswork.
  • Photos of the four corners, the odometer, the license plate and the VIN sticker, as the car arrived.
  • Who pays: the insurance carrier, the owner, or a dealer or fleet account.
  • On a claim: the carrier, the claim number, the deductible, the adjuster and the date of loss.
  • Damage that was already there, such as chips, cracked glass or old repairs, noted and photographed.
  • The owner's phone and email, and the best way to reach them.

Storm intake is a line of cars, and the owner's name sometimes comes later. The VIN and the payer are the two things worth never skipping.

2. The first estimate

Walk the car panel by panel under a light. For each damaged panel, read the dent size and the count range, note aluminum, glue-pull or oversize conditions, and add the R&I lines needed for access under the panel they serve. Photograph each panel so the reading can be checked. The pricing matrix guide explains the readings, and the R&I and R&R guide the access lines.

3. Agreement and approval

On a claim, the carrier writes or reviews an estimate too, through an adjuster on site or from photos. The two estimates are compared, and differences are usually about readings: a panel's size or range, an upcharge, or an R&I's hours. Settle them before the repair starts, not after.

A retail owner approves the figure directly. A dealer account usually works from its agreed price sheet, so approval is quick. Whoever approves, the approved estimate becomes the version of record: the repair, the bill and the technicians' pay all follow it.

4. Repair

Assign each panel to the technician doing it, so the work is credited to the right person. R&I comes first, then the PDR, then reinstall. Keep the owner posted with a short text when the car moves stage; on a storm, the calls asking "is it ready?" add up to hours.

5. Supplements

Once parts are off, more damage often shows: dents under a roof bow, a broken clip, a molding that won't survive reinstall. That added work goes in a supplement, never an edit to the approved estimate. Common reasons for one:

  • Hidden damage found once a part was off.
  • Work the adjuster directed after seeing the car.
  • A price that needed correcting.
  • A panel missed on the first walk-around.

A good supplement says what changed against the original and why, with photos, and goes out as soon as the damage is found. A supplement written after delivery is the one most likely to be paid late, or argued.

6. Final check and delivery

Check every repaired panel under the light before reinstall is finished, then again once the car is together. Take closing photos of the panels you repaired. Collect what the owner owes, such as a deductible, at delivery, when it is easiest to collect.

7. Invoicing

On a claim, two parties often pay: the carrier pays its approved amount, and the owner pays the deductible. Each gets an invoice for their own part. Dealer and fleet accounts usually take a statement of everything they owe, on their agreed terms.

Some shops ask the owner to sign a direction to pay, so the carrier's payment comes to the shop. Its wording and what it means are the shop's own matters, best settled with the shop's attorney, and the insurance and retail estimates guide covers the paperwork side.

Where hail cars get stuck

  • Waiting on the carrier's agreement, with nobody chasing it.
  • A supplement found on the floor and never written up.
  • A deductible not collected at delivery.
  • An invoice sent to the wrong party, or for the wrong version.
  • A part on order for an R&R, with no date anyone can see.

Each one is cheap to spot when every car sits in a column by stage and expensive to find a month later in a stack of folders.

In PDRCore

The hail workflow in PDRCore

  • Intake in a minute

    Scan the VIN and the year, make and model fill in. The camera walks you round the seven intake shots. A car can come in before you have the owner's name.

  • Claim details on the RO

    Carrier, claim number, deductible and adjuster on every insurance RO, with the date of loss.

  • Estimates and approval

    Priced from PDRCore's dent matrix by size and range, or a price you set, with photos on the lines they show. Customers approve from the link you send.

  • The board, until it's paid

    Every car in a column by stage, from Vehicle received to Invoiced. A car leaves the board when it's paid.

  • Supplements that keep every version

    The approved estimate stays locked. Changes go in a supplement with a reason, compared with the original side by side.

  • Work credited, texts on the car

    Pick the technician for each line and the car goes into their My Work. Texts and email with the owner sit on the RO's Messages tab.

  • Invoices, payments and A/R aging

    Invoice the carrier and the customer for their own amounts, record each payment with who paid, and see who owes you and how late.

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