Writing a PDR estimate for insurance, retail and wholesale

Three kinds of work

Insurance estimates

An insurance estimate is read by someone who wasn't there: the adjuster, and often a reviewer behind them. Write it so every line can be checked against the photos and against the carrier's own estimate.

• Each damaged panel on its own line, with its dent size and count range.
• Upcharges named on the panel they apply to, not folded into the price.
• R&I in hours under the panel it gives access to, and R&R only where a part won't go back on.
• Photos of every panel, taken so the size and spread of the damage show.
• The claim details: carrier, claim number, adjuster, deductible and date of loss.
• The VIN, and the year, make and model it gives.

Expect a back-and-forth. When the shop's estimate and the carrier's differ, the useful answer is specific: the panel, the reading, and the photo that shows it. Anything found after approval goes in a supplement with a reason, and the original stays as it was approved.

The forms around a claim, such as a repair authorization or a direction to pay, are the shop's own documents. What they say, and what they mean, is for the shop to settle with its attorney.

Retail estimates

Retail work is an owner paying for themselves: a door ding, a crease, a few dents from a parking lot, or hail damage they've decided not to claim. The shop quotes its own figure, by the panel or as one price for the car, and the matrix is a reference at most.

Retail estimates win on clarity. Say what is being repaired, what isn't, and the price, in plain words. Send it the same day while the owner is still deciding, make it easy to approve from a phone, and take a deposit if the shop's practice is to hold the slot with one. How sales tax applies to the work is a question for the shop's accountant, and the estimate should show it the way the shop has decided.

Wholesale estimates

Wholesale is work for a business: a dealer reconditioning trade-ins, a fleet, a rental company, or another shop subletting its PDR. The account and the shop agree a price sheet once, and every car after that is priced from it.

The estimate can be short, but the account details matter: which account, which sheet, the account's own labor and tax rates if it has them, and its payment terms. Most accounts would rather pay one statement than a stack of invoices, so the work of billing a dealer is mostly keeping each car on the right account.

One car, three ways

Take a hood with Quarter-size dents read into the 16–30 range, and a headliner R&I for the roof behind it.

As insurance

the hood is priced from the matrix cell for Quarter, 16–30, with any upcharge named on it; the headliner R&I is written in hours under the roof; photos and claim details go with it, and the carrier and owner are each invoiced for their part.

As retail

the shop quotes the owner one figure for the hood and roof together, explains the headliner work in a sentence, and invoices the owner.

As wholesale

the hood and the R&I take the dealer's sheet prices, and the car goes on the dealer's next statement.

Mistakes that cost money

• Missing the claim number or the deductible at intake, and chasing it at billing.
• Folding access work into a panel price, where an adjuster can't see it and won't pay for it.
• Writing an R&R where the part could have gone back on, or an R&I where it couldn't.
• Editing an approved estimate instead of writing a supplement.
• Pricing a dealer's car from the wrong sheet, or billing it to the wrong account.
• Invoicing the carrier for the deductible the owner owes.