Send Photographs and Open a Repair File Before You Drive Out
Written by Claims Coordinator, Insurance Claims Coordinator, OCRV Center. Reviewed by Refinish Department Lead
In shortPhotographs sent ahead turn a two hour intake into forty minutes. Send eight frames, the data plate and a claim number if you have one, and the file opens before the unit arrives.
How do I request a repair quote from OCRV Center?
Use the intake form on this page with photographs, the data plate serial and a claim number if one exists. The scope is drafted before your unit reaches Yorba Linda, then confirmed in shop, where a written repair estimate is billed at $150 and credited in full against an authorized repair.
- Eight photographs cover most damage adequately for a draft scope
- Data plate serial is what body parts get ordered against
- A claim number lets us open the carrier conversation immediately
- Final scope is confirmed with the unit on the floor, never from images alone
- Written estimate
- $150Credited in full against an authorized repair
- Diagnostic
- $285 per hourOne hour minimum, credited to authorized work
- Response
- Next business dayMonday backlog can add half a day
- What to send
- 8 photographsWide, close, both sides, roof edge, data plate
- Where the estimate is written
- Yorba LindaWith the unit present, always
Last verified
A draft scope built from good photographs is not the same as an estimate, and it is worth a great deal anyway. It tells us which department schedules the work, whether a long lead part is involved, and what the inspection needs to look for. On a claim it also means the carrier conversation can start on the day you call rather than three days later.
Everything below is about making the photographs useful. Most owners send two frames of the damage from ten feet away, which is the least informative distance there is.
The eight frames worth sending
Start wide enough to place the damage on the unit: the whole side, in daylight, with the wheels visible so height and station can be judged. Then the damaged area from about six feet, then close enough to see the crack tip or the fastener line, with something in frame for scale. A tape measure works. A hand works. A frame with no reference point is the one an adjuster questions.
Then the frames people forget. The opposite side of the same area, because that is what a moulded replacement section gets taken from. The roof edge above the damage, since impact energy travels upward more often than owners expect. The interior wall behind it, where a stain or a soft spot tells you the substrate is already involved. And the data plate, because the serial on it is what a body panel gets ordered against.
- Whole side, daylight, wheels in frame
- Damaged area from roughly six feet
- Close detail of the crack tip or displaced fastener, with scale in frame
- Same area at a raking angle, where surface distortion shows
- Mirror location on the opposite side of the unit
- Roof edge directly above the damage
- Interior wall or ceiling behind the damage
- Data plate with serial legible
What to write alongside the images
Four sentences is plenty. What happened, when, whether the unit has moved since, and whether a claim is open. If a claim is open, add the carrier, the claim number and the adjuster's name, because that is enough for the coordinator to make contact without another round of email. If it is not open, say whether you intend to file, since that changes how the scope is written and what gets documented at teardown.
Mention anything already done to the unit, including repairs by other shops and any work you did yourself. That is not a trap. Prior repair history changes the method, particularly on fiberglass, where a previous filler repair over separated laminate has to come out before anything new goes on.
What happens after you send it
You get a reply the next business day, from the lead whose department owns the work rather than from a generic inbox. It contains three things: which department the job sits in, what the in shop inspection will be looking for, and any long lead part risk visible from the photographs. If a claim is open, the coordinator opens the carrier file at the same time.
Then you bring the unit in. The written repair estimate is produced with the unit on the floor, billed at $150 and credited in full against an authorized repair. Nothing is quoted as final from photographs, because a tap test regularly finds bond failure well past the visible mark, and a number sent by email would be a number we would have to revise upward at intake.
Fleet and municipal intake works differently
Commercial and public accounts start with paperwork rather than photographs. A purchase order number has to reference a written scope, so the sequence inverts: we produce the scope, the department issues the order against it, and the unit is scheduled into a slot rather than dropped off. On established accounts net 30 billing applies and one contact holds every unit on the file.
Downtime planning happens at the same time. Tell us how many units you can have out of service simultaneously and the rotation is built around that number, with parts ordered ahead of teardown wherever the damage allows it. A bay occupied by a truck waiting for a shipment is a cost to you rather than to us, and it is avoidable with a week of notice.
Open a repair file
Appendix: questions and answers
- The unit is in storage an hour away. Can I still start this?
- Yes. Send whatever you have, even old photographs from before the damage, plus a written description and the serial if you can find it on paperwork. We will tell you what the likely department is and what to photograph on your next trip out. The draft scope simply carries more uncertainty until images arrive.
- Will the number you send me be the number I pay?
- Not from photographs, and any shop promising that is guessing. What arrives by email is a draft range and a list of what the inspection will verify. The written estimate produced with the unit here at $150 is the document that gets authorized, and it is credited in full against the repair if you proceed.
- Can I submit several vehicles in one request?
- Yes, and for fleets that is the normal pattern. Group the photographs per unit and include a unit number or licence plate for each so the files do not blend. The reply comes back as one message covering all of them, with a suggested rotation if more than two need bay time.
- What happens to the photographs I send you?
- They go on your repair file and to your carrier if a claim is open. They are not published anywhere without your explicit agreement, and commercial units are generally excluded from publication entirely. If you would rather your unit never appear publicly, say so and it is recorded on the file permanently.
Open a file on this repair
Tell us the vehicle, what happened and whether a claim is open. We will tell you what the scope looks like and what it takes to get you back on the road.
Or call (949) 799-3387