For most people, the procedures to get a vehicle ready for any dent repair, much less hail damage, doesn't move the interest needle one iota.   However, the procedures or parts necessary to repair a customer's vehicle is something that just about everyone wants to have a general understanding about.  And totally understandable too!  You as a customer want to know what is and what is not being done to your vehicle when it comes to any type of vehicle service (i.e. mechanics, detail, body shops, etc.), even right down to something as simple as an oil change or tire replacement, although, quite frankly, today's technologically filled vehicles are anything but simple.  And, I, as a vehicle owner too, couldn't agree more.   I too want to gain an understanding about what's being done to my second most valuable possession. 

So as not to ramble on, I'll try to keep this blog short. 

Where were we?  Ahh, yes.  Prepping a hail damaged vehicle for repair and insurance inspection.

So what entails prepping?  Prep includes our employees  doing what's referred to as R&I (remove & install) or R&R (remove and reinstall).  Now before we go any further, it's important to remember that most paintless dent repair requires us to push dented metal from behind (if you're not sure what we're referring too, go to our blog about "what is paintless dent repair").   

We're not pulling dents out with suction, magnets, or dry ice (various myths you may hear about online).  And dents don't pop out either.  We push from behind with special tools.  Because of the pushing from behind techniques, it requires us to remove things like headliners, hood insulators, fender liners, interior trim, etc.   We even remove hoods and trunks.  All of that would fall under the category of R&R.   With R&I, we're removing any damaged moldings and parts.  We then, replace them with brand new items.  Simple enough, right?

When it comes to insurance inspection, it's not only necessary to do all those things, we also have to show the assigned adjuster or rep things like the number of dents, the size of dents, difficult access, procedures, etc.  Everything for them is about justification to make sure that the money they authorize for repair is valid and necessary.  For that reason we make sure to take a wide variety of photos showing procedures as well as the number and size of dents.  Below is a video showing what that looks like.   

As always, if you have any questions at all about the process or what would be done to your vehicle, please don't hesitate to call us @ (828)217-2348.