How should complimentary pickup and delivery be documented for a hail repair?

Written by the DentPicks Editorial Team · Technically reviewed by Vytas Kucinskas, Founder & Master PDR Technician

Published: Aug 19, 2026 · Last reviewed: Aug 19, 2026 · 10 min read

A hail repair that includes pickup and delivery has one feature an ordinary drop-off does not: the vehicle changes hands twice, away from the shop, usually in a driveway or a workplace lot. That is convenient, and it is also the moment where a record either exists or does not. Six weeks later, nobody remembers whether the curb rash on the front wheel was there before, and memory is not evidence.

Good documentation is not about distrust. It is about making the boring answer available instantly, so a five-second question stays a five-second question. Below is what a handover record should contain, what you should keep yourself, and how to actually check a finished paintless dent repair on delivery instead of nodding at it in a dim garage.

What a proper handover record contains

At minimum, both ends of the trip should produce the same six things:

• Date, time and exact location of the collection or delivery, and who was present.
• Odometer reading, photographed rather than written down.
• Fuel level or state of charge, photographed on the cluster.
• A full photographic walk-around — every panel, all glass, all four wheels and tires, front and rear bumpers, mirrors, lamps.
• Interior shots — seats, carpets, dash, cargo area — and a note of anything left in the vehicle.
• Signatures from the person releasing or receiving the vehicle and the person transporting it.

The point of duplicating fuel and odometer at both ends is not suspicion about a joyride. It is that those two numbers date-stamp the record in a way a photo of a fender does not.

The pickup walk-around, in order

Ten minutes, done the same way every time, in this sequence:

1. Wide shots from four corners, showing the whole vehicle and the surroundings it is standing in.
2. Horizontal panels individually — hood, roof, trunk lid or bed — shot from a low angle so the light rakes across the surface. This is the hail damage, and it is the reason for the trip.
3. Vertical panels — doors, fenders, quarters — from the same low angle, plus a straight-on shot of each.
4. Glass, individually. Windshield, rear glass, each side window, sunroof. Chips and spidering are the single most common pre-existing item people forget about.
5. Wheels and tires. All four faces, plus a shot of each tire sidewall. Curb rash is the classic disputed item.
6. Lamps, mirrors, trim and moldings. Any lifted trim gets its own photo.
7. Interior and cargo. Including the state of the carpets, which matters if the vehicle took water through a damaged seal.
8. Cluster with the ignition on. Odometer, fuel or charge, and any warning lights already showing.

Anything unusual gets called out at the time and noted on the paperwork rather than left in a photo for someone to find later. If the driver's door was already misaligned, or a wheel already had a bent lip, say so out loud during the walk.

What to keep on your own phone

Have your own copy. Not because the shop's record is inadequate, but because a second independent set removes any question of who controls the evidence — and because you may need those photos for the claim itself, not just the transport.

Also photograph the storm-related items while you have the phone out — hail on the ground, damaged fencing, anything that establishes the event. That set belongs with your claim documentation and should be kept with the storm date you confirmed from the public storm records.

Before the vehicle leaves: the practical list

• Remove valuables and personal documents. Garage remotes, toll tags that are not vehicle-mounted, laptops, sunglasses, anything you would not leave in a parked car.
• Decide about toll tags. A windshield-mounted tag will accrue tolls while the vehicle is in transit or being moved. Either accept that or remove it.
• Empty the cargo area and back seat. Panels are worked from the inside on many repairs — headliners come down, trim comes off. A loaded cargo area slows the job.
• Leave the vehicle reasonably clean. A washed panel reads better under line boards. Skip the wash if the paint is chipped or cracked in the dents, where pressure can lift more coating.
• Note anything that already rattles, sticks or warns. Pre-existing faults belong on the record.
• Confirm who has the keys and how many. Including whether a spare stays with you.

Our guide on preparing for a PDR appointment covers the rest of the preparation side.

While the car is out of your hands

Documentation does not stop at the curb. During the repair at the Plano shop, panels are read under LED line boards, worked, and then signed off by whoever runs quality control — and that sign-off is visible in your customer portal, alongside live updates while the vehicle is with us. That matters most for exactly the customer who used pickup, because you are not walking through the shop mid-repair.

If the panels turn out worse than the adjuster's estimate assumed — which happens most often on roofs, where damage over reinforcements is hard to see from outside — the correct route is a supplement, documented with photographs from the shop floor. Our guide on how supplements work in hail repair explains the sequence. You remain the one who files with the carrier; we supply the evidence and walk alongside you.

The delivery inspection — the part most people rush

This is the inspection that actually decides whether you are satisfied, and it is routinely done badly: at dusk, in a garage, with someone standing next to you waiting for a signature. Insist on the conditions instead.

1. Daylight, or nothing. Move the vehicle out of the garage. Overcast daylight is ideal; direct sun is second best; artificial light is worst.
2. Read each panel by reflection. Crouch so you can see a long straight edge — a roofline, a building edge, a light pole — reflected across the panel, then move your head. A remaining dent shows as a wobble in that reflected line. Staring straight down at a panel tells you almost nothing.
3. Check the horizontal panels first. Hood, roof, trunk. They took the most impacts and they are where any missed dent will be.
4. Look at panel edges and body lines. These are the hardest areas in paintless work, and they are where quality shows.
5. Confirm reassembly. Trim, moldings, headliner, roof rails, interior panels — everything that came off should sit flush and not rattle. Close every door and the hatch.
6. Repeat the odometer and fuel photos, and compare with the pickup record.
7. Ask for anything you see now. It is much easier to address on the spot than after you sign and drive off.

If you are not sure what a finished repair should look like, our explanation of how paintless dent repair works covers what the process can and cannot achieve — and it is honest about the fact that some panels do genuinely need replacement and refinishing rather than PDR. Vehicles arrive back with a mini exterior detail, which makes the reflection read easier, not harder.

Pickup record versus delivery record

Common mistakes

• Signing the delivery paperwork in a garage at night. You cannot read a panel in that light. Nobody can.
• Relying entirely on the shop's photo set. Take your own. It costs three minutes.
• Forgetting the wheels. Wheel damage is the most disputed item in any vehicle transport, in every industry.
• Leaving the car loaded. Interior access is part of the repair on most panels.
• Not photographing the cluster. Odometer and fuel are the two numbers that anchor a record to a moment.
• Treating delivery as the end of the claim. Keep the estimate, supplements and photos together — they matter if a warranty question comes up later, and the written lifetime warranty runs for as long as you own the vehicle.

What to do next

If you have transport scheduled, put ten minutes aside before the driver arrives and shoot your own walk-around. On delivery day, ask for daylight and read the horizontal panels by reflection before you sign anything. Those two habits cover almost every problem that documentation is supposed to solve.

You can see the full sequence, from photos and verbal quote to collection, repair and delivery, in our hail repair process, and finished panels in the before and after gallery.

Frequently asked questions