Smash repairs
Collision Damage Assessment
A collision damage assessment is a proper look at what an impact has actually done to your car, including the parts you cannot see from the outside, written up as an itemised document you can take straight to your insurer. Bring the car to 2 Baldock St, Moorooka and we will do it. Call 0402 723 464 to arrange a time.
What photos miss
Why what you can see understates the job
Photographs of accident damage are misleading, and not because anyone is being dishonest. They show the outer skin of a car and nothing else.
Behind a bumper cover on a modern vehicle sits a reinforcement bar, crush cans designed to deform in an impact, mounting brackets, parking sensors, sometimes a radar module, and directly behind that the radiator, condenser and cooling fans. A bumper cover that looks like it needs a respray can be sitting in front of a bent reinforcement bar and a weeping condenser.
Panels are also designed to hide movement. Doors and guards can shift a few millimetres and still close, while the structure they mount to has moved and the alignment has gone with it. And a lot of impact damage is mechanical rather than cosmetic — steering, suspension geometry, drive shafts and cooling components sit close to the impact zones on most cars.
The assessment
What we actually look at
Outer panels and gaps
Panel gaps that have closed on one side and opened on the other tell you the structure behind has moved.
Behind the panels
Bumper covers, guard liners and trims come off where required so the reinforcement, mounts and crush structure can be seen properly.
Structural points
Chassis rails, strut towers, subframe mountings and inner guards, checked against specification where an impact warrants it.
Steering and suspension
Control arms, tie rods, struts and mounting points on the impacted corner, plus a check of how the car sits.
Cooling and driveline
Radiator, condenser, fans, hoses and anything sitting in the crush zone.
Safety systems
Airbag and sensor faults, damaged parking sensors, cameras and radar modules, and the windscreen.
Wheels and tyres
Kerb impacts crack alloys and damage sidewalls in ways that only show under load.
Because our mechanical workshop and our smash repair workshop are the same building, the mechanical half of that list is checked by the people who would be repairing it, not estimated by someone guessing at it from the panel side.
The document
What you get at the end
A written, itemised assessment covering parts, panel and structural work, paint and mechanical repairs, with the damage documented and photographed. That document is the thing you submit with your claim. It goes to your insurer, the assessor reviews it and authority to proceed comes back.
If you are not claiming, the same document is simply a quote, and quite a few people get one purely to work out whether claiming is worth it against their excess.
When more is found
When the assessment changes once work starts
On a job of any size, stripping the car often reveals more than the assessment could. That is not a failure of the assessment — some damage genuinely cannot be seen until parts are off and the vehicle is on the hoist.
When it happens on an insurance job it goes back to the assessor as a supplementary claim, and where you are paying privately we ring you before doing anything extra. Either way you find out from us rather than from the final invoice.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Does the assessment cost anything?
No. Damage assessment and the written quote that comes with it are free.
Can I just send photos?
Photos are useful for a rough idea and for telling you whether the car is safe to drive. They are not enough for a quote your insurer will accept.
Can I take your assessment straight to my insurer?
Yes. It is written as an itemised document for exactly that purpose.
Do I need a claim number first?
No. Plenty of people get the assessment before deciding whether to claim at all.
How long does it take?
Often the same day for light damage. Longer where panels have to come off or structural measuring is required.
Will you find damage the insurer's assessor missed?
Sometimes, and the reverse happens too. Where we disagree with an assessment we take it up with the assessor directly, with the evidence, rather than putting you in the middle of it.
What if the car is not driveable?
Ring us and we will arrange towing to the workshop.
Is my car going to be written off?
That is the insurer's decision, based on repair cost against the vehicle's value and any statutory write-off criteria. Our assessment gives them the repair side of that equation.
Do you assess vehicles you are not going to repair?
Yes, though most people who get an assessment here go on to have the work done here.
Do you assess motorcycles or caravans?
[CONFIRM: whether motorcycles, caravans or trailers are assessed and repaired]
Can you assess a fleet vehicle and deal with the fleet manager?
Yes, we can send the assessment and deal with approvals directly.
Where do I bring the car?
2 Baldock St, Moorooka QLD 4105. Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm, Saturday 8am to 3pm, closed Sunday.
Free written damage assessment
Bring the car in.
We will write it up for your insurer.
Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm, Saturday 8am to 3pm. After-hours key drop available. All major cards and cash.