A customer picks up their car after a week in your collision repair shop. Two days later, they call: “There’s a new scratch on the door. You did this.”
The call that turns into a reputation problem
You do not remember seeing it, and the tech who moved the car doesn’t either. Now you’re in the worst kind of dispute: not about repair quality, but about trust.
If you cannot prove what the car looked like at drop-off, this becomes a “who do they believe” moment that can cost more than the scratch.
Why does this keep happening
Customers notice damage when they’re looking closely after a repair, and they connect it to the last body shop that touched the vehicle.
Shops lose control because intake is rushed, photos focus only on the hit area, and notes live in someone’s head. Without a consistent intake record, you have no clean way to separate pre-existing damage from shop-caused contact, especially in 2026, when workflows become chaotic, where cars get moved more often due to parts delays, supplements, and ADAS steps.
The prevention system that actually holds up
Your goal is not to “win arguments.” Your goal is to remove ambiguity before the keys hit the hook.
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Do a full walk-around photo set at intake: four corners, both sides, roofline, wheels, and close-ups of any existing marks.
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Call out unrelated damage in plain language: “We’re noting this scratch on the passenger door, not included in this repair.”
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Capture it in one place: add the note to the work order and save the photos under the customer’s name and date.
When a dispute happens anyway
Move fast and stay calm. Pull intake photos first, then look at the car with the customer.
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If the mark is in the intake photos, show it calmly and offer a path forward.
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If the area isn’t documented clearly, acknowledge the gap and decide whether a small goodwill fix is cheaper than a negative review and lost referrals.
Key takeaway
When your intake proof is weak, treat it like a cost decision, not a pride decision: a small goodwill repair is often cheaper than the damage from a bad review and lost referrals.
