Auto Body & Collision Repair Intake Forms & Client Questionnaires

A vehicle arrives on the flatbed with a caved-in quarter panel, a deployed side curtain airbag, and an owner who is calling from the tow driver’s phone because their own was lost in the accident. Another drives in under its own power with a parking lot door ding and a customer who has three competing estimates in hand and wants to know if you can match the cheapest one. Both are collision repair jobs, but the first involves a total loss evaluation, structural measurement, an insurance adjuster visit, and a rental car authorization before you even order parts — while the second is a same-day PDR referral or a sand-and-spray on the fender. If your intake process does not separate these two realities at the front counter, your estimator is going to spend half the day untangling information that should have been captured in the first five minutes.

The Auto Body & Collision Repair intake form captures everything the estimator and the insurance desk need to open the repair order correctly. Vehicle identification — year, make, model, trim level, body style, exterior color, and VIN — is the foundation of every parts order and every insurance supplement. The VIN decodes to the exact build sheet, which tells your parts department whether the vehicle has aluminum body panels, high-strength steel in the structural components, or a unibody versus body-on-frame construction. Without the VIN at intake, your estimator is guessing at repair procedures and parts pricing, and guessing in collision repair means supplements, delays, and unhappy customers.

Damage Description and Photo Documentation

Collision damage rarely stops at what is visible from the outside. A rear-end impact that crumpled the bumper cover may have also pushed the bumper reinforcement bar into the trunk floor, kinked the rear body panel, and damaged the backup camera, parking sensors, and exhaust system. The intake form includes a vehicle diagram for marking primary and secondary impact zones, a severity scale (cosmetic, moderate, structural, catastrophic), and fields for documenting visible damage to each panel, glass, lighting, trim, and mechanical component. It captures whether the airbags deployed (and which ones — frontal, side curtain, knee, seat-mounted), whether the vehicle is drivable, and whether it arrived by tow or was driven in. Airbag deployment alone changes the repair estimate by thousands of dollars and triggers a different set of OEM repair procedures, so knowing this at intake prevents the surprise that arrives when your tech pulls the headliner and finds two more blown curtain airbags the adjuster missed.

The photo section records how many photos were taken at intake, by whom, and whether the customer provided any photos from the accident scene. Scene photos are critical for insurance disputes because they show the point of impact, the position of the vehicles, and damage to the other party’s car — all of which support your estimate when the adjuster argues that certain damage is pre-existing or unrelated.

Insurance, Claims, and DRP Programs

Insurance processing is where most body shops either make or lose money on a repair. The intake form captures the insurance carrier, policy number, claim number, date of loss, adjuster name and contact information, whether a police report was filed (and the report number), and whether fault has been determined. It records whether the customer is filing under their own collision coverage or a third-party liability claim, because this determines who controls the repair authorization and who pays the deductible. For shops enrolled in Direct Repair Programs (DRP), the form captures the DRP insurer relationship, whether the vehicle was referred through the DRP, and any program-specific documentation requirements. DRP jobs have different authorization flows and supplement procedures than non-DRP work, and mixing them up at the front counter creates billing headaches that take weeks to untangle.

Rental car coordination is captured at intake because every day the customer is without their vehicle is a day they are calling your front desk for an update. The form records whether the customer has rental coverage on their policy, the rental company and reservation number, the rental start date, and the authorized number of rental days. When the supplement adds five days to the repair timeline, your insurance coordinator needs this information immediately to extend the rental authorization before the customer gets stuck with a bill.

OEM vs. Aftermarket Parts and Prior Body Work

Parts selection is one of the most contentious issues in collision repair, and it starts at intake. The form captures the customer’s preference: OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts only, aftermarket parts acceptable, recycled or salvage parts acceptable, or customer defers to shop recommendation. Some states have disclosure requirements around aftermarket parts usage, and some insurance policies specify that the carrier will only pay for aftermarket or LKQ (like-kind-and-quality) parts unless the vehicle is under a certain age or mileage threshold. Capturing this preference at intake prevents the phone call three days into the repair when the customer discovers that the fender on their car is a CAPA-certified aftermarket piece instead of a factory panel.

Prior body work on the vehicle is equally important. If the same quarter panel was repaired eighteen months ago by another shop and is now damaged again, your estimator needs to know whether that prior repair was done with proper welding procedures and factory-spec materials, or whether it was a bondo job that is going to complicate the current repair. The form asks about prior collision repairs, prior paintwork, aftermarket body kits or modifications, and any existing paint imperfections (color mismatch from a previous repair, orange peel, clear coat failure) that the customer might later claim were caused by your shop.

Intake vs. Client Questionnaire

The intake form is your internal shop document. Your estimator or front-counter staff fills it out during the vehicle drop-off, recording damage observations from the walkaround, VIN decode results, insurance information, and repair authorization. The companion client questionnaire is what you email or text to the customer after they schedule or when they are waiting for the adjuster. It asks them to provide their insurance claim number, describe how the accident happened, note any mechanical issues since the collision (pulling to one side, warning lights, unusual noises), confirm their parts preference, and indicate whether they need a rental car. Getting this before the vehicle arrives means your estimator can write the preliminary estimate from the photos and the customer’s description, order common parts in advance, and schedule the repair bay — instead of starting from scratch at drop-off.

Pricing

Each form is $12.99 for the complete set (intake + questionnaire), $9.99 for intake only, or $6.99 for questionnaire only. All PDFs are fillable in Adobe Reader and password-protected against editing.

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