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The Importance of Scanning To Your Repair

The starting point for most collision repair should be a pre-scan and post-scan of your vehicle’s computer systems and sub-systems. When you bring your vehicle to a collision center, you assume that they have your best interest in mind. You assume that they know how to accurately diagnose the damage, and that they will correct the problem to it’s pre-loss condition. There’s a whole lot of assumption going on in the sentences above, and in this article, we’re going to focus on the pre-scan and post-scan elements of your repair.

When deciding whether or not to pre-scan and post-scan a vehicle, many shops choose only to do so if the insurance company is willing to pay for the service. And that’s where the beginning of woes comes in for many body shop customers.  You see, a lot of insurance companies refuse to pay for pre-scan and post-scan services. They feel that such scans aren’t “required” or “necessary”, and so refuse to pay for them. This problem compounds when the body shop performing the repair is in a Direct Repair Partnership (DRP) with the insurance company. In such instances, the body shop cannot argue for the proper repair for fear of being dropped from the DRP relationship.

What Exactly Is Pre-Scan and Post-Scan?

Simply put, a pre-scan establishes a baseline of information used by the collision center to establish a repair plan. A technician literally plugs a computer into a port in your car, and receives a report about any error codes or ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist System) issues that may be present. Sometimes after an accident, components such as your blind spot monitors, or lane departure warning sensors can be (and often are) bumped out of proper alignment. They won’t throw a warning code (idiot light), but they may be functioning improperly. And without pre-scan and post-scan technology, no one will know that there’s a problem.

The post-scan lets the technician know that any and all problems have been addressed, and that your vehicle’s safety systems are all performing as the manufacturer intended. Failure to do a pre-scan and post-scan can put your safety, as well that of other drivers, at very real risk.

That’s why here at RRC Collision, we always pre-scan and post-scan your vehicle. We want you to have confidence that our repairs are performed that way your vehicle manufacturer recommends it to be done. Every time.  If you have any questions, by all means, contact us here any time.  And if you would like to know more about where your insurance company stands when it comes to scanning your vehicle, check out this report.