What to photograph before the truck leaves

Photograph the car before the truck leaves, then photograph it again at delivery, in the same order. You are building a before-and-after, not a gallery. The pictures support the note on the bill of lading and, if you need it, a written claim for a dollar amount. They do not replace either one.

RideShipper does not send a photographer and does not store these pictures. Keep a copy that does not live only on one phone.

The shot list#

Do this in daylight if you can. If the truck comes at night, say so in the note, and take the pictures anyway with the light you have. Move bags and the license plate frame out of the way of the panels.

1. All four corners. Stand far enough back to show the whole corner, then step in so a chip or scrape is visible. Include the bumper, the lamp, and the edge of the fender.
2. Each side, one full-length photo. This is the picture that shows a door ding in context.
3. The hood and the trunk lid, from above, if you can stand over them safely.
4. The roof, if you can see it from a step, a curb, or the driver's own ladder. If you cannot see it, do not pretend. Write "roof not visible to me at pickup" on the condition note. Do not sign a pre-printed line that says the roof was checked clear.
5. Windshield and each window, from inside and outside, so a crack shows against the sky and against the dash.
6. Each wheel and tire, enough to see the face of the rim and the sidewall. A curb rash that exists today should be in the frame.
7. The interior, including the front seats, the dash, and the trunk or cargo area after you have removed personal items. Photograph the empty cargo area if the contract says the car ships empty.
8. The odometer, with the trip you want recorded. At delivery, photograph it again before a long test drive. A mileage gap is a fact to write down. It is not automatically damage. The odometer glossary says the same thing.
9. The VIN plate on the dash or the door jamb, so the car in the photos is the car on the contract.
10. Every existing mark, twice. Once tight, once wide enough to show which panel. If the driver marks it on the diagram, photograph the diagram too.

At delivery, repeat the list before you sign. New damage gets its own tight photo and a note. The delivery page is the day the truck delivers.

How this fits the paperwork#

The driver's paper is a condition report. It may be part of the bill of lading or a separate sheet. The marks on it should match the marks in your photos. If the driver writes "scratch on rear bumper" and your photo shows it, you both have the same fact. If the driver writes nothing and you can see a crease, stop and add the words before you sign. How to write them is noting damage on the bill of lading. What the driver is looking at is what the driver inspects.

49 CFR 373.101 requires a for-hire carrier subject to that section to issue a receipt or bill of lading with the names of the consignor and consignee, origin and destination, number of packages, a description of the freight, and weight or measurement if that is how the freight is rated. It does not list a photo set. The photos are your record, not a federal form. Take them anyway. A claim built only on memory loses to a clean delivery signature.

Under 49 CFR 370.3(c), the photos and the notation are not the claim by themselves. If something new is there at delivery, you still send a written demand for a specific amount. The steps are how to file a damage claim. Same-day order of work is what to do the day you see damage.

A few mistakes that wreck the set#

• Shooting into the sun so the panel is a white blaze. Step to the side.
• One blurry lap around the car from the porch. The corner photos have to show edges.
• Photographing the damage and not the VIN, so nobody can tie the pictures to this shipment.
• Letting the driver leave with the only marked copy. Photograph their diagram and keep your copy.
• Washing the car, or letting a detail shop buff a panel, before the carrier has seen the delivery photos. Clean the dirt that hides a mark. Do not repair the mark.

The checklist tool can put this shot list on a page dated to your pickup. Print it and tick the rows at the curb. Pickup order of events, including who has to be there, is pickup day. The condition report, as a term, is the glossary entry.