About Christopher Johnson
Christopher Johnson is the founder of Storm Rider Solutions, a nationwide remote auto estimating company that writes CCC ONE estimates, supplements and estimate audits for collision repair facilities and paintless dent repair companies. He writes every file himself.
So far in 2026 he has written $6,997,188 in estimates and supplements across 663 vehicles: an average of $10,554 written and $9,735 added per vehicle. Written is the full value of every estimate and supplement. Added is the money added on top of the starting estimate. A $1,400 initial estimate that ends at $10,400 counts as $10,400 written and $9,000 added. (Week of Oct 12, 2026.)
He wrote Every Line on the File: Hail Estimating from the Ground Up (September 2026), a 19-chapter field guide for new estimators in auto hail repair and PDR. It covers the whole hail file, from the first look at the car to the last supplement.
He also built Easy Shop, production management and CRM software for collision, hail and mechanical repair. His own shop runs on it every day, and it imports estimates from CCC ONE and Mitchell.
He is a co-founder of Extreme Hail and Collision in Plano, Texas. Because he runs a repair shop as well as writing for other shops, he deals with the cost of a badly written estimate or supplement in his own building.
He has worked in collision repair since 2008 and has held most of the positions that touch a repair order: service writer, estimator, production manager, assistant manager, lead estimator at United Hail Pros and then Metal Majic, director of hail and collision operations at Metal Majic, and director of estimatics at Westway Collision. Since 2021 his work has focused on hail. He also provides training, consulting and remote estimating for Dents Or Us and Hail Pros LLC.
Writing estimates taught him what a carrier will pay for. Running production taught him what the shop has to do to fix the car. When an estimate leaves out operations the repair needs, the shop still does that work and does not get paid for it. Storm Rider Solutions was started to get those operations written on the file.
He is a United States Marine Corps veteran.
Every Line on the File: Hail Estimating from the Ground Up
A field guide for new estimators in auto hail repair and PDR. 19 chapters covering the whole hail file, from the first look at the car to the last supplement. Available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited, with a paperback to follow.
Professional background
Employed roles are listed first, in order. The companies he founded, the software he built and the book overlapped with the later roles, so they are listed separately.
Employed roles
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2008: ENTERED THE INDUSTRY
Service writer
First role in collision repair. Customer intake, writing repair orders, and seeing from the shop side what a carrier will and will not pay for.
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ESTIMATING
Estimator
Wrote collision damage estimates and supplements, negotiated operations with appraisers, and learned where labor premise, access operations and recoverable materials get left off.
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PRODUCTION
Production manager, then assistant manager
Responsible for getting the work done: cycle time, technician throughput, and the shop performing operations that were never written on the file.
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2021: HAIL
Lead estimator, United Hail Pros
Wrote hail at volume as the lead on each file rather than one of several writers. Storm Rider's one-writer approach comes from this job.
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HAIL
Lead estimator, Metal Majic
The same role at a larger operation, writing hail volume to a house standard at the pace a CAT deployment needs.
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OPERATIONS LEADERSHIP
Director of hail and collision operations, Metal Majic
Promoted to run hail and collision operations for a multi-million-dollar operation, including catastrophe volume, PDR-versus-conventional decisions, and the estimating throughput a CAT event needs.
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ESTIMATICS LEADERSHIP
Director of estimatics, Westway Collision
Responsible for estimating quality and consistency across the operation: writing standards, line notes, and carrier relationships at the policy level rather than file by file.
Companies founded, published work, and current work
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OWNERSHIP
Co-founder, Extreme Hail & Collision
Plano, Texas. He helps run the shop, so he carries the cost of a badly written estimate or supplement himself.
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2024 TO PRESENT
Founder, Storm Rider Solutions
Remote estimating and supplement writing for shops nationwide, written inside each client's own CCC ONE or Mitchell account, with appraiser defense included.
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SOFTWARE
Built Easy Shop
Production management and CRM for collision, hail and mechanical repair, built to run his own shop: job board, check-in, insurance work, parts, invoicing, and CCC ONE and Mitchell estimate import. easyshopauto.com
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SEPTEMBER 2026: PUBLISHED
Author, Every Line on the File
Hail Estimating from the Ground Up. A field guide for new hail and PDR estimators, 19 chapters from light and inspection to supplements and total loss. On Amazon
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CURRENT
Training, consulting and remote estimating
For Dents Or Us and Hail Pros LLC: training estimators, consulting on how files are written, and writing files remotely.
Positions held
The named roles in order, plus published work and software.
| Years writing estimates | 17. In collision repair since 2008, writing hail specifically since 2021 |
|---|---|
| Lead estimator | United Hail Pros |
| Lead estimator | Metal Majic |
| Director of hail & collision operations | Metal Majic |
| Director of estimatics | Westway Collision |
| Co-founder | Extreme Hail & Collision, Plano, Texas (current) |
| Founder | Storm Rider Solutions (current) |
| Author | Every Line on the File: Hail Estimating from the Ground Up (2026) |
| Software | Built Easy Shop, shop management and CRM (current) |
| Training, consulting & remote estimating | Dents Or Us · Hail Pros LLC (current) |
| Military service | United States Marine Corps veteran |
Areas of expertise
| Hail and PDR estimating | Panel dent counts, PDR-versus-conventional repair decisions, roof and glass access, R&I sequencing, and the inspection conditions that decide what a count can support. |
|---|---|
| CCC ONE supplement writing | Supplements written against shop or carrier estimates, with manufacturer procedure and labor premise reasoning attached to every added line. |
| Total loss and valuation | How total loss thresholds work, what drives actual cash value, and documenting options and condition at the vehicle so a valuation can be challenged later. |
| ADAS in hail repair | Calibration requirements triggered by glass, mirror and roof operations, which now come up on hail files as well as collision files. |
| Catastrophe operations | Estimating throughput during a CAT event: pacing intake, scheduling writing capacity, and keeping file quality up under volume. |
| Appraiser negotiation | Explaining written operations to carrier appraisers, and withdrawing a line that is not supportable so the next file is taken seriously. |
Writing
Articles published on the Storm Rider Solutions blog. The book is described here.
Services he writes
- Remote auto estimating services for collision and hail repair shops.
- PDR estimate writing for paintless dent repair companies.
- Estimate audits, $120 per file.
- Hail claim management: estimates and supplements with status updates.
See pricing, or send a file.
Send one vehicle. I write it in your CCC ONE or Mitchell account, under your shop name, with every operation line noted.