Outsourced estimating is a small industry and the providers in it are not interchangeable. Some are staffing operations with a rotating bench of writers. Some are software companies with an estimating desk attached. Some are one experienced estimator taking on more work than a single shop can supply. Each of those is the right answer for a different shop, and the differences do not show up on a homepage.
What follows is the list of questions that actually separates them. Ask all twelve of everyone you are considering, and put the answers side by side before you send anyone a file.
The twelve questions
What to listen for, and what we say when asked.
QUESTION 01Who actually writes my file?
Ask for a name and a background, not a company. Many vendors run a contractor bench or an offshore team and the writer changes file to file. That is workable at low volume and expensive at high volume: an appraiser who sees inconsistent quality across a batch starts scrutinizing all of it.
Christopher Johnson writes every file personally. 17 years writing estimates, in collision repair since 2008, hail specifically since 2021. Lead estimator at United Hail Pros and Metal Majic, director of hail and collision operations at Metal Majic, director of estimatics at Westway Collision, co-founder of Extreme Hail & Collision in Plano, Texas.
QUESTION 02What do I have to commit to up front?
Storms do not announce themselves and neither do pop-up shops. A provider that needs volume committed weeks ahead is asking you to forecast something nobody can forecast.
Nothing. No block booking, no minimum, no contract. Send one car or a full deployment, starting the day the storm decides where you are going.
If your volume is more than can be turned inside your timeline, you hear that before you send the cars rather than after they are sitting written and unsubmitted.
QUESTION 03Do you write in my platform, under my name?
The file should live in your CCC ONE or your Mitchell, under your login, matching your profiles, rates and carrier agreements. A vendor writing only in their own system hands you a document that is theirs, and it will not match the agreements you already have.
Your platform, your login, your name, by default. Storm Rider's own CCC ONE is used only when a shop has no estimating software at all, and that is stated as the fallback rather than sold as the product.
QUESTION 04Flat fee, or a percentage of the estimate?
A percentage gives the estimator a financial stake in how large the number gets, which is the wrong incentive on a document that has to survive carrier review. It also costs the most exactly when files go well.
Flat per file, always. First file free, then $150 à la carte, $140 at 10 credits, $132 at 25, $125 at 50, $115 at 100. No subscriptions, no monthly minimums, no percentage.
QUESTION 05Is every operation line noted?
An operation without a note is an invitation to have it removed. Ask to see a sample file and read the notes rather than counting the lines.
Every operation carries the manufacturer procedure or labor premise reasoning attached at the time it is written, so a challenged line already has its support in the document before anyone asks for it.
QUESTION 06What happens when an appraiser rejects a line?
For many providers the document is the deliverable and the conversation with the carrier is yours. That is a legitimate model. Know which one you are buying.
Challenged lines are defended with the appraiser on your behalf. A line that genuinely is not supportable gets withdrawn rather than argued. Your credibility on the next twenty files is worth more than one operation on this one.
QUESTION 07What is turnaround, normal and at CAT?
Two different questions. A 24-hour promise means little if it evaporates the week a storm actually lands.
24 hours from complete photographs and documentation at normal volume. 24 to 72 hours at catastrophe volume, and you are told before you send the cars if a week will land on the long end.
QUESTION 08What can I send you to work from?
A provider that requires one specific scoping tool narrows what you can send and what your techs can use in the field.
Mobile Tech RX exports, other scoping exports, printed and handwritten hail matrices, scope sheets, CCC ONE and Mitchell files, photographs with nothing written yet, and carrier estimates you believe are short.
There is no software integration with Mobile Tech RX: you export, I write from the export. More on the PDR workflow.
QUESTION 09What does it cost per file at my volume?
Get the per-file number at the volume you actually run, not the list price, and ask whether unused files expire.
First file free. $150 for one credit · $1,400 for 10 ($140/file) · $3,300 for 25 ($132) · $6,250 for 50 ($125) · $11,500 for 100 ($115). One credit is one estimate or supplement. Credits never expire, so an off-season pack carries into next season.
QUESTION 10Can I test you before committing?
Any provider confident in the work should let you judge a file before you spend money on a pack.
First file free. No card, no obligation, no minimum. Send one.
QUESTION 11How long have you been writing, and what recently?
Years in the industry and years writing estimates are different claims. So are lifetime totals and recent production. Ask for both, and ask what the number counts.
17 years writing estimates. In collision repair since 2008, writing hail specifically since 2021.
So far in 2026: $6 million in added value across roughly 430 vehicles for four operations across Texas, Missouri and Arkansas. Added value means initial estimate value plus supplement amounts, not gross totals. Both operations kept sending files after the first one.
QUESTION 12What happens to my customer and shop data?
Ask who gets access, for how long, and whether your information is used for anything besides writing your file.
Vehicle owner information is handled only to the extent the estimate requires it. Platform access is limited to the users you authorize and can be revoked at any time. Nothing is sold, shared with other shops, or used for marketing.
Our answers, on one page
Print it, put it beside whoever else you are considering.
| Who writes the file | Christopher Johnson, personally, every file. Not a contractor bench, not offshore, not software output with a name attached. Any writer added later is trained by him and every file is reviewed before it goes out. |
|---|---|
| Experience | 17 years writing estimates · in collision repair since 2008 · hail since 2021 · USMC veteran |
| Commitment | None. No block booking, no minimum, no contract. One car or a full deployment. |
| Estimating platform | Your CCC ONE or your Mitchell, under your name. Storm Rider's own CCC ONE only as a fallback. |
| Fee structure | Flat per file. Never a percentage of the estimate. |
| Price per file | First file free · $150 à la carte · $140 at 10 · $132 at 25 · $125 at 50 · $115 at 100. Credits never expire. |
| Line notes | Every operation, with manufacturer procedure or labor premise attached when written |
| Appraiser defense | Included. Unsupportable lines withdrawn rather than argued. |
| Turnaround | 24 hours standard · 24 to 72 hours at catastrophe volume. You are told up front if a week will land on the long end. |
| Accepted inputs | Mobile Tech RX exports · other scoping exports · printed and handwritten matrices · scope sheets · CCC ONE and Mitchell files · photographs only · carrier estimates to rewrite |
| Mobile Tech RX | Works from the export. No direct software integration. |
| Trial | First file free, no card, no obligation |
| Volume this year | $6 million in added value across roughly 430 vehicles so far in 2026, four operations across Texas, Missouri and Arkansas |
| Area served | All 50 United States · based in Plano, Texas |
| Data handling | Used only as the estimate requires · access revocable · never sold, shared or marketed |
Send one vehicle and read the file that comes back. That answers more of these twelve questions than we can.