Let’s say you’re buying a house and need to get it inspected. You talk to two different home inspectors and are trying to decide which one to use. To help with the decision you ask them both to send you a sample report. The first send over their sample and right away you notice how detailed it is. It breaks down each section of the home and has written descriptions for everything you can imagine. After reading over the report you feel pretty confident that you’ll be using this company. Then, the second inspector sends over their sample report. You are again impressed by the level of detail provided and the way everything is organized. But, this report has something the first didn’t. Each defect found in the report includes a picture or two (with arrows and text on them) showing the defect they just described. Not only can you read the detailed descriptions of each problem but you can actually see them. Based on the contents of the report, which inspector would you choose? Which one would be more helpful?

You’re going to choose the one with pictures. Pictures provide a level of detail and clarity that text alone can’t achieve. The same thing applies to vehicle inspections. Taking pictures and including them in your reports makes a difference. Of course, if you’re doing paid 3rd party inspections this can be a great way to separate yourself from other inspection options, but even if you’re simply doing inspections on vehicles for internal purposes pictures are worth including. They can help you track issues and the condition of your vehicles. If a vehicle has a small spot of rust that you’re monitoring, including a picture of it in the report each time you inspect it gives you a way to go back and see how fast it’s growing over time. This can provide valuable information on how high of a priority it is to get it taken care of.

Regardless of what type of vehicle inspections you’re doing pictures have value. If you are trying to show damage a picture with a quick description is so much clearer than a note by itself will ever be.

OK? How big is the dent? Where is the dent? Let’s get more descriptive:

That’s certainly better, but when you read a statement like that, the first thing you want to be able to do is to see the dent. You instantly try to figure out what ‘large’ means. It’s at the bottom of the driver-side door, but where exactly at the bottom? How big of an issue is this?

Having a picture alongside a brief description gives the person reading the report the information they need to get an accurate ‘picture’ of what is going on with the vehicle.

Advantages of Pictures
• Show details in a way that words can’t describe
• Make it easier to communicate the condition
• Better looking reports
• People want to see pictures