DRP Audit Preparation Checklist for Collision Shops

A DRP (Direct Repair Program) audit is a carrier's structured review of repair quality, file completeness, photo documentation, parts usage, cycle time, customer satisfaction, and procedural adherence on a sample of recently completed claims. Audits run on a quarterly or annual cadence depending on the program, and they determine whether the shop maintains its DRP standing, drops a tier, or loses the program entirely. Preparing for an audit is not a one-week sprint. It is a daily discipline of complete files, structured photo documentation, OEM procedure references, signed authorizations, supplement justification, and consistent cycle-time logging that produces an audit-ready file on every claim. The 30-day pre-audit checklist below covers the 12 categories carriers review and the documentation that has to be in place before the auditor opens the first file.

Scorecards are not published in full and they vary from program to program, so treat the list below as the categories shops consistently report being scored on, then ask your rep for the criteria that actually apply to your file, whether the program is State Farm Select Service, GEICO ARX, Allstate Good Hands, USAA STARS, Progressive Network, or another.

1. File completeness (claim, customer, vehicle, photos, signatures)
2. Photo documentation depth (pre-repair, teardown, in-process, post-repair)
3. OEM procedure references for non-standard operations
4. Parts usage compliance (program-required sourcing)
5. Sublet documentation (R.O., invoice, scan reports for ADAS)
6. Supplement justification and timing
7. Authorization and signature compliance
8. Cycle time vs program target
9. CSI score and survey response rate
10. Rental coordination and length-of-rental performance
11. Quality (re-do rate, comebacks, warranty claims)
12. Customer communication frequency and channel

Sampling method and scoring weights vary by program, so ask your program representative for the current scorecard and how files are selected. Then prepare so any file pulled at random holds up against all 12 categories above.

When the auditor announces the visit (typically 30 days out), there is still time to remediate. Run the sprint in three weeks.

Week 1: file inventory and gap analysis. Pull the last 60 closed claims. Build a one-row-per-claim spreadsheet with columns for each of the 12 audit categories. Mark each cell complete, partial, or missing. The result is your audit gap map.

Week 2: documentation remediation. Work the gap map. Photo gaps are the most common. Pull vehicles back if needed. Recreate teardown sequences from technician notes when photos are missing. Backfill OEM procedure references on prior supplements. Get every authorization signature current. Document every sublet with the vendor R.O. and invoice.

Week 3: dry run and final pass. Pick three random files yourself. Run them through the auditor's scorecard line by line. Score honestly. Whatever scores below 90 percent gets a final remediation pass. The day of the audit, the auditor finds what you found.

Across multiple audit cycles, the same flags appear:

• Missing teardown photos: the supplement is in the file but no photo shows the discovered damage
• Undocumented repair operations: an operation was performed but no entry in the file shows the procedure or the technician
• Parts substitution without disclosure: an OEM part was billed but a non-OEM part was installed (or vice versa) without a written customer authorization
• Supplement gap: a supplement was approved verbally but never formally documented
• Cycle time gaps: the file shows a 14-day cycle time but no log entries between days 4 and 11
• Missing pre-rental authorization: the customer was put in a rental but the authorization is not in the file
• Unsigned final delivery: the vehicle was delivered but no final customer signature acknowledging completion

Each of these is preventable with daily discipline. None are repairable in the audit room.

Shops that pass audits cleanly run a five-minute discipline at end of day: every claim that closed today gets a file completeness check before the technician clocks out. The 10-item checklist:

1. Pre-repair photo set complete (8-12 angles minimum)
2. Teardown photos cover every supplement line
3. In-process photos document hidden operations
4. Post-repair photos confirm completion
5. Customer authorization signed and dated
6. Repair authorization signed for any added work
7. OEM procedure references attached to non-standard operations
8. Sublet R.O. and invoice attached
9. Supplement file complete with submission and approval timestamps
10. Final customer signature on delivery

This discipline is what separates audit-ready shops from audit-scramble shops.

The single deliverable an auditor wants is a per-claim timeline that shows every action, photo, signature, supplement, payment, and communication on one page. Shops that produce this in 15 seconds pass audits. Shops that have to assemble it from email, paper, and three different systems do not. Inside Claimory, every claim has an audit-ready timeline by default. Photos, supplements, OEM citations, sublet records, signatures, and payments all attach to the claim with timestamps. When the auditor asks for the file, it is one click. Shops that move from manual cycle-time tracking to event-based logging walk into the next audit with timestamped cycle-time evidence instead of estimates.

Whatever the auditor flagged becomes the next 30 days' priority. Build a remediation plan that addresses each finding by category, and run a self-audit on a fresh sample of 10 claims 60 days later. The pattern of findings between audits is what tells you whether the underlying process improved or whether you only fixed the audit sample.