Home › Guides › Shipping & Damage
How to Inspect Your Jeep Hood for Shipping Damage
A steel hood is heavy, boxy, and travels hundreds or thousands of miles on a freight truck. Damage in transit is a real risk — not a scare story. This page is the checklist we wish every buyer had before the crate shows up. Most of it takes five minutes, and it protects you if something actually went wrong.
Why a wooden crate? We don't ship steel hoods in cardboard. A bare steel panel in a cardboard box gets flexed, corner-crushed, and dented by every other pallet on the truck. A wooden crate spreads the load and keeps the panel from taking the hit. It's standard shipping for us — included, not an upsell.
Why we pack it the way we do
Inside the crate the hood is padded and braced so it can't shift against the walls. The goal is simple: the crate gets scuffed, the hood doesn't.
Before you sign for it
You usually get a short window with the delivery driver. You don't need to unpack — you need to look at the outside.
- Check the crate for crushed corners, a split panel, or forklift puncture holes
- If the crate looks damaged, note it on the delivery receipt (the "BOL") before you sign — "crate damaged on arrival"
- If a panel is punched through the crate, you can refuse delivery on the spot; otherwise sign with the note and open it at home
A note on the receipt is free insurance. It doesn't commit you to a return — it just preserves your right to claim if the panel inside is hurt.
Unboxing checklist (at home)
Open it on a clean floor, not the driveway. Then run this list:
- Outer panel first. Look at the large flat faces — the ones most likely to show a bend.
- Edges and corners. Run a hand along every edge. A crease or sharp bend here is the classic transit injury.
- The stamping. Check the vent area and the hood lips for any wave or distortion in the steel.
- The primer finish. Light scuffs in the black primer are normal handling marks — they get painted over anyway. Deep gouges or bare-metal scratches are not.
- Mounting points. Confirm the hinge and latch areas aren't twisted — that's what actually breaks fitment.
- Hardware. Make sure the included screws/bolts are in the bag and undamaged.
Damage vs. normal — don't panic over the wrong thing
| This is usually fine | This is a real problem |
|---|---|
| Light scuffs in the black primer (you're painting it anyway) | A visible bend or crease in the steel panel |
| Dust or light handling marks on the crate | A corner crushed so the panel edge is deformed |
| Minor shipping-label residue on the crate | Twisted hinge/latch mounting points that won't line up |
If it's a surface scuff in primer, it disappears under paint. If the steel itself is bent or the mounting points are off, that's what we want to know about.
If something's actually wrong
- Photograph it. Wide shot of the crate, then close-ups of the damage on the panel. Keep the BOL note if you made one.
- Email us within the window. Send the photos to support@hoodsmithco.com — we'll tell you what we need and how to proceed.
- You're covered. Every hood carries a 60-day warranty, and our shipping page lays out how damage claims work end to end.
We'd rather you flag a scuff than stay silent. A five-minute email beats a hood you don't trust on your Jeep.
Inspected and ready? Pick your model
Still deciding? Check fitment by model →