No matter how safe of a driver you may be, car dents are just a natural part of the order of ownership. Whether it is a fender ding from the negligence of another vehicle, roof dents from an unforeseen hail storm or even a door dent from a rogue shopping cart or the unexpected golf ball, dents are bound to happen.
And, while you shouldn’t feel bad about it, it is worth considering the risks to your car’s value that dents can pose. They aren’t just unsightly, dents are a potential forerunner of paint and rust damage to your vehicle and should be addressed immediately.
Fortunately, companies like JM Dent Repair offer fast dent removal options that can repair damage to your vehicle without any risk of paint damage through paintless dent repair. This may sound like an expensive procedure. But, if you compare the price to what you might pay later in a body shop, it couldn’t be more the opposite. If you’re still unsure, here are a few factors to consider when judging the damages yourself.
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Dent Size
The bigger a dent is, the more costly it may be to repair. It’s a simple rule of thumb, going forward, because a larger dent is going to require more manipulation of the metal in order to restore the original shape of your car exterior. Dent size is often measured in relation to the size of pocket change. Penny and nickel sized dents are generally more minor and can be handled in a quick and inexpensive manner, but anything over the size of a half-dollar is going to become more expensive. This is because larger dents are also often associated with greater depth to the damage.
Dent Depth
The depth of a dent is what causes the real damage to your car. Not only does it mean greater risk of impact to the paint that protects the metal, but it also presents risks of unwanted contact between parts of your car. This depth is also the differing factor between naturally occurring dents from things like hail, and dents from unintended contact with more solid objects. Deeper dents are also more often associated with uneven damage to the vehicle, which will take more careful procedures to repair with paintless dent removal.
Dent Location
The location of a dent can have a significant effect on how easily paintless dent repair tools can do their work, and is often where people get confused on the price of their damage estimate.
Some concepts make clear sense. For instance, hail damage on the roof is not easily accessible without getting underneath the panel. Fortunately, hail damage is often less severe. And, even if there are many dents, hail damage is addressed by JM Dent Repair as a different class of repair and given this consideration when calculating price.
Door dings can be more variable in their price. The closer a dent is to the edge of a car door panel, the more you will need to consider when trying to reach it. There may be support bracing behind the metal, electronic conduits and even safety devices, such as airbags, that must be handled carefully during repair. Even maintaining the proper shape of the metal towards the more delicate edges of the panel can raise the difficulty of repairing a car dent. This is especially true for fender dents adjacent to wheel wells or car headlights, which are more easily accessed but more reliant on being properly reshaped.
Number of Dents
Taking the three previous factors into consideration, you can multiply those across how many dents may need to be addressed. Each dent can add additional time spent during the repair, although their location and proximity to each other can also make things somewhat simpler. Dents that are in close proximity, on the same panel, and are shallow in depth or relatively smooth may be evened out in one fell swoop. However, if the dents span over multiple panels, they will need to be addressed differently for each area.
Despite all your efforts to protect your investment, dents are sometimes simply out of your control. Don’t worry — at JM Dent Repair, we know how much it means to you to get your car looking new again, and that’s why we’re trusted in the Lafayette area for affordable paintless dent repair.
Paintless dent repair eliminates the worry of a color mismatch or uneven fading, and preserves your vehicle’s appearance and resale value. If you’re driving a leased vehicle, it also helps you avoid expensive “wear and tear charges” on your lease return. Contact us for a quote and see why we’re the best around.