Choosing the right company to repair your car’s dents can be challenging. You want to preserve the value of your vehicle and need to trust your service provider to restore its original condition.
Paintless dent repair (PDR) may not be a particularly expensive service, but it requires skilled technicians to be performed correctly, and it involves work on one of life’s largest investments. An unqualified technician can end up causing more damage to your vehicle. This makes it even more important to find the right company for your dent repairs. No pressure.
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Here Are The Most Important Questions You Should Ask When Getting Paintless Dent Repair
1. How Does PDR Work?
Before you go looking for the best place to go for car dent repair, you’ll want to have some understanding of how PDR works.
Paintless Dent Repair is the process of removing dents and damage without the need for repainting. The primary steps include:
- Evaluating the damage of the vehicle
- Gaining entry to the dent
- Pinpointing the exact location of the dent
- Using specialized tools to gently push the panels back into position
2. How Long Does Paintless Dent Repair Take?
PDR is quick. Not as fast as an instant oil change but a lot faster than traditional bodywork.
Door dings and smaller single dents can be completed in about an hour. Larger dents can take several hours to repair.
More serious cases like crease dents or dozens of dents from hail damage can take longer to fix, so ask your technician. They should be readily able to give you an accurate estimate.
3. Are Your Technicians Properly Trained?
This is an important question to ask when choosing a service provider. There is no official PDR licensing or certification that can be attained through coursework or training. Common PDR training programs last 1 to 4 weeks and students leave with all the fundamentals along with some on the job training.
Some shops hire apprentice technicians as a way to get cheap labor and this is usually reflected in the quality of work. Coursework and apprenticeship programs are a good starting place for a technician, however, you want to go with a shop that has technicians with significantly more experience.
4. How Long Have These Technicians Been Doing PDR?
Building off of the previous question, you want your technician to have several years of on the job experience to ensure you are getting the best service possible.
PDR technicians use specialized dent repair tools and each repair is different as dents come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. A good technician has learned their way around their go-to tools and have experience handling all kinds of dents.
5. How Often Do Your Technicians Drill Holes To Access The Dents?
As a rule, some repair companies drill holes in the door jambs and the interior braces of the vehicles they repair. They’ll do this without even notifying the customer.
While holes sometimes need to be made to get inside a panel behind a dent, this should be the exception, not the rule. Even then the customer should always be notified of any hole drilling. Any holes shouldn’t be visible when inspecting the completed repair and should be rust proofed and plugged.
Again, holes should be the absolute last option and only used when they’re completely necessary for the repair.
6. What Are The Chances My Paint Cracks?
This is a helpful question to ask. An experienced technician will help protect the painted finish around your deep or creased dents. They’ll do this by making sure the paint is warm enough to flex with the repair taking place. Cold paint is brittle and more difficult to work with as creased or stretched metal requires a lot of pressure to press the damaged area back into place.
7. What Kind Of Customer Service Will I Receive?
You want to find a shop that is reliable and operates with extremely high standards of service.
Go online and look at reviews. One really good or really bad review isn’t enough to base your decision off of. However, if you notice any recurring issues, this should be a red flag.
You’ll also want to be aware of insurance recommended shops. These shops tend to work for the insurance company more than the customer as the insurance company will provide the shop most of its business. Some of these outfits are able to meet the demands of the insurance company by cutting corners to be able to work at discounted rates.
8. Is PDR Covered By Insurance?
This will depend on the insurance you have and the specifics of your policy. PDR is generally covered by comprehensive insurance. If you come back to your car one day and notice a new door ding, your insurance will likely cover it.
Your insurance will come with a deductible that you need to pay before they’ll cover any additional repair costs. Because PDR isn’t overly expensive, you’ll often need to pay for repairs out of pocket because the cost of repair is less than your insurance deductible, so consider this when evaluating your repair.
Read more about PDR and Your Insurance Here.
Conclusion
There you have it. Those are the most important questions to ask when getting paintless dent repair for your vehicle. You’re now ready to find the right PDR company for your repair.
Do yourself a favor by choosing JM Dent Repair for all your dent removal needs. Our technicians have refined their skills over many years and offer the expertise needed to successfully remove even the most stubborn crease dents. Contact us today to get a quote and learn more about our PDR services.