PDR guys...

Bl4444 · 03-17-06, 07:47

A question for the PDR guys (or anyone else who knows)...

I just called a local PDR guy about my car, 3 or 4 dings in my driver-side rear quarter panel.

I was just curious about a few things he said. First off, he made me a little wary because he wouldn't offer me any kind of rate or ballpark figure, saying he'd just have to look at it.

Second, he asked what kind of car I had and when I told him a 2000 Sebring Convt. he said "Yeah, the Sebring is one of the hardest to work on because of how they brace their panels... If it was anything but a Sebring, I could give you some kind of idea of how much it'd be, but being a Sebring, I'll just have to look at it."

Is this true? Is there something uniquely difficult about the way the Sebring is constructed?

Should I be leery of his claims or the fact that he won't even ballpark me or offer me any kind of rate (i.e. per ding, per panel, hourly)?

Normally, I'd call around, but he seems to be the only PDR guy here in town... If I don't go with him, I'll probably have to go about two hours away. (which I'm scheduled to do anyway next week, so I could work it in to my itinerary then.)

Here are some pictures of the worst ding of the bunch. It was tough to get a good picture of it, hopefully these will give some idea:

TigerMike · 03-17-06, 07:57

I don't think it's all that unusual for them to not give an estimate, even a rough ballpark figure. The guy here in town told me the same thing, that "he'd just have to look at it" to see what the panel looks like.

I think they do it just to protect themselves from a customer coming in and saying "well, you said it would only be about $200, now it's $400, what's up??." They do not know over the phone the severity or location of the damage on a vehicle, and those factors are what drives the price, I believe. So, it's just hard for them to quote you anything.

It's kind of like asking a body shop to quote you on repair work over the phone if you just wrecked the front end (or anywhere else for that matter). They have no idea the time, parts, etc involved.

I wouldn't blame the guy for not quoting you.

Bl4444 · 03-17-06, 08:32

Yeah, I'm sure you're right. It's just that most of the threads I found when I searched, suggested that most guys charged by the ding or by the panel, and I guess I thought it was strange that he couldn't/wouldn't even tell me 'how' he charged.

But really, if it weren't for the comment about the particular difficulty of the Sebring, I probably wouldn't have thought much about it. That just rang kinda strange. Even if it had been "Chrysler cars are some of the toughest to work on because of XYZ" I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it...

p.s. anyone have any prognosis as to how well PDR is likely to work on fixing my ding(s)? Like I said, the pictures are of the largest one.

Jake11375 · 03-17-06, 08:41

Standard here in OKC is $55-60 per panel no matter how many dings. If you have a huge dent then they are more expensive though. My car was $180 for a 2-door coupe and I had about 15 dings total. They did the driver, passenger side doors and one quarter panel. I've seen some places gladly give estimates over the phone and some that require a visual inspection. Best of luck to you.

Danase · 03-17-06, 08:57

I know a lot of times the prices go up if the car is a pain to get access behind the dent. Also, if they are contstructed using fasteners that usually break when pried apart they will charge more because it is more work for them to get it back together.

steveo3002 · 03-17-06, 09:02

he's gona be reluctant to quote a price....he could say $xx to fix your car, then come out and find the whole side trashed

Bl4444 · 03-17-06, 09:29

Thanks for the info guys.

I guess I'll just see what he has to say when he looks at it.

But again, do any PDR guys out there know if the Sebring is particularly difficult to work on? If so, what's the source of the difficulty?

Thanks again for the advice...