Dent removal advice??

[drewski59]

:(



My cousin parked too close to my car today and left a big ding(well, not huge...) in my right fender. The part that made me mad was that she never even told me!:mad:



So, what I would like help with is, what kind of things should I look for in a body shop for dent removal???:nixweiss Has anyone made mistakes with this situation that I can learn from?? And how can I avoid getting ripped off??



Thanks, I have never gone through this before.:)



:wavey

[Jngrbrdman]

I`d definatly call around for the best deal. Dent removal from a fender isn`t tough work to do. Especialy if there isn`t a crease and there isn`t any paint missing. Pretty much any body shop should be able to handle it.



My rule of thumb when looking for a body shop is to always find someone to refer me there. If you go in saying that "so and so" sent you then its possible that they`ll take better care of you. Screwing you on the deal will make them look bad and the guy who refered you. It usually helps to have a referal.



The way to avoid getting ripped off is to go in educated. call around and see if they can give you an estimate on the repair without actually seeing it. Then when you go into a shop you`ll have an idea of what they should be charging you. It helps if you can talk intelligently about the job with the people there. Even if you can just pick up the basics from calling around, you can make it sound like you at least are familiar with the process. They are less likely to rip you off if they think you would notice. This is why people get screwed at mechanics so often. The mechanic tells you that your blinker fluid is low and you tell them to change it. At that point they know that they could tell you anything they want and you`d probably buy it. lol Education is the key. :xyxthumbs



edit: P.S. I`ve got a http://sc.communities.msn.com/tn/0D/F1/JngrbrdmansHideout/1/23e.jpg (http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0QQAAABAYkB9fWzEJdTu91BNZh48WWUhTbC*DGRmGnfiIADlR8 d!xIjeqtsLAosRXyokGNcEuoPVVlJZ6WvJwQTuFt82grC0r6BK myhXduZk/porsche_wallpaper2.jpg) that I thought you`d like. :) Its been sitting in my photo host forever. Your Avatar looks like the same car probably. If that link doesn`t work then I can email it to you if you haven`t got that picture.

[drewski59]

Thanks for the info!:xyxthumbs



BTW, I saved that avatar. Maybe I`ll have to change mine now, hehe;)



:wavey

[CharlesW]

Have you considered paintless dent repair? I have had this done and the results were excellent. There are hackers in the business, but some of them can really do great work. I found the guys that did the work for a Cadillac-Lexus dealer to do mine. You might ask around for a recommended shop. They can tell you if the damage can be taken care of with their system.



Charles



Edit: Paintless for painless. No excuses, just pain careless.

[Taxlady]

Painless dent repair. LOL



I think you meant paintless. I do hope his dent repair is painless. :D

[Glossy McGlosserton]

I had some paintless dent removal done, and it was painless!



The company was out at the Honda dealer when I went in for an oil change. The price is supposed to be about $90 a panel. I had three dings on three different panels, and they did them all for a discounted price (about $170, if I`m remembering correctly).



Two of the dings took the fellow about 5 minutes each, and one was a little tougher--took him about 15 minutes.



I found out that if you go through a dealership, the dealership gets one half of the fee. I wonder if you could get a better deal by going direct?



They did great work. On two of the dings, it`s perfect. The third, you can tell there is a little ripple in the side crease if you look closely at certain angles.

[ClayBartrug]

YUP, Paintless Dent Removal is the WAY to go. They typically charge anywhere from 75 to 150 per panel, regardless of the number of dings/dents being removed. It varies depending on your location and what these things generally go for. Dent Wizards happen to be one of the larger chains, but just do a search in your area, you`re sure to come up with something.



good luck!

[Brad B]

I had a Dent Wizard guy at my Porsche club Detailing event last weekend and he did demos and fixed several peoples cars for about $20 -25 a dent. He was doing this as a promotion and most certainly pocketing the money himself! Didn`t matter to us! He did some work for me for free! Everybody was happy!



Anyway, they can do fantastic work. It was fascinating watching him work and having him describe the tricks of the trade.



NoteThere is only a short training program to be "qualified" to do this so be sure to get references on the guy that does the actual work or be sure he has been doing it a while.



There`s his truck behind my cars.

http://www.fototime.com/906AB03B3DFEE91/standard.jpg