If you’ve ever had a ding on your car door or fender, then you know how upsetting it can be to look at it every day. It can also be difficult to find an affordable way to fix this damage quickly. Luckily, dent repair shops are popping up all over the place these days to make fixing dents in your car easier than ever before! Below we’ll take a closer look at what dent repair is, why you might want to get it done, and how you can choose the right shop to do the job in as little time as possible!

Specialized Tools are used in Paintless Dent Repair to push or suck out dents.

What is paintless dent repair?
Paintless dent repair, or PDR, is a type of auto body repair. It’s used to eliminate dents and creases in your car without painting. Instead of removing paint to fix a dent and replacing it later (which takes more time and expense), PDR gets rid of dents by carefully massaging metal back into its original shape. Since you don’t have to worry about matching paint colors or blending anything, you’ll save money and get your car looking like new without having to repaint it. Not only does PDR remove minor dings from your car’s body, but it can also be used for larger dents—provided they’re not hidden behind any sheet metal.

Determining if you can DIY
If you can’t afford to bring in a pro every time your car needs some dent repair, you may want to learn how to do it yourself. It’s actually quite easy, especially if you’re using plastic pry tools and hairdryers. Pry tools are used to remove all dents larger than an inch (3cm) while hairdryers are used to heat up and flatten smaller dents. The main thing is not to overheat your vehicle; damaging sheet metal is easy if you don’t know what you’re doing. Finally, there are countless YouTube videos about dent repair so don’t be afraid of a little self-learning! This video from Auto Lifts is a great place to start.

Finding a professional
A dent repair professional isn’t hard to find. The most obvious place to start is asking a trusted friend or family member for a recommendation, but you can also turn to reviews and referrals online. Finding someone who is highly rated by both customers and reviewers (like on Angie’s List) should get you started in finding a reliable local repair shop. And if you live near an established chain like Firestone Auto Care, they may have partnered with local dent professionals already. It never hurts to ask!

Steps for PDR
PDR is short for Paintless Dent Removal. It’s a technique dent repair technicians use to get dents out of your car without damaging or repainting your vehicle. To understand how PDR works, you first need to know that when you get into an accident and a dent occurs, it weakens not only the area where it happened but also every structural member in its path. Not only that, but as body shops cut and hammer away at your vehicle trying to fix dents with traditional methods (like body filler or hammer and dolly), they can damage other things like paint and clear coat finishes, plus most of their work requires them to re-paint part of your car anyway.

After the dents are gone
Many dents can be removed by a mobile body shop, but sometimes you have to leave your car in their hands for up to several days (as is the case with fender benders). If it’s not urgent, it’s worth your time to get more than one quote. You can expect that dent repair will cost anywhere from $50 for a minor ding up to $3,000 for a total accident makeover. It’s best to get an estimate from a professional because most insurance companies won’t cover small damage. Even if they do, you may end up paying additional deductibles and still come out ahead.