frequently asked questions
How much does Paintless dent repair cost?
The average cost for Paintless Dent Repair will run you around $200-$300. The average minimum charge is around $100-$150 for a small dime size dent. A medium quarter size dent will run between $150-$300 and a large half dollar size dent will run between $300-$500. More severe damage and vehicles with Hail Damage can run in the multiple thousands of dollars.
How long does it take to repair a dent?
The average paintless dent repair takes about an hour. A small dent repair can take 10-15 minutes and a severe dent repair can take 6+ hours. A vehicle with light hail damage can take anywhere from 6 hours to a full day. Heavy hail damage can take 3+ days.
Does paintless dent repair fix scratches?
No. The Paintless Dent Repair process does not repair scratches. There are no fillers or painting involved with PDR. Although some PDR techs are capable of wet sanding and polishing out surface scratches as long as the underlying paint is intact.
Does paintless dent repair have long term effects?
No. Paintless dent repair will not cause any long term side effects to the panel repaired. Metal memory plays a key part in the pdr process giving the metal the ability to hold its original shape. The paint will be in the same condition it was before the repair. With that being said, if the paint was damaged when it was dented by whatever hit it, then after the repair the damaged paint will still be visible.
Can you fix any dent using PDR?
Not all dents are created equal. Most dents can be repaired using PDR but not all. What would disqualify a dent from PDR would be collision damage for one, if a dent is too sharp, stretched out, missing a majority of the surface paint, the edge is smashed in and sometimes if it is too close to the edge of the panel.
Do dent pullers work?
The short answer is yes. There are 2 types of pullers that work specifically for paintless dent repair.
One is a glue puller which is a system that uses special formulated hot glue along with glue tabs and a glue tab puller to remove soft dents from the surface of a panel. The most common area this puller is used is on pillars, or to pull larger dents to reduce their size and make them more manageable for the PDR process.
The second is a cold glue puller. This puller system uses a sticky adhesive glue that sticks to a tab at the end of a puller and is used to reduce the size of soft dents to make them more manageable for the PDR process.
Can you fix a plastic bumper using paintless dent repair?
Yes. As long as the plastic bumper is dented and not torn then it can be PDR'd. Using heat and PDR tools a trained tech can remold the plastic bumper back to its original shape.
Can you just push dents out?
Yes and no. Although it is rare. If a dent is large, soft and round then in some cases you can just reach up from behind the panel and push some of it out with your hand. Not recommended by PDR techs because if it is pushed in the wrong place it could stretch the metal, no longer making it a candidate for PDR. Trying to just push a small sharp dent out by hand is impossible.