How paintless dent repair works
Every repair starts under a reflection board — the striped lights you see in our bays. The lines bend wherever the metal is out of shape, which shows the technician exactly where the dent’s high and low spots are.
From there, the technician reaches behind the panel — through a window opening, a tail-light pocket, or by removing a trim piece — and uses steel rods to push the low spots up in small, controlled moves. High spots are tapped down. Where there’s no access from behind, we use glue-pull tabs on the outside of the panel instead. Nothing is sanded, filled, or painted.
Door ding repair
The small dents you notice every time you walk up to your car. Most are gone in under an hour, and customers can often wait. Walk around your car under good light and count them — we’ll price the whole car at once, and every additional ding costs less than the first.
- Trade-in and resale: appraisers knock value off for visible dents.
- Lease return: inspectors charge per ding over their size limit. See lease return repair.
- Rust prevention: a ding with cracked paint can rust. We’ll tell you if yours is headed that way.
Creases and large dents
The damage most people assume needs a body shop — a lot of it doesn’t. What makes a repair complex:
- Length and depth. Long creases are really a line of connected dents, each one worked in sequence.
- Body lines. The sharp styling lines on a door or fender hold tension. Restoring them takes patience and the right tools.
- Access. Braces, double-walled panels, and roof rails can block access from behind. Sometimes we remove trim, lights, or a headliner; sometimes we glue-pull from the outside.
- Material. Aluminum panels need more heat and more time than steel.
On very sharp creases, we’ll tell you before starting if the best result is 95% rather than perfect, and let you decide.
What PDR can’t fix
- Dents where the paint is cracked, chipped, or flaking
- Metal that’s been torn or stretched so far it can’t return to its original shape
- Some damage right on a panel edge or seam
If your damage falls in one of those groups, we’ll tell you before any work starts and point you to a body shop we trust. For a side-by-side breakdown, read PDR vs. body shop.
