Home Page American Government Reference Desk Shopping Special Collections About Us Contribute



Escort, Inc.






GM Icons
By accessing/using The Crittenden Automotive Library/CarsAndRacingStuff.com, you signify your agreement with the Terms of Use on our Legal Information page. Our Privacy Policy is also available there.

An Overview On Dent Removal For Car Novice


An Overview On Dent Removal For Car Novice

Steven Magill
27 January 2013


To be fooled in any way hurts. Paying more than we should have hurts, especially when we could have had better use of that extra cash. The same is true when paying for car dent removals. It is a highly noted service that is very often overpriced by clever technicians trying to take advantage the clients agitation because of his/her dented car.

Car owners with limited knowledge and appreciation of the workings of cars, including their own, will be more untrusting in dealing with mechanics and technicians who will try to do some fixing on their car. Conversely, mechanics would be wary of dealing with customers having trust issues as they will feel like being pressured to accept a term even if it does not really compensate the type of service they have rendered.

The way to meet in the middle is for mechanics and customers to look at a problem not only from one perspective or angle. This is literally true when comes to car dent repair. Dents must be looked at in indifferent angles to be able to have full appreciation of what really must be done. Very often a simple dent in one angle is actually a huge spectacle on the other. Mechanics must be able to explain this in simple terms and customers must take the time to listen for both parties to arrive at a working agreement.

There are basically three types of dent repair or dent removal upon which dent handymen may approach a particular dent repair job. They are dent removal, push to paint dent removal and chip dent removal. The dent technician must be able to determine which approach is most effective and be able to explain it clearly to the car owner. A clear and simple explanation will pave to way to a better understanding on the cost for doing such repair. For example, it may be calmly discussed that the size and depth of the dent will be a factor in the service price.

Among the aforementioned methods, paintless dent removal/repair or PDR is the most popular and perhaps the least complicated of the three. It is most useful on minor dents often caused by everyday occurrences brought for instance by weather like hail, or minor mishaps like accidental car door impacts or minor body creases caused by friction with another surface. Since PDR does not really involve paint damage adjustments, it is the least expensive among the three.

On the other hand, chip dent removal and push to paint are relatively similar as both require paint damage correction as part of the repair process. In the case of push to paint, it must be explained carefully to the customer that doing the procedure will in the process required doing chip dent removal as well. This is because the damage in such cases would be too severe that it requires substantial force to bring the damaged part to its proper form. The application of such force will inevitably chip the painting of that portion of the car thus the requirement of doing both procedures.

The common idea behind these different dent repair methods is pushing the dented portion into the underside of the car's body using some metal rods. In the process the car will be restored to its original form as best as possible. While it is ideal to preserve the original paint, there are just cases that paint is either already damaged or will inevitably damaged in the process.

The job of a truly professional dent technician is to be able to determine the best method with the objective of minimizing both damage and cost and making sure that the whole process is clearly and duly appreciated by the car owner or customer.


Steven Magill has worked with hundreds of business owners over the past couple of years, helped them build their website from ground,improve sales and business growth. Visit his blog: Dent Repair Cardiff - specialist in Paintless Dent Removal service in and around Cardiff!




The Crittenden Automotive Library