If you've been involved in a minor "fender bender" you may be seeing dollar signs running in front of your eyes. Alternatively, you may have come out of the supermarket to find that somebody has banged into your truck and driven off without saying anything. How much is all of this going to cost you? The good news is, as long as the damage is not too significant, you may be able to get away with something called paintless dent repair. What does this involve?

Repairing with Painting

Autobody repair specialists are very clever individuals, able to take a car that has been severely damaged and make it look like new again. They have a variety of different processes as they go about their work and will always try and do the job most efficiently for you and within budget. Consequently, if the damage to your vehicle is only relatively minor, they will try to remove the dent without having to subsequently prepare and then paint the vehicle after. The objective is to minimise the use of any body filler, which of course has to be smoothed, sanded and then painted over.

How Is This Done?

The typical paint used these days in repair shops is very flexible and doesn't crack very easily when applied. If this type of paint has been originally used on your car it's a good start. Then, if the metal has not been overly stretched by the damage, you may be use the "push to paint" technique. Technicians will look to see how thick the metal is at the point of impact, how deep the dent and whether they think they can be successful. Usually, anything that is not too creased or deep can be pulled out this way.

The engineer will use a variety of different tools called body picks and rods, carefully pushing out the dent from the opposite side. It may also be possible to pull from the front using special types of glue. Once the majority of the dent has been taken care of, it's necessary to tap down any high spots and through the use of heat, the expert can almost always ensure that the paint surface does not crack.

Partial Paintless Repair

If the dent is just too severe to use the full technique, it may still be possible to minimise the amount of filler and paint needed by using the strategy to a degree and then finishing up afterwards.

Asking the Expert

So, before you cry yourself all the way to the bank, have a word with a quality body repair specialist to see if you can use this process.