How Paintless Dent Repair Works
You hear which dents come out, and which may not, before a tool touches the car. Then the metal goes back from behind the panel.
How Your Hail Repair Works
Six steps, start to finish. You will know what is happening to your car at every one of them.
Book Your Free Assessment
Call and tell us where the car is parked. We come to it, count the damage and tell you what we see.
Your Carrier Opens the Claim
Hail goes in as a comprehensive claim. Ask your carrier how it wants it opened, and bring the dent count to that call.
Full Inspection and Mapping
Right where the car is parked, every dent is marked and counted panel by panel under proper light.
Estimate Goes to the Carrier
The dent count becomes an itemized estimate, and your carrier reviews it.
Carrier Authorizes the Work
Your carrier reviews the car and the estimate, then authorizes what it will pay for before any work starts.
The Metal Goes Back
We work each dent out from behind the panel until the surface reads flat again, with the factory paint still on it.
Your side of the work
You walked out after the storm and found the hood covered in small dimples. The six steps above are the order of the work. Here is what they mean for you.
You make one call. Nobody asks you to tow the car or drop it at a shop. The crew comes to where it is parked and counts the damage. You see that count before anything is decided.
Most hail dents come out completely. Some may not, and you hear which ones before the work starts. A quote over the phone cannot tell you that.
Your carrier runs the claim side. Hail is a comprehensive claim, and your carrier decides what it authorizes. Once it does, the repair happens in the same spot. The dents come out with no filler and no new paint.
What the assessment looks like
The assessment happens where the car is parked. The technician works around the car one panel at a time and reads each one under a light board.
That board is a lit panel striped with lines, set at an angle to the paint. Its reflection lies across the metal like ruled paper. On a flat surface the lines run straight. A dent bends them, and a deep or sharp one pinches them tight. Dents too small to notice in plain daylight give themselves away like this.
Each dent is counted as it turns up. Dents are often marked on the panel as they are found, so none get counted twice or missed. Each one gets a size too. The trade usually sizes hail dents by coin, from dime to half dollar. Size, depth and the spot on the panel all shape the work a dent needs.
What comes out of it is a list, one panel at a time. The hood, the roof, each door, each fender, each quarter panel and the trunk lid get their own line. Each line carries the count and the sizes. It also names any dent that may not come out fully, with the reason beside it. If a trim panel, a light or the headliner has to come off for access, that is on the list as well. So is anything that needs a body shop or a new part.
You are welcome to walk the car with the technician while this happens. Point at any dent you want explained. By the end, you see the same picture the technician sees. That list is the starting point for the estimate your carrier reviews, and nothing about the repair gets decided before you have seen it.
What PDR cannot fix
PDR moves metal back into shape. It does not replace paint, and it cannot undo every kind of damage. You should know the limits before you agree to anything. Here they are, in plain terms.
Cracked or chipped paint. If the hailstone broke the finish, PDR can move the metal back. It cannot repair the paint. That panel needs paint work from a body shop.
Stretched metal. A hard hit can stretch a panel past the shape it remembers. It may come most of the way back and still not read flat.
Sharp creases. A fold along a line holds its shape harder than a round dent. Some soften a lot. Some do not come out fully.
Panel edges and braced seams. A dent on the edge of a panel, or over a brace or seam, has little room to work. Those are the hardest to finish.
No access from behind. PDR needs a tool behind the dent. Where a rail or a double wall blocks the way, the dent may stay.
If one of your dents falls into these groups, you hear that at the estimate. It is named on the panel it sits on, so nothing gets quietly skipped. Better to hear it at the start than after the work is done. For more on the limits, read can PDR fix every hail dent.
Where the work happens
The crew comes to the car. A driveway works. So does a garage, a carport or an office lot, with the lot owner's okay. A dealer row works too.
The technician reads each panel by reflected light, so shade helps. If you have a garage or a carport, mention it on the call.
Hailsmith works both sides of the state line. Hail does not stop at State Line Road, so neither does the crew. That means Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, plus the cities around them. On the Kansas side, that includes Overland Park, Olathe and Shawnee. On the Missouri side, it includes Independence, Lee's Summit, Liberty and Parkville. Find your city on the service areas page.
Start with the count
The first thing you need is the count. You need the dent count, the panels hit and the dents that may not come out fully. The assessment is free, and you are not signing up for anything by asking.
If you want to know how hail claims work first, read does insurance cover hail damage. When you are ready, call for a free assessment and tell us where the car is parked.
What PDR Fixes, and What It Does Not
Here is the full boundary of the method, in plain terms.
The Sweet Spot
Round, shallow hail dents with whole paint, on a panel with access from behind. This is the bulk of a hail car: hood, roof, trunk, upper doors, quarter panels. Most come out fully and stay out.
The Hard Cases
Sharp creases, stretched metal, dents on a body line and panels braced or glued from behind. Some still come out. Some come out most of the way. A technician can tell you which after seeing the panel, not over the phone.
Outside PDR Entirely
Cracked or chipped paint, torn panels and broken glass or trim. These need conventional refinishing or replacement. Anything on your car in this category gets called out in the estimate rather than quietly skipped.
Questions About the Process
No. The crew comes to the car. Your driveway works, and so does a garage or an office lot if the lot owner is fine with it. You tell us where the car is parked on the call. The count, the estimate and the repair all happen in that spot. There is no shop to drop it at. If the car sits at work during the day, that is fine too. Just tell us where it will be.
That depends on your car, so nobody should quote it over the phone. A few dents on one door are a short job. A roof and hood full of hail take much longer. The time depends on the dent count, the panels hit and the access behind them. You hear the expected time at the assessment, once every dent has been counted. Because the work happens where the car is parked, you are not stuck waiting in a shop lobby.
Ask your carrier how it wants hail claims opened, because carriers differ. The assessment works either way. You get a dent count, panel by panel, whether or not a claim is open yet. Many people get the count first, so the call to the carrier starts with real numbers. Your policy sets the deductible, and your carrier decides what it authorizes.
It lists each panel, the dents on it and their size. It also names any dent that may not come out fully, and says why. Cracked paint, stretched metal and dents with no access from behind get called out by name. Your carrier may write its own estimate too. Keep both, so the counts can sit side by side. If anything on the car needs a body shop instead, the estimate says that too.
No. Hail falls under comprehensive coverage, not collision. Comprehensive is the part of a policy that covers damage from things other than a crash, and hail is one of them. It only applies if your policy includes it. Collision is the coverage for a crash with another car or an object. How a claim affects your rates is up to your carrier and your policy, so ask your carrier before you assume either way.
A dent is hard to see head on and easy to see in a reflection. The light board throws a pattern of lines across the panel. Every low spot and high spot bends those lines. That is how each dent gets counted at the assessment, and how the technician knows when a panel reads flat again. Without the light, small dents hide. Ask to look at the board during the assessment, and you will see dents your eye missed in daylight.
Get the Dents Out, Keep the Paint
Call for a Free AssessmentFree assessment. No commitment. You see the dent count before anything is decided.