Last weekend my drivers door sustained a minor dent / crease and I thought that I would share my experience of getting this fixed.
The crease was very minor (and hard to photograph!) and I guess that some would just leave it be but I really cant couldn’t cope with seeing it everyday being as it was right next to the drivers door handle.
Being as there was no scuffing or broken paint I thought that I would contact one of the mobile PDR companies that cover my area.
This is the photo that I sent them - as you can see the crease was really difficult to see
12 years ago a company called ‘Chips Away’ did an amazing job of removing a nasty dent from the rear wing of my Volvo 240. They couldn’t gain access behind the panel and drilled a small hole in the door frame to get at it. Afterwards they capped off the hole and it was barely noticeable. I was very pleased with this so thought that I would give them a call re this job.
The operative called me and made an appointment to see the car. An hour before the appointment he called me to say that he knocked on my door and said “your wife, girlfriend or whoever it is told me that your not in”. I guess he was off sick on the day of the customer care course. I told him that he wasn’t due for another hours to which he replied ‘well I’m here now’. Charming. However I was only 5 minutes away so asked him to wait.
When he looked at the car and I pointed out the dent he said ‘well I cant see it!’ - after getting him to look closer he conceded that there was indeed a dent there. He then said that he doubted that he could fix it but he may know someone else who could. He took a few pictures and left.
A day later he emailed me to say that he could repair it and this would cost £380. I politely declined.
My next stop was ‘Dent Devils’. About 10 years ago they did a good job on my wifes KA so I thought that they would be worth a go. Yesterday morning I completed an on line enquiry via their website and within the hour an operative called. He said that he was in the area and asked whether he could pop by in about 20 minutes. When he looked at it he said that as the dent was so close to the edge of the door it wasn’t possible to push it out from behind. He could however pull it out by using a hot glue method provided I accept the risk of any paint damage due to the age of the car - I told him to go ahead.
I timed how long this took - he spent 1hr 10m on it.
When he had finished there was no sign of the dent or paint damage.
Cost £140.
I guess that had I gone to a bodywork shop I might have paid less, however I don’t mind paying for the convenience of someone coming to me at a time that fits in with my schedule.
I took his business card and will definitely use him again.
