Should I Fix The Dents In My Vehicle Before Selling It?
This is often why people seek out our services.
People often ask: Should I fix the dents in my vehicle before selling it?
Do you want to get top dollar for your trade in or the sale of your vehicle?
Maybe you don’t want to deal with a long drawn out negotiation on your asking price?
Having a dent free vehicle allows you to have more power in the negotiation part of a deal.
Even a few dents in your vehicle can greatly depreciate what a person will give you for it!
One Hail of an Experience
A while back we ended up fixing some hail damage in a customers 2017 Ram 1500 Pickup. This customer bought it with light hail damage already on it. He ended up getting a great price if he was willing to live with the hail damage.
This customer had this vehicle for 3 years and finally decided to part ways with it. This Ram had extremely low miles on it, right around 15k for a 3 year old vehicle! He ended up taking it to a local car lot to see about trading it in on one of their vehicles. The minute the lot saw that it had hail damage they flat out told him “We are not interested in your trade!” Can you believe that! Now granted yes this was hail damage, but even the customer said prior to our appointment with him that he could only see around 12 dents on the hood. Once we pulled it into our shop and gave it a full look over we counted close to 50 dents on the hood alone!
What Does The Car Lot Know That You Don’t Know?
The reason being is because they know what a person can see outside in the sunlight is one thing. Once a Professional Paintless Dent Repair Company has a look at the vehicle they know they will find much more damage. More damage makes the repair bill higher, allowing them to not make as much money on the sale. We are sure the reason they basically ran away from this vehicle is because the have been burned in the past thinking the same thing. Oh it just has a couple dents in it, as they look at it in the bright sun in a parking lot. Then when they go to sell the vehicle thinking they will get away with the “few” dings it has in it and the new customer brings it home and gets it in their garage the new customer is horrified to find 50-100 dents on just one panel! This does not make the dealer lot look good and puts a bad taste in the customers mouth about their recent purchase! Sadly we have seen this first hand many times from customers.
Hail of a Relief
So to follow up on the above mentioned Ram Story. We ended up getting the vehicle repaired for the customer and the hood is now dent free. We were even able to make these repairs in one day! The customer simply dropped his truck off in the morning and picked it up that evening, dent free! We even went around other parts of the vehicle and removed some other small dents we found on it as well. The customer ended up having no problems selling his vehicle and is now it a newer ride for himself.
I Only Have Minor Dents and Dings, No Hail Damage
Sometimes customers of ours are simply only fixing their dents in their vehicles because they are looking to sell it. We get it, it is very common. We are able to work with you on this process and get your vehicle dent free again and fast! Most of our repairs can be performed in a day! When a car lot factors in the cost to repair dents and dings they are always going to go to the worst case scenario. For them the worst case scenario is a body shop. A body shop may want anywhere from $500 to over $1,000 to paint just a single panel! Even if they know the damage can be repaired using Paintless Dent Repair they always assume the worse, and offer you the lowest amount. This is a negotiation tactic and they are the best in the business with negotiating, it’s what they do!
Conclusion
So the next time you think about selling your vehicle and think, should I Fix The Dents In My Vehicle Before Selling It. The answer is simply Yes. Bbe sure to contact your local Dent Repair Specialists.
They will be able to assess your damage and give you an honest and straightforward answer.
If you would like to talk about some of the damages in your vehicle feel free to contact us in whichever way is most convenient for you!
The 2020 Dent Olympics Training is the first seminar of its kind, this event was hosted by DentRepair.com
This is a Yearly Dent Repair Competition. It has been going on since the early 2000’s and is held yearly at the Mobile Tech Expo (MTE) and for the past few years has been in Orlando Florida sometime in January.
This event featured world know technician Žan Vidic. He has won multiple awards for multiple past competitions. He even went on to win not only the 2020 Dent Olympics but also the first ever Dent Olympics Tag Team event! What an honor it was to be taught by one of the best technicians in the world! Dave Streen was also presenting to give his theories for the repair, Dave is a 20 year technician and has worked all over the world repairing vehicles with Paintless Dent Repair. He also owns Edgytools.com
Both Žan and Dave competed in the IASRE Dent Repair Competition in Japan in 2019, we plan to attend this event with both of these technicians in 2020! JAPAN HERE WE COME!
The Training
This event started off with some class room discussion and theories. This was very basic and to get your head in the right mindset.
Time To Go To Work
We then started with a dent in this vehicle and had to repair it “our way” in 45 minutes with no help just like in the competition. This set a baseline for the technician to see where they were at and how they could improve.
We were then assessed on our damage repair. From there we had a round table type of discussion on everything about our specific repairs. Every technicians repair was evaluated. Everyone in the room learned something from everyone’s repair. It was a fantastic and very eye opening experience for everyone, INCLUDING the trainers!
After everyone was evaluated it was time to see Zan himself go to work. We all discussed about the process and watched a live dent repair done by the multiple championship winner himself! Everyone was mind blown at not only how fast he is but also his technique. I know everyone learned something by watching him work his methods!
Paintless Dent Removal- Dent Olympics Training
Round 2 FIGHT!
With this new knowledge we then all repaired one of the same dents again. This time we were put on the opposite side of the vehicle, just to change things up. The results were astonishing, the speed, precision, and final results speak for themselves. Now armed with this new knowledge, a different selection of tools used the results were amazing! We couldn’t believe the difference this class made to our repair styles and techniques.
Paintless Dent Repair – Dent Olympics Training
Sioux Falls Dent Repair – Training
Paintless Dent Removal- Dent Olympics Training
Sioux Falls Dent Repair – Training
Dent Repair – Sioux Falls Dent Repair
If you are a serious technician about Paintless Dent Repair, we would STRONGLY recommend you attend next years seminar.
You will not only learn a ton of new knowledge but you will also get to put those new skills and knowledge to the test INSTANTLY!
A huge thanks to DentRepair.com, Dave Streen and Zan Vidic for putting this seminar on! Also to Kevin Andrews for his additional help and training during the seminar.
Also a big thanks goes out to the TDN Group and Inventure Tools for letting us train at their facility!
This is a very good example of big paintless dent removal, Today we have Jack Bucknell with Sioux Falls Dent Repair working on this 2016 Chevy Equinox Right Front Door. This is some extreme damage to to repair using the paintless dent repair method. Unfortunately the customer was not sure what exactly caused this damage.
The Dent Removal Process
We started off this repair using some cold glue from Glexo. We then continued with our traditional hot glue pulling methods. Using Cam Auto glue dispensed with our Elimadent Glue gun, will evenly distribute this glue to our Black Plague Black Ice Oval Glue Tab. We then place the Tab on the dented area and use a leverage bar from Keco. This leverage bar is refereed to as the K bar from Keco Glue Pull Products. Using this bar, this allows us to slowly and very strongly pull on this damage. This bar allows us to make a very controlled pull with the glue to pull this damage out, verses a slide hammer. After me made some great progress with glue we then have to start the removal process. We eventually end up removing the door panel and door glass to gain access to the back side of this of this damaged area.
Why Did You Have To Remove The Glass Assembly?
This vehicle features laminated saftey glass in the front doors. There are many reasons we need to remove this style of glass for this repair. We have another article that touches on all of these questions and concerts.
After we have full access to the backside of the damaged areas, we can now push the damage out. We then use a series of tools to push the damage out as well as knocking down some of the high areas especially in the lower areas. We use many different styles of tools from many different tool manufactures to achive this type of final results. Some of the tools include Dent Craft, A1 PDR Tools, Ultra Dent Tools and Stanliner tools from Lithuania! Many of the knockdowns and hammer heads used are from Edgy Tools.
Closing Time
After we have the vehicle all put back together we have to run a Post Repair Diagnostic Scan. This is when we hook up a diagnostic computer scan tool to do a full system scan on the vehicle. The good old days of just taking a vehicle apart, putting it back together and just making sure the window rolls up and down are now gone. Many vehicle manufactures, including this one, REQUIRE a diagnostic scan to be done Pre, before any work is performed. As well as after any work is done. We have a great article outlining more about this whole entire process that you can view:
Learn more about each vehicle manufactures requirements on scanning here:
Why does the glass in your door matter when doing a price quote for your door ding?
Well today we will be discussing how the glass in the door of your vehicle will determinant what steps are need in order to perform your dent repair. There are two different style of glasses that they put in vehicles. One being the traditional tempered glass which is one solid piece of glass, the other being laminated safety glass. Laminated safety glass is actually 2 pieces of glass glued together with plastic in between them.
Why Do Manufactures Do this?
Why do they have 2 different style of glasses you ask? There are multiple reasons why a manufacture would choose Laminated safety glass over your traditional tempered glass. The biggest reason would be safety, in the event of an accident laminated glass does not shatter like your traditional tempered glass. The reason being is the plastic in between the 2 outer pieces of glass will actually hold the structure of the glass even when it is broken. This type of glass is what is used in windshields, so when you get damage to your windshield it does not shatter it cracks, the same is true for laminated safety glass in your door. This glass holds its form so when an airbag is deployed or the vehicle is perhaps involved in a roll over for instance it will not blow out or break the side glass when the structure of the door frame is compromised or is heavily impacted. Another big reason for this glass choice and why it is typically found in more highly optioned and high end vehicles is noise. This glass is thicker and has multiple layers making it harder for sound to go though, so it is actually quieter, you will have less road noise transmitted through this glass.
Check out our video on how to better identify your glass and have us explain this whole process:
Hi there, I’m Jack with Sioux Falls Dent Repair. If you don’t know what this is, this is actually the window from the right front door of this Lincoln MKZ. Now you’re probably asking yourself, “Why the heck does he have this out of the vehicle? Don’t they just do dent repair? They don’t tint windows.” Well, you’re absolutely right. We don’t do any type of window tinting at all. We do only paintless dent repair. But, I’m going to go and run through a couple of reasons of why I have this glass out of the vehicle, and why I had to take it out of the door of this Lincoln, in order to perform paintless dent repair on this passenger front door.
Now, the reason why I have to actually pull this glass out of the vehicle in order to perform paintless dent repair, is because it is what is called laminated safety glass. What laminated safety glass is, it’s the same makeup as your windshield. So when you get a, let’s say for instance, a rock chip in your windshield, all you’re left with is a crack or a chip in the window. That’s the same type of makeup of glass that we have right here in my hands.
Now, you’re wondering, “Okay, well why is this car in particular?” With this being a Lincoln, this is the higher-end model of a Ford-manufactured vehicle. What this has is specialized of laminated safety glass in the front doors only of this vehicle. So, if you call and get an estimate for a door ding, a question I may or may not ask you if I’m unsure of it. Most of the time I have a general idea, if it does or does not. But, I actually have to look at the markings in the bottom of this glass here, and I’m pointing to it with my fingers, it’s kind of hard to see. But it’ll actually say either tempered or laminate glass on it. This glass here actually does say laminated.
The reason why I have to pull this out in order to perform paintless dent repair is my traditional repairs, I’ve installed a metal window guard against this glass, and push off the glass. If I put any pressure whatsoever on the glass, this type of glass specifically, it cracks. I don’t want to purchase a $200 to $700 piece of glass to do a door ding on a vehicle. So, it has to be removed, in order to safely perform these repairs.
Unfortunately, not every vehicle states on the glass if it’s laminated or tempered. Tempered is the other type of glass that will actually shatter if hit. We could put a lot of pressure on that without any problem at all, as long as we have a window guard, preferably a metal window guard, installed between the glass and the tool. Another way to actually check it is to actually roll the window down, and actually feel the edge of the glass. So we’re actually really lucky on this one. This actually has laminated glass in the front, and tempered glass in the rear. So I’m going to go ahead and show you how the class actually looks. So, roll the glass down just a little bit, and as you could see, you can see it’s two pieces of glass. Versus, tempered glass. It is one solid piece.
All right, so we, anyways, we hope you learned something in this video here. If you enjoyed anything you learned, or did learn anything, hit that like button and subscribe to our channel, so you can see some of the newest content that we deliver, whether it be tools, tips, tricks, actual dent repairs, customer reviews, help with identifying components in your own vehicle, even walking through, taking things apart and everything like that. And we’re going to have some videos coming to that here shortly. Anyway, so we appreciate you watching, and I don’t have a tagline yet, so, thanks!
Hopefully this helps you better understand the glass make up in your vehicle and why we have to know which style of glass it is when doing a dent repair on your door for instance.
Do you have more questions or need a repair done on your own vehicle?
Will my dented area rust after paintless dent repairs are performed?
We have been asked this question multiple times from customers of ours. First off, does the damaged area have any paint damage, broken paint, a scratch of some kinda or cracked paint? If the answer is NO to those questions that’s great news! That means your damage is a perfect candidate for Paintless Dent Repair and your damage will not have any paint issues and no rust issues down the road.
What if my damaged area DOES have some paint damage?
One thing to clear up is often damaged areas may have minor paint damage, anything from a smaller light scuff to maybe even cracked or a chip in the paint. Now the dented areas can often still be repaired and smoothed out BUT the paint damage may remain if its severe.
Can you fix my paint damage?
Depending on the severity of the damage, YES. If your paint damage consists of a minor scuff or scrape we will wet sand, buff and polish the area to remove the paint damage. This paint damage will not be noticable at all after our repairs are done and the paint will look as if nothing ever happend.
What if I have a crack, chip or deep scratch in my paint?
We can do things like apply some touch up paint to the paint damaged areas or do some wet standing, buffing and polishing to removed scuffs and scrapes, but if the paint damage can not be removed with buffing. The paint damage WILL remain. Some people are ok with having us do touch up paint, others are not, that is strictly up to you, the customer. Everyone’s needs are different for each repair and we are willing to work with you on your needs. The best way to describe how touch up paint will look after applied is it will look like a black button up shirt WITH a black button. The button(paint damage) will be visible, you will be able to see it to a certain degree and really looking for it. You yourself, know EXACTLY where it is, others like friends, family members or the general public may not pick out the damage unless it is specifically pointed out. This is the best case scenario, touch up paint is often best suited for solid colors, black and white being the best. Colors with a high metallic paint, pearl colors and specialized colors may not look the best when touch up paint is applied. We would be happy to discuss all of these items, your needs and our personal suggestions for your situation. We have even suggestion people with severe paint damage that we are NOT the best course of action for their damage, we can then happily get you fixed up with a recommended body shop in the area
Want to see what a repair looks like when the paint IS DAMAGED? Here is an example of a repair we did on a vehicle that had a minor crack in the paint prior to our repairs: CLICK HERE
What is corrosion protection?
Often times people do not know that there has to be some kind of protection sprayed onto the backside of there dented area after we repair it. If we have to use any types of dent repair tools we are taking sometimes sharp metal tipped tools and pushing on the backside of the dented area. This pushing can cause small scratches in the coatings on the back side of your damaged area. Now these are very minimal but something needs to be done to protect this area. After a repair is made with dent tools we apply a corrosion protection spray like a 3m Cavity Wax spray. This is a very runny liquid that will run into all of the areas it is sprayed in. This spray stays soft and gooey like honey for instance. This spray will not harden and crack like some other products on the market. Now with glue pulling for example no harm is caused to the backside of the panel because we are gluing glue tabs to the OUTSIDE of the panel and pulling the damage out, no pushing on the dent is done so there is no need for the application of cavity wax.
Here is a video of us explaining the use of 3M Cavity Wax spray when performing dent repairs.
Hopefully this clears up any questions you may have had about rust and paintless dent repair.
If you are still curious about the paintless dent repair process or maybe you have some more questions on our methods of preventing rusting, feel free to call, text or email us!
The Paintless Dent Repair method can even be used to repair Storm Damage Dent Removal caused from falling snow or ice. This Chevy Silverado Pickup hood we have in our shop today was purchased with this damage on it and the customer had to have it repaired. The Silverado was actually at a local body shop at the time and they decided to contact us to do paintless dent repairs on the hood of this while the truck was in the body shop getting unrelated repairs done to it. The storm damage dents were then removed that day and returned to the truck at the body shop the next morning.
Disconnecting Electrical Components For Repairs
We have another vehicle in the shop for some storm related damage. This 2016 Dodge Durango had some tree limbs fall on it during a thunderstorm. This damage looks similar to hail damage with the multiple round dents but the way the damage is on the panel indicates other than hail and was confirmed by the customer. In order to do the repairs on this Durango we have to remove multiple components. To safely do this and not cause on electrical related damage we have to disconnect the battery to power down the entire vehicle.
To read more about electrical components and why we need to disconnect and computer scan the systems CLICK HERE!
Did you know this Durango has the batteries located below the passenger front seat. Yes that’s right, you read that right, this vehicle has not one but two batteries in it! The bigger of the batteries is for the main motor components and the smaller batter can be used to power many things typically the smaller electrical components on the vehicle, like inside lighting, radio, ect.
If you happen to need any time of dent removal services yourself give us a call or text us today to schedule your appointment!
