With the growing popularity of DIY projects, dent repair solutions that can be done at home have become more prevalent online. Do-it-yourself repairs can be helpful with some household items, but when it comes to your auto damage, it’s best to get it fixed by a professional. DIY dent repair solutions may seem appealing, but they can either make no real improvement to existing damage or cause additional damage to your car. We wanted to debunk some old wives’ tales for home dent repair and illustrate the advantages of paintless dent repair at body shops in Sioux Falls.
Plunge Away Your Dents
Myth: The suction of a plunger will be able to pull dents out of body panels.
Fact: Plungers can actually make your dents worse. The suction created when the plunger is pushed down can enlarge dents rather than removing them.
Cool Your Dents Out with Dry-Ice
Myth: Placing dry-ice on the dent will cause the metal to quickly contract and make the dent pop out of the metal.
Fact: Dry-ice can soil your car’s finish, not to mention cause instant frostbite if it touches your skin.
Make Metal Pliant With A Hair Dryer
Myth: By heating up a dent with a hair dryer, the metal will be able to be bent back into shape.
Fact: Hair dryers don’t get hot enough to produce this kind of result.
The bottom line:
DIY dent repair solutions don’t make as much sense as taking your car to the body shop for paintless dent repair. PDR is approved by many insurance companies because of its reliable nature and it’s less expensive than traditional body shop repairs, so it’s well worth the trip to the shop. Sioux Falls technicians that are specially-trained in PDR work to remove dents using pressure and small hammers, producing excellent results that will improve the resale value of your car. If you’re worried about the repair going on record, don’t, as PDR does not show up on service reports. With such a convenient process offered by PDR pros, why try DIY dent repair when you can get professional repairs at a great price?
There are a few steps you should take before filing your claim. First, you should take pictures of the damage from as many angles as you can, in the best light you can find. This will help your insurer and dent repair company prepare a quote, so be diligent. Next, contact your insurance provider. Let them know the extent of the hail damage, and provide pictures if you can. Finally, you can start searching for you preferred Sioux Falls auto hail repair team!
Do You Work With Insurance Companies?
Many of our customers go through their insurance companies to file large claims on hail damage. This is usually a great idea, since it can save you a ton on multiple dents and dings. Just make sure you have the right coverage. Comprehensive insurance covers most ‘non-accident’ incidents including theft, vandalism, and of course, hail damage. We love helping clients navigate their way through the complicated process of filing for an insurance claim. Our hope is to make getting your Sioux Falls auto hail repair as streamlined and easy as possible.
Will Making a Claim on Hail Damage Increase My Rates?
Rising insurance rates are a great concern for many modern drivers. It seems like every little bump or bruise can cause them to skyrocket. Luckily, making a claim on hail damage will never increase your rates as long as you have comprehensive coverage. Since hail falls under the category of ‘other than collision,’ you will only have to pay the deductible amount. However, sometimes the damage may not be worth making a claim over if the repair cost does not exceed the deductible. This often leads to drivers avoiding hail repair. Ultimately, you get to make the final decision as to whether or not your car needs repairs. Just keep in mind that if you decide to forgo Sioux Falls auto hail repair, that amount will be deducted from you next claim as well.
To begin, lets discuss the positives of ‘Do it Yourself’ techniques. DIY is far from a new concept. In fact, it’s been around forever. DIY is usually meant to save money or time and in that regard it succeeds; but only occasionally. The main reason we like online DIY tutorials is because they act as a great entry to paintless ding repair. Many drivers today are still unaware of its existence and their first exposure is internet guides. This alone has spawned hundreds of technicians and happy customers, something our Sioux Falls ding repair team is very grateful for. However, we couldn’t possibly begin to count the number of times we’ve seen a perfectly good coat of paint go to waste due to careless DIY jobs.
Lack of Experience Can Turn Into Disaster
Where do we begin? As stated before, there is nothing wrong with DIY techniques by default. But the introduction of the internet popularized it, turning everyone into an expert on whatever subject they like. This is a dangerous mentality to have and leads to many cracked paint jobs. Paintless ding repair is a constantly evolving skill so following one guide won’t turn you into an expert or even yield the results you want. By all means, if you are experienced in body repair then fix the ding yourself. In fact, most of our Sioux Falls ding repair techs do their own repairs. But for the rest, DIY techniques will cause more harm than good.
Quality Tools Are Expensive
In order to do PDR the right way you’ll need a high quality set of tools. There are a number of place you can find off the shelf tools in Sioux Falls, but these tend to be no more than cheap gimmicks. If you’re serious about removing that ding then you can pick up a proper tool kit, but these will run you around three figures. That’s hardly worth it for one little dent. Granted they will work for multiple repairs. However, with the amazing rates our Sioux Falls ding repair shop provides those tools won’t be able to make up the difference. Call us today at 605-595-4061 to schedule your free damage assessment.
With Sioux Falls hail season coming right around the corner, there is no better time to start preparing your car for the icy onslaught. Here at Sioux Falls Dent Repair we specialize in completely removing hail damage. So who better to give you advice on protecting your car from the elements than the hail masters themselves. Here are five easy ways to prepare your car for the hail season. (more…)
