Dean bought a new to him 2018 GMC Sierra. Beautiful shade of red. Dean couldn’t wait to load it up with camping gear and head out west for camping and hiking with Sheri, his girlfriend. They planned their trip and went on their way. A week and a half later, Dean is talking to his cousin John about the trip, and the crazy storm that happened while they were there. His truck was pummeled with hail. 
John was a repeat customer of Dent Repair Now and sent him our way.
Dean called us and explained what had happened to his Sierra. Now, we know that hail out west of the Mississippi tends to be larger and do more damage than Pennsylvania hail. We were anxious to get his truck into the shop and take a look at it. When Dean called and spoke with the office manager, she prepped him for what to expect, and how the repair process with hail can be a little different than lesser, smaller type of repairs. The first thing she asked him was had he contacted his insurance company and started a claim. 
He had, and forwarded their estimate to us so we could take a look at what the insurance company thought. The insurance company had written the estimate for a total of $3000, and for a conventional body shop repair. We had Dean schedule to drop of his Sierra to us at the shop and the first thing we did was get a light on it and do our own estimate. When possible, paintless dent repair is the preferred method of repair. It doesn’t require paint, filler, sanding or welding. If you are not familiar with paintless dent repair, let me explain. Paintless dent repair (PDR) is a specific, less invasive approach focusing on removing dents from vehicle panels without resorting to traditional body shop repair methods. Technicians who are trained and experienced in this technique wield unique tools to carefully manipulate the metal back to its original shape from behind the impacted area using small intentional pushes. This method ensures the preservation of the vehicle’s original paint, making it particularly suitable for damages such as dings, dents, and hail dents. (We here at Dent Repair Now also specialize in large difficult dent repair as well!) Paintless dent repair not only offers a cost-effective solution but also promotes environmental sustainability by avoiding the use of harmful chemicals associated with repainting. It’s a meticulous and non-intrusive process that maintains the vehicle’s factory finish and resale value. Our technicians have over 50 years of experience combined and have worked hard to achieve expert status. Their training and continued honing of their skill makes them Pittsburgh’s best at paintless dent repair.
Once Dean’s Sierra was at the shop and we had done our estimate, we filed a SUPPLEMENT with his insurance company. A supplement means additional cost of repair not originally seen or accounted for. Dean didn’t have to do anything. We sent it to the insurance company, and they go over it. It can take anywhere from 24-48 hours to hear back from them. Sometimes they have questions and other times they will just approve the repair cost.
In this case, we did have to go back and forth with his insurance company a bit and fight for our customer. The insurance company wanted to replace the hood, which leads to painting and painting both fenders to blend, and Dean did not want that. He was adamant that he did not want paint on his truck. In the end, we were able to work with the insurance company, and the cost of repair to keep Dean’s truck out of the body shop. We had his repair complete in 3 days after the insurance company approved our cost of repair and gave us the go ahead. Our aim is always to provide a repair “As Good As The Body Shop or Better” and Dean was thrilled. We hope he doesn’t need us again, but if he does, he knows right where to go!
Hail damage estimate and repairs are priced differently than say 2 or 3 door dings. We wrote a how series of articles on the subject to walk our customers through the whole process. You can read them below:
Hail and Paintless Dent Repair PART 1 Discusses the first things you should do when you’ve been in a hail storm. Hail and Paintless Dent Repair PART 2 Explains what we will need from you, and how insurance estimates work. Hail and Paintless Dent Repair PART 3 This one goes over how we write our estimates, what we look at, and supplements. Hail and Paintless Dent Repair PART 4 This article is an explanation on HOW we do our repairs. From taking panels apart, to tap downs and glue pulling. Hail and Paintless Dent Repair PART 5 This article talks about once your repair is done, picking up your vehicle and what payment is expected. Hail and Paintless Dent Repair PART 6 is more of a question-and-answer wrap up for the series. It talks about technicians, where paintless dent repair began and other fun facts.
If you have hail damage, or any type of dent or ding on your vehicle, please give us a call! We offer free assessments on all damage that will not require painting the panel. You can call us at 724-607-8980 or text pictures to that number as well. We can not do estimates for hail from pictures, or over the phone. We do ask that you schedule those and bring a clean vehicle. Otherwise, you can stop by and have a technician take a look. You can find us on the web at https://dentrepairnow.com/If you have a dent, ding, or hail damage and you are not sure if it is a candidate for paintless dent repair, we are here to help! You can fill out a form on our website and we’ll call you if that’s easier.
We are located at 4699 Campbells Run Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15205. That’s right next to I376 (The Parkway) just off of the Campbells Run Road exit if you’re coming from I79 or Downtown Pittsburgh. If you’re coming from the airport area, you have to use the Ridge Road exit and then turn right.
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