Potential customers reach out to us in all different ways. Whether they stop at the shop, give us a call, or contact us through our website, everyone gets our full attention and an assessment on the damage to their car, truck, or SUV. In this particular instance, Zach reached out to us through our website. He was already familiar with the concept of paintless dent repair, and wanted to see if his damage was a candidate for the process. For those who are not, familiar with it, Paintless dent repair (PDR) is a specialized approach dedicated to rectifying dents on vehicle surfaces without resorting to traditional repair methods like sanding, filling, and repainting. Technicians that are trained and adept in this technique employ unique tools to carefully manipulate the metal back to its original shape from behind the impacted area. This method ensures the preservation of the vehicle’s original paint, making it particularly suitable for minor damages such as dings, dents, and hail dents. 
PDR 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. He filled out a form with his name, phone number, year and model of his vehicle, and he added a couple pictures of his damaged door. He initially thought his damage was small and about the size of a softball, but after looking at the pictures he provided, and hearing from him how the damage occurred, I could tell there was a much larger area of damage than he saw. Zach was at the Mt Royal Shopping Center in Glenshaw. He parked his brand new 2024 Subaru Impreza away from other cars thinking he could avoid a door ding from another car parking to close. While this is a good idea to protect your vehicle from preventable damage, there are other dangers that can cause damage as Zach found out the hard way, unfortunately. When Zach finished up his short shopping trip, he came outside and to his complete dismay, there was a shopping cart resting right up against his passenger side door. It didn’t matter if the wind sent it his way, or an inconsiderate person left it there, Zach was understandably frustrated. As he walked to his car, he was silently hoping the hit wasn’t really a hit and didn’t damage his door. Unfortunately, this was not the case. It appeared that the cart had landed a direct hit with its top corner.
I explained to Zach that we would need to see it in person at our shop so we could put a light on it and measure the whole area of damage. I suspected that he could plainly see the obvious pushed in part of the dent but many times, the edge of that indentation is not the boundary of the dent. Hits like that can pull the metal from the sides of the dent away from the edges of the panel stretching the metal. When Zach brought his Impreza in and we put it under the lights, we could see not only the top corner of the cart made contact, but it hit hard enough the bottom corner had made contact as well causing a ripple effect that wasn’t easily seen. Zach asked if we could just fix the main dent that was visible. If we did that, then the remaining area of damage would show up even worse, and when that is part of the same damage, in order for us to do a proper repair, all of the displaced metal needs to be put back in its original space.
SIDEBAR: We have had customers come to us with hail damage. Mild damage. Ask us to “just remove these 4 bigger dents on the hood, I’m not worried about the rest.” We show them the other dimples caused by hail, but they just want the “more noticeable” dents repaired. Every time we’ve done that in the past, our customer is unhappy with the outcome because when the bigger dents are gone, the ones that were “barely noticeable” become Really Noticeable.
We were able to get Zach scheduled at the shop the following week. We let him know his repair would only take one day, and he was able to drop it off the night before. (We have a key drop on the side of the building for afterhours drop offs.). First thing in the morning, the guys pulled Zach’s Subaru Impreza in and got straight to work. The first thing they did was clean the door panel of any debris and road dirt. Then they removed the interior panel of the door. This is common practice when there is damage either low in the door and the technician is unable to reach it through the top part of the door, or the damage is located in between the outside of the door and a cash brace. Once the panel is removed the technician can start pushing from behind and move the metal back to its original space. This repair had about 12″ of damage, involving a body line. The repair time was about 8 hours. We called Zach when the repair was complete so he could come see his car.
When Zach arrived at the shop, he was thrilled with his repair, and was amazed that the awful damage he saw this morning was no longer visible! It looked like nothing had ever happened. Zach took some business cards so he could share them with his friends. If You have damage to your car, truck, or SUV, reach out to us and see if it qualifies for paintless dent repair.
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! Call or text us at 724-607-8980. If you have hail damage, call us to set up an appointment to have us do an assessment.
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.
