No matter how careful you are with your vehicle, it’s inevitable that it will sustain some dents or scratches over time. If you’re unsure how to go about fixing a dent in your car, we highly recommend you seek advice from Auto Dent Care before talking to your insurance company.

At Auto Dent Care, we understand our customers depend on their cars to get them to and from work, pick up the kids from school, and go about their everyday lives. The last thing you want is your car stuck at the repair shop for an extended period. If you’re asking yourself, “how long does it take to fix a dent in a car?” it depends on the extent of the damage. Unlike a traditional dent repair which can take around two weeks, a paintless dent removal (PDR) can take anywhere from one hour to one day, again, depending on the extent of the damage.

This helpful blog will talk you through what to expect from a PDR repair and the factors affecting the turnaround time for your vehicle to be ready to drive again. But first, let’s take a look at what PDR is.

Why PDR is the preferred dent repair method over traditional repairs

PDR is a far better solution for dent repair than traditional methods, whether your car has minor or larger dents. It involves repairing the dent by pulling or pushing to massage the metal back to its original form. 

It’s faster, with minor repairs done in a matter of hours during the day for a better quality finish than a conventional smash repair shop. Traditional panel shops will replace your car panel, sometimes using non-genuine ones or applying body filters and paint that won’t completely match your vehicle's paint colour. PDR will save you time and money to maintain your car’s original paint colour and, more importantly, its resale value. 

Factors affecting the turnaround time of a PDR

Are you wondering, “how long does it take to fix a dent in a car?” While PDR is the far more time-efficient method of car dent removal, the following factors can affect the time it takes for repairs:

• Insurance claims — Car parts can only be ordered, and repairs can only commence after the final car insurance approval. For this reason, we advise customers to process their car insurance claims as soon as they want to have their car damage fixed.
  
• Amount of car dents — If several small dents are located within the same panel close together, their proximity makes them easier to remove. However, if the dents extend over numerous car panels, they will need to be removed separately, which will take extra time.
  
• Size and depth of the car dent — A larger car dent can be more expensive and take extra time. The dent's depth increases the risk of damage to metal paint, how long it takes for removal and the risk of exposure to other parts of the vehicle. 
• The car dent’s location — While some dents are easier to access and repair, others require more time and effort. For example, dent damage located near the panel’s edges can be more challenging to fix and require more precision.

Fixing a dent in your car is made easy with Auto Dent Care’s car experts

Book your PDR in Sydney with Auto Dent Care — Australia’s fully licensed, prestige car experts. The Italian craftsmanship and the qualified technicians ensure that Auto Dent Care presents our customers with the highest quality repair possible. You would not want to risk your repairs with anyone other than the best. 

We’re so sure of our incredible services that we’ll offer a 100% lifetime guarantee or your money back. We’ll even provide you with one of our replacement vehicles for free, so you can go about your day as usual while we take care of the rest. Reach out to our team today to book your service. 

If you're the owner of a new or prestige car, then you know that even the smallest of dents can have a big impact on the look of your vehicle.

While a dent in a car door may not seem like a big deal, it can actually devalue your car significantly. And even if you don't have any plans to sell your car in the future, even a small imperfection can be a major annoyance if you take pride in your car's appearance.

So, if you're looking to sell your car or just want to keep it looking its best, you'll need to get the dent fixed.

But how much does it cost to fix a dent in a car in Australia? The simple answer is, "it depends!"

The repair cost will vary depending on several factors, such as the size and depth of the dent, the type of car you have, and where you take it to be repaired.

Dent repair cost estimate

The cost of fixing a dent in the door of your car will vary depending on the severity of the damage, the make and model of your vehicle, and the technician's expertise. However, on average, you can expect to pay between $160 and $600 for this type of repair.

The main factor that will affect the repair cost is the dent's size and depth. If the damage is extensive, it will likely cost more to fix.

It's equally important to consider the skill and experience of the technician you choose to repair the damage.

You also have a couple of options when it comes to repairing the damage. Traditional body repair shops can fix dents by hammering them out from the inside, filing down the surface, and repainting. However, this method can often cause more damage to your car and is not always effective.

Alternatively, you can opt for a paintless dent repair (PDR). This is a newer method of repair that involves using special tools to push the dent out from the outside. PDR is generally considered a much safer and more effective repair method, but it can sometimes be more expensive.

Cost of paintless dent repair in Australia

PDR offers a superior repair option that doesn't require any sanding, painting, or other messy and time-consuming processes. Paintless dent repair is also much less likely to cause any further damage to your car.

PDR often works out cheaper for small repairs and superficial damage than traditional smash repairers.

However, the skill and time needed to complete a PDR repair for large or complex areas of damage mean that it may be more expensive than traditional body repair methods.

Where damage is extensive, a general smash repair shop may recommend changing the entire panel. In many cases, these panels need to be shipped from overseas. In comparison, the cost of PDR repair would be slightly more expensive than replacing the panel. However, the quality of the final result will be better as the original paint is matched. PDR is also much faster, as there's no need to wait for replacement parts.

It's down to the car owner to decide whether they value quality and convenience over price in cases like these.

Get a quote for dent repair

If you need to repair a dent in your car door and want to make sure you get the best results, it's important to choose a repair shop that specialises in paintless dent repair

At Auto Dent Care, our team of expert technicians can carry out high-quality PDR repairs on all makes and models of cars in the North Shore area, Northern Beaches, Sydney CBD, Eastern Suburbs, and Inner West. We understand the importance of maintaining your car's value and will work quickly and efficiently to remove any dents or dings.

For a free quote, simply get in touch with Auto Dent Care. We'll be happy to provide you with a dent repair cost estimate and help you get your car looking its best again.

It is for sure a valid question, what is detailing? We can say that we all wash our cars, some more than others, to either keep your vehicle looking good or for legal reasons, driving around without being able to see the number plate or lights, is an easy fine you are able to avoid by just a car wash. There are levels to cleaning a car, and when does it go from a simple car wash to a detailing? If you wash your car either at home or at a car wash you are removing the dirt on top of the paint. Of course, the services that a car wash can also differ, they can offer to wax, vacuum, clean tyres and wheel and finish off drying the car using a towel to avoid any noticeable water marks.

Handing your car to a valet instead, can include further service and more attention to detail. There are many things that can be done to make sure the car ages well, just as us humans, if we take care of ourselves, the better the surface will look. So, the question still remains, when does it go from a wash to “detailing”? Well, easily put, detailing is when it goes far deeper than what’s on top of the paint. The results possible with a detailing are endless and there are so many layers from a basic pre-sale detailing to a full restoration and show car finish. The car can look even better than when it came out of the factory with the right detailing.

Starting with a good snow foam, followed by thorough wash to remove any contaminants and fully decontaminate the paint and any other surfaces from all the dirt on ingrained particles that have deposited on the vehicle over time. After that, we go over the panels with the clay bar, properly lubricated to remove embedded contaminants in the paint, such as tar, tree sap or anything that’s buried deep enough that has not been picked up in the first washing step. When it comes to wheels, often we take a step further and remove them from the car, enabling to restore the inner barrels, the wheel arches linings and brake calipers to a show room condition, or even better if a customer demands it.

For the interior, a good detail job, will consist into vacuum all areas, use carpet shampoo to remove any stains. Seats sometimes are removed, in order to reach any angle and narrow spot, whether leather or cloth, will be worked with very specific products and often finished with a protector. Other surfaces such as upholstery, trims, and headlining, will also be thoroughly cleaned using specific products, special brushes, and compressed air to clean any vents or dials found in the car. Windows and seals will also be taken care of. Plastic moulds can be rejuvenated with specific products, and make them look again like brand new, giving that deep dark finish. Engine bays can be treated too and undercarriage if a hoist is available, there are literally no limits to the level of perfection that can be achieved.

In relation to the paint on your car, over time a vehicle's paintwork may begin to fade and lose its lustre. There are several components that cause the paint to start looking dull, from UV damage from the sun to repetitive incorrect washing and drying that may have left micro-scratches behind. That can be improved by a simple polish or completely restored by correcting the paint surface by multiple steps of machine polishing or even wet sanding. Achieving a result that could often be better than factory! But what it is paint correction? Paint correction is the process of using combinations of abrasive pads and products. A machine polish (Rotary or dual action) is used to remove swirls, buffer haze, marring, watermarks, and other imperfections to restore gloss, clarity, and depth, leaving a swirl free finish.

Once a proper detail restoration is complete, you will want to finish the job with a layer of protection by either applying a good wax, sealant or ceramic coating. This will not only protect the work just done, but also increase the longevity of the finish the detailer has spent so long achieving. A good wax will require re-applying at least twice a year to fully protect the paint while ceramic coating can last many years, if applied correctly. A ceramic paint protection will make your car look better as it will be adding gloss and depth to the paint. As the ceramic coating lasts years, this means you should never wax or polish your car again which will not only save you time but also save the paintwork from more abrasion and chemicals. It will also make it a lot easier to maintain your car and with every wash look as good as new. Ceramic paint protection is resistant to adhesion, so dirt and oils will easily fall off while drying will also be a breeze as the water will take the path of least resistance whether you are using a microfiber cloth or blowing the water off the car.

Auto Dent Care in Sydney are certified and accredited Gtechniq and Nxtzen applicator and will make sure to do the job to perfection the first time! But, at the end of the day, “The art of making a car beautiful is time”. The expectation of the end result is explanatory based on 30-minute car wash, 2-3 hours detailing or days up to a week spent on the car. What can be accomplished with a detail is all based on the time you are willing to pay for making the end result ‘’ok’’ or perfect.

Tim's Mercedes A Class Sharp Dent Repair

Is there anything more frustrating than a door ding after you have been at the shopping mall? Having that unpleasant surprise, the moment you pick up your car?
This is exactly what happened to Tim’s brand-new Mercedes-Benz A Class.

Tim and his wife were having a shopping day at Westfield, and on their way back to the car park they spotted the worst discovery… A trolley had badly impacted their car, damaging the front door in a significant way. As a result, the car had two very sharp dents and a scratch on the fresh brand-new white paint.

Tim started browsing around to repair his vehicle and every single panel shop was considering replacing the door with a new one, repaint it and then have the consequent adjacent panels blended. Usually when a repaint on a vehicle is performed, painting the panels next to the damaged one is required to blend the colors and make the repair invisible. That obviously, as you can imagine it is quite expensive, and you are not wrong! Tim got quoted up to $4,500 to repair this damage.

To add to above, respraying a vehicle also diminishes its value and you might have trouble at a potential resale. However, this can be avoided when PDR is used instead of conventional repair. Paintless dent removal will maintain the original paint and will keep the factory paint warranty on the vehicle.

Therefore, that is the method Tim chose to use to repair his car.

A customer of ours recommended ADC to Tim, as the company to go to when extreme dents occur. We had a chat via phone and booked an appointment for an inspection.

The day Tim shows up at our workshop in Artarmon, in the lower north shore of Sydney, the first thought we had when we saw the car was, ‘no way we can fix that’. After having a better look and a long chat with Tim discussing the options, we decided to give it a go and booked his car for a repair.

As mentioned before, we were a little skeptical that this very, very sharp dent could be fixed via paintless dent repair method. But ADC have built our business around always pushing the boundaries and always challenging ourselves to do repairs that the other competitors would not even try.

So, challenge was full on!

We started first thing with removing all the trims, glass and everything from the front door that could be in our way to access the damaged area from behind. The next step was removing the full door and fixing it onto a stand. That will give us more freedom to access the damaged area from multiple points.

The technique that was used is the pushing technique, which means massaging the damaged dented area from the back of the panel by special tools and rods. With any dents there will also be high spots, or high areas. All those high spots were addressed by hammering them via special hammers with plastic tips, so they do not scratch the paint, until the metal was perfectly leveled and flat.

A life changer for this repair was using our power PDR box, a special tool that help us repair very deep and stretched dents like this one.

After many hours of work, surprisingly, we managed to achieve a very pleasing result! Honestly, we were happy and impressed about how good the repair turned out.
Then it was time to put the door back on the vehicle, reinstall all the upholsteries and call the customer to give him the really good news, that his pride and joy was like brand dashing new again!

We should have film him and his wife’s reaction on the day of the collection because it was priceless! They were both smiling and laughing with happiness. They were so positively surprised, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. It is extremely satisfying and rewording seeing a customer so happy with our work. It makes us proud of what we do, it keeps us motivated to always push the boundaries and strive to become better and leaders in our industry.

Protect your paint!

The original factory paint coat on your vehicle is by far the best paint coat and cannot be replicated even by the very best painter. Flaws, dust nibs, inconsistency in the orange peel or incorrect color matching are struggles that are always present with a vehicle respray.
You can avoid all of that by choosing to repair your car by the paintless dent repair method.

Here are 5 reasons why you should use PDR; 

1. Keep your OEM paint coat, which is by far the best and most resilient.
2. Maintain the resale value of your car. 
3. Superior quality repair over traditional panel shops.
4. Quick turnaround. Most of the repairs can be done in the same day, so you will avoid endless vehicle downtime that normally occurs in a conventional body shop.
5. It is an environmentally friendly repair method. Our repair process is paint and chemical free, so it helps keep our world a healthier place!

Auto Dent Care

Our workshop is located in Artarmon, in Sydney's lower North Shore. A lot of work, sweat and tears has been put into designing and building our own vision of a perfect Paintless Dent Repair and Detail Studio! Attention to detail is our paramount and the focus on making sure that your experience is no less than the best.

We love what we do

As car enthusiasts ourselves we love cars and car presentations. That is why no single detail is overlooked at ADC! You can expect your car to be well taken care of while sitting down for a nice coffee or enjoy our driver simulator to test your drivers skills! 😊

We look forward to seeing you and having some fun!

Paintless Dent Removal (PDR)

A dent on your beloved vehicle is very common and can happen quite often. Below discusses what can be the cause behind getting one and how to address the issue using the PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) technique.

Common dent types

Typical dents that occur are from hail damage caused from thunderstorms, mainly during summer time, parking dents, caused by incautious drivers that bump their door against your vehicle, mostly in a car park, and also dents caused by trolleys at the shopping mall, tree branches and minor collisions accidents. All of the above can be repaired via paintless dent removal technique, where the term PDR abbreviates from, a repair without the need to repaint the vehicle. How does that work?

How it works

Compared to handing in your car to a traditional panel shop, where in order to repair your vehicle, the panels are replaced, sometimes by using non genuine ones, or through the application of body fillers and paint, using the paintless dent repair method it can speed up the repair and also give you a better quality finish. You will not only save time but also money, since the PDR technique will maintain the original paint on your vehicle and help retain the value during its lifetime; you'll avoid substantial loss in value in case of a future resale.

There are two ways to repair a dent via PDR, by pushing or pulling! Let's go into detail how it works;

After assessing the location and the extent of the dent, to effectively complete the repair we must gain access, this may mean removing interior panels or trims by our highly trained technicians. Then by using special rods and hammers, the dent is worked from the backside of the panel by applying the correct amount of pressure and massaging back the metal to its original shape until it is as good as new!

However not all dents are equal and they are all different! In some cases, dents can be located in the roof pillars or in structural sections of the vehicle where it is reinforced by multiple layers of panels and pushing is therefore not possible. On this occasion we can use the glue pulling method. By using special glue developed for dent removal we are able to pull the damage towards the outside and level out the over-pulled areas afterwards in order to get an even finish.