Why You Should Get a Dent Repaired Quickly

Trunk Dent

If you’ve owned a car in Jacksonville, Florida – a dent has probably popped up on your car somewhere. It happens to the best of us, and there’s no reason to feel ashamed! No matter how carefully we drive, small damages happen here or there.

The dents and dings that happen to our vehicle can occur for many reasons. Someone could open their car door close to your car. A reckless driver could bump into the back of your car during a traffic jam, or perhaps, someone might throw a baseball that might hit your car to cause a dent. 

Often, people have no idea how a dent happened. They walk out of an exhausting day at work and notice the ugly sight when it’s too late. You might think of putting it off because “it’s just a dent,” but do you know what’s happening under? 

Get Dents Repaired Quickly

Getting a dent repaired from a professional dent repair shop like Appearance 1st Automotive is the best decision you can take. This way, you won’t have that little voice in your head nagging you to get the dent repaired. Here are a few reasons why you should get that repaired ASAP.

Rusting Problems

Dents cause blemishes on your car that are not pretty to see. But one of the most prominent damages a dent can cause is to the paint. The cracks on the paint of your car can cause the water to seep through to the metal of your car. This part of your car is unprotected and will soon to oxidize and rust. 

When the dent is small, you might not notice this at first. But as soon as the metal starts to rust, the damage on your vehicle becomes a lot more apparent. 

Long-Term Damage

Dents don’t only cause damage to the body of the car. If you don’t repair a dent long enough, you’re going to get your car repainted as well. Since you’re going to need a paint expert and a dent repair expert to repair the damages on your car – you’re going to have to wait until you find the person for the job. 

This wait will worsen the damage. Weather conditions and everyday wear and tear slowly chip off more paint than the initial damage your car sustained, and with time, you’re only letting the repair cost go further up! 

Reduced Value

There are no arguments that a dented car is going to sell for a much lesser price – but that’s not the point we’re trying to make. After your car has got a dent, there’s only a limited amount of time that you can take it for a paintless dent repair. Even though we at Appearance 1st Automotive want to fix every dent with PDR – our hands are tied in some situations. 

Once your car has been repainted, and a body filler has been used on it – it will sell for a significantly lower price. 

So don’t wait around! Drop by Appearance 1st Automotive and get your car repaired today! Or call us for a free estimate!

PDR vs. Do it Yourself Repair Kit

black mustang

You come out of the movie theatre feeling thrilled because of the movie you just saw. You never quite understood the twist at the end, but you tell yourself that not knowing is part of the fun. But while you hear your friends debate continuously – trying to make sense of what they saw – a dreadful sight pours cold chilly water over your blazing emotions.

Your Cadillac has sustained a dent on the door, and it just doesn’t look the same anymore. It feels like a punch in the gut because you’ve been so protective of your car all this time. A situation like this leaves many people reaching for two possible options that offer to make sense of the mayhem that has ensued.

A Do it Yourself Repair Kit?

The do it yourself repair kits you see online are designed in a way that they implore you. These repairs kits “claim” that without the help of a professional, you can get rid of the most annoying dents yourself. They tell you to stop paying a professional for the job because you can do it all yourself – but how much truth is there to this bold statement?

In some cases, DIY kits can work but to be fair – in those cases, you don’t need a DIY kit for a repair either. DIY kits are made for small repairs that can be fixed without a professional. If you have time and patience for a DIY kit – it might work for you, but then again, doing it wrong can have disastrous consequences as well.

The point is – a DIY kit is not the perfect solution. You’re going to need a lot of patience and some experience repairing dents to make sure everything goes right for you.

DIY Won’t Always Work

In some situations, even the most experienced and skilled home technicians can’t fix dents with a DIY kit. The dent either won’t change at all, or your relentless efforts will make the dent bubble out on the other side of the car.
Even though your DIY kit will come with tools that are supposed to stop this from happening, it’s a very easy mistake to make. And once the dent has bubbled out – your problems have just increased four-folds.

Leave It To the Professionals

There’s nothing like PDR repair from a professional.

Because the professional has done this procedure more times than you can probably imagine – leave their job to them. Not only are they certified experts in the field – but they also work for your best interest. Our technicians at Appearance 1st Automotive, make sure they make every paintless dent repair as affordable and safe for the customer as possible.

Since the PDR process is a lot quicker than a traditional dent repair, customers leave with their car a lot quicker, too. If your car has sustained damages in Jacksonville, Florida– drop by our shop anytime, or call us 904-664-9088 to get a free estimate of your damages.

PDR Hail Damage Estimate Process

PDR on hail damaged car

We can all agree that Jacksonville, Florida, has unpredictable weather. We’ve all come to befriend rainstorms with the passage of time, but the one kind of weather we’re still trying to accept is a hailstorm. Being stuck in a hailstorm is one of the most helpless situations you can find yourself in. Not only can hail damage your home, but it can also leave devastating effects on your car. 

Quite normally, a car is one of the first few things we check after a hailstorm hits our area. Seeing several dimples on your car after a hailstorm is a heartbreaking experience – to say the least. You automatically think of getting your hood replaced, or your car door replaced because when damage is that catastrophic, you think of spending a lot.  

But is that the only way?

Paintless Dent Repair

Paintless dent repair (PDR) is the modern way of repairing a dent. When a certified technician at Appearance 1st Automotive uses PDR to repair the dents and dings on your vehicle, they massage the dents from the back until the shape of your car restores to its original shape. 

The Advantages of PDR

  • When your car is shipped from the factory, it comes with a protective coating on top of the paint that keeps the paint from scraping off. When you opt for an auto body shop repair, the technician drills two holes around the dent and then fills that space with body fillers. They then paint over the dent to make it look like your car has been repaired. But when you opt for PDR, this protective layer isn’t compromised.
  • PDR is a lot quicker! Most cars that come into the shop with small dents and dings leave on the same day, depending on the damage the car has sustained. This is also because the PDR process is a lot simpler than a traditional dent repair. 
  • Since PDR requires few materials to repair the dent, it is a lot cheaper, too. 

But one should also bear in mind that not every dent can be fixed with PDR. If a dent is too big, and if the metal of the car has a tear, there isn’t much that can be fixed by PDR. 

Estimating the Price of the Repair

To give an accurate price quote for every repair, a PDR technician follows a process that gives them a price for your repair.  This is usually a process, rather than simple guesswork. 

Cleaning the Vehicle

The vehicle is first cleaned so the dents can be visible. A dirty vehicle might hide dents on some occasions.

Lighting

The appropriate lighting is crucial for the repair process. A PDR technician usually uses a light strip of LEDs for this task. Fluorescent bulbs can also be used. 

Dent Size

PDR technicians usually use the US coin estimate to calculate the size of the dent. The sizes can be:

  • Dime
  • Nickel
  • Quarter
  • Half dollar

Please call us for a free estimate today at 904-664-9088.

FAQs About Dent Repair with PDR

Black Porsche

What is Paintless Dent Repair?

Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) is the modern way of repairing a dent. With the help of this procedure, certified technicians like Appearance 1st Automotive can remove small dents and dings from your vehicle. A technician does this by massaging the back of your vehicle’s dent with special tools that they are equipped with. 

Will the Paint Of My Vehicle Be Damaged?

Unlike a traditional auto body repair, PDR does not damage the paint on your car’s body. To repair dents the PDR way, the technician uses a massager to massage the body of the car back into its original place. The paint of your car also has a protective coating over it, which prevents the paint from chipping off, or it can help save your car from cracks. 

A traditional auto body repair destroys this protective coating, too, while PDR lets it stay intact. 

Can Any Dent Be Fixed?

No.

Even though at Appearance 1st Automotive, it is our priority to fix every dent with PDR – in some situations, our hands are tied. Larger dents or dents that tear the sheet of the metal on your car can’t be repaired with PDR. Dents that can be repaired with PDR are:

Round Dents

These dents are usually classified as hail repair or can be caused by a basketball, football, or baseball. These dents are pretty common and can be repaired easily with PDR.

Dings

Dings are pretty common, too. Dings are usually caused when a car is parked in the parking lot of a shopping mall or in a crowded place. Other cars or shopping carts can easily cause dings on your vehicle, but you don’t have to worry! Dings can be easily repaired with PDR, too.

Creases

Creases are complex dents that can be caused by storms. They stretch the body of your vehicle to a dangerous extent and for a very long time, repairing these dents with PDR was not possible. However, with advancements in PDR technology, these dents are repairable by PDR, too. 

If your car has any of these dents, or even dents apart from these, contact Appearance 1st Automotive for expert repairs!

Does PDR Have Benefits?

Yes.

Compared to the traditional method of repairing dents, PDR can have several advantages. 

  • It’s affordable. The traditional method of repairing dents drilled holes around the dented area and filled the dented area with body fillers. After the process was complete, this part of the car was repainted. This process reduced the value of the car, and it’s structural integrity. At the same time, PDR  does not use body fillers or paint to repair the dent. The value of your car is not affected. 
  • PDR is also a lot quicker. Most cars that come into the shop for a PDR leave in a day, depending on the repairs needed. However, a traditional auto body repair can take up quite some time. 

PDR is also environmentally friendly since no harmful chemicals are used to repair the dents.

Can Paintless Dent Repair Fix It?

PDR on car

Even the smallest dent or ding in your car’s body can ruin its appearance. Dents not only make your car look ugly, but they also lower the resale value of your car. But realistically, not getting any dent on your vehicle in Jacksonville, Florida, is an unlikely scenario. Unless you wrap your car in bubble wrap and never drive it, dents will happen. 

Random objects, hail, or auto collisions cause all kinds of damage to vehicles every year. Getting a dent repaired in the traditional way can be costly if a dent repair is a frequent occurrence. So what can be the solution?

Paintless Dent Repair (PDR)

Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) is an economical and environmentally friendly way of repairing a dent. Compared to a traditional dent repair, a PDR is much less time-consuming and a lot more affordable. Getting a dent removed with PDR can have several advantages, some of those are:

Protects the Body Of Your Car

When you buy a new car from a showroom, it comes with a protective coating from the factory over the paint. This protective coating keeps the paint from feeling off and protects the structural integrity of your car. When you get a traditional dent repair, the technician uses fillers, which destroy this coating. This can be bad for your car’s body in the long run. 

However, when you get a PDR, the coating isn’t compromised. The technician massaged the dent from the back, and the dent is removed without using any additional fluid. 

It’s Quick!

Depending on the dent or ding your car has, the PDR process can be relatively quick. Most of the cars that come into the shop can leave the same day. We understand how important it is to have your car with you at all times in Jacksonville, Florida. That is why our expert technicians make sure every repair is done at the earliest. 

But with that being said, it is also worth noting that not every dent can be fixed with PDR. 

What Can PDR Fix?

Round Dent

A hail storm, football, basketball, or baseball often causes these dents. When these objects collide with the body of your car with force, a dent can form. Since this isn’t serious damage, a PDR can fix this dent in no time. 

Car Dings

These types of dings occur when your car is parked in a parking lot or from objects flying on a typical windy day. Most of the damage caused by these situations is relatively easy to repair, even if it’s a scratch, crack, or chip in the paint. A PDR can preserve the value of your car. People often expect used cars to have dents or scratches, but if your car looks new, it can sell for a good price. 

Creases

This dent can typically be more time-consuming. While it can stretch the metal of your car, it can still be repaired with PDR. 

If your car has received any of the damages that we’ve listed, do not hesitate to call Appearance 1st Automotive! We can also give you a free estimate for your repair needs. Call or text us at 904-664-9088.

Key Questions to Ask Before Hiring A PDR Technician

Ian Lamb car dent removal

As a vehicle owner, you want to be sure that your vehicle is getting the best repairs in town. This will only be possible by hiring a technician who understands the importance of customer satisfaction. This is especially when you’re choosing paintless dent repair for the first time. You may have numerous questions, and that’s why Appearance 1st Automotive recommends hiring a technician who’ll explain your concerns in detail. Here are the questions you should ask:

Are You Certified and Licensed?

For a technician to provide paintless dent repair services in Florida, they must be certified and licensed. This is a guarantee that they’ve undergone extensive training and practice to attain the set standards. A good technician will be willing to provide their certification and licensure documents. 

How Long Will the Repairs Take?

The repair time will entirely depend on the extent of the damages and the expertise of your ideal technician. Once an experienced technician receives your car, they’ll be able to give a precise estimate of the time to be taken. With a skilled technician, you’ll be able to get your vehicle back in less than a day.

How Will You Match the New Paint to The Original Color?

You’re probably choosing PDR in St. John’s County because you want your vehicle to retain the original appeal. A certified technician should be able to explain the method they’re going to use to satisfy your requirements. Skilled technicians from Appearance 1st Automotive will use paint codes from the manufacturer as well as specialized tools in this process. This guarantees the retention of your vehicle’s original color. 
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Get Paintless Dent Repair in Jacksonville, Florida

Dent on bumper of a silver car

Got unseemly dents, dings, scratches or chips on your vehicle? These pesky damages can make your car look unattractive and old. They can also drive down the resale price of your vehicle. Repairing these can be a hassle, especially with all of the different tools and skills involved in doing a perfect dent repair job.

If you’re living in Jacksonville, Florida or surrounding areas, you can easily get paintless dent repair from the comfort of your home. Certified technicians at Appearance 1st Automotive will come over and do the repairs which will leave your ride looking spotless and brand new.

What Is Paintless Dent Repair?

Paintless dent repair (PDR) is a method of getting rid of dents from the body of your motor vehicle without scuffing, fillers or paint work. It is also more affordable compared to the conventional, old-school dent repair methods.

PDR is an effective way of repairing your car dings and dents without it ever seeming like you got a dent in the first place. It is most commonly used for hail damage, door dings, larger dents, bodyline damages, and minor creases. It can be done if the damage has left the paint surface intact. Continue reading

Before and After- DIY Dent Repair Kit vs Paintless Dent Repair for BMW

BMW logo

For some people taking their vehicle to an auto body shop might be a struggle, especially when the thing wrong is an insignificant dent. For such people, DIY dent repair kits are a lifesaver. While for others, who don’t want to risk the look of their bimmer, prefer the assistance of a professional.

But of course, some of you can do it at home.

DIY dent repairing kits are designed to provide you with the tools and directions needed to pull out minor dents at home. The problem is that things do not always turn out the way you anticipate.

Let’s take a look at whether DIY repairing kits are worth it or is it better to stick with the professionals.

Pro’s of a DIY Repairing Kit

Save Money
Repairing minor dents can save you money and are light on the pocket as compared to professional repair options. 

Have Control
When you are fixing the problem at home, you have complete control over the repair process and can make any alterations you require.

Availability of Vehicle
The biggest advantage of DIY repair kits is that you don’t have to be without your vehicle as the repair is done from home. Continue reading