Painless dent repair?

So I was a bonehead and sideswiped a gate at church. Think painless dent repair is an option? I also had a prior tailgate incident, could that one be repaired painless as well?

 

PDR can be covered by insurance for free 99, usually depending where you are.

 

Really?! Nice! I'm in CO and have USAA. I'll check into that, thanks!

 

How does one check and see if this is avaliable? Looked through my coverage and didn't see anything. Called my body shop guy and he said he hadn't heard of it. I've got a small dent in the back that I'd love to get rid of.

 

Call them, best way to find out.... I'm sure they're not going to advertise free PDR, unless you have to pay additional fees for it... just like Driver forgiveness..

 

I think the tailgate no problem but the rest ????

 

I believe it is paintless dent repair and can only be done on dents where the paint is intact. If the paint is cracked or scratched I think you are out of luck.

 

Tailgate: maybe.

Bedside: no

I had a similar ding in my bedside. They will quote your repair for bodywork and paint for the entire bedside, the TRD decal, and the plastic bedcap. It’ll run somewhere between $1500 and $2k is my guess.

 

Paintless does as it’s name implies involve no paint repair - popping the dent out but not touching finish.

It works great in areas like doors/roofs and to a an extent hoods. Large flat surfaces of thinner metals where small dents are likely to occur (hail or shopping cart dings into door).

The bed panel - no way. Aside from the paint damage - it’s a double sided panel with an inner and outer metal - no way to get something behind that to “pop” the dent and heating it and rapidly cooling ain’t gonna pop that dent out.

The tailgate - possibly, but I don’t think so. Usually your dealing with quarter size dents - maybe half dollar. That looks bigger - and there’s a little more thickness to a gate than you find in a door skin. You have access - but it’s on the lip and that’s the toughest part of the gate. If it were down on a flat area - I’d say yes…lip no(likely have to put a stud on that and slide hammer it - like a rocker panel dent).

PDR free - that’s a new one on me. Not saying it may not exist some places or insurance (I could see it in CO/TX/OK where hail is common) but never dealt with an insurance company that offered it. Usually it’s under “other than collision” or comprehensive - which may have a lower deductible than collision or be not counted as an accident - it never seen free deductible for that (just windshield repair or glass only - depending on your state).

 

As to cost

Repair of bedside - I think 3 hours is fair for repair.

repaint of panel is another 3.5 or so - and add an hour for taking off rail cap/mudguard and decal - so 4 repair/3.5 paint (outer only) - labor varies - most places will be 50 hour - and paint labor same with materials of 35 or so. 7.5x50=375 and another 150 in paint. Decals is 75 bucks and then you have damage to the cab too. 600-800 for bed alone.

Tailgate is gonna be about 600-700. Again 3 hours repair and an hour to remove it from truck and remove latch and emblems. 3 hours paint time (got to paint the whole gate)

Keep in mind certain areas in Western states can well exceed 50/hr labor - not uncommon to see 85-100 in Oregon/Wa/parts of central Ca and occasionally Denver area.

 

Responders are all on the right track.

Here are my damages to my bedsides.

First, in late 2018 when my truck was new, it got dinged in a parking lot. The area of damage was small, but it was a deep scrape that broke the paint. A body shop had to remove the plastic cap, sand the entire bedside, work the metal back to factory shape, and then prime, paint, clear, and apply the factory decal and a new plastic cap (they broke the tabs on the original cap, and replaced with Genuine Toyota). Price was around $1700. I was in a rental car (my cost) for a week.


Second, a cretin decided to shove a grocery cart onto a parking divider out of my line of sight at a grocery store. As I pulled out, it raked the side of my truck.

I was able to buff the cart finish off (it looked like my gray primer and shaved years off my life. If you invest in bourbon you did well that week) But, it left a dent.

I had a mobile PDR guy fix this one. He came to my work and was done in less than an hour, and I think he charged $180. He removed the wheel well liner and reached in behind. Both repairs are totally flawless.

 

As others said, bed-no way. Tailgate, yes.