How to hand a vehicle over for repair, what to check at pickup, and what care a repaired panel actually needs afterward.
Before drop-off: remove personal items, note existing damage with the advisor, and bring your claim or estimate paperwork. A reasonably clean car helps the technician read the panels.
A finished PDR panel should show no trace of the damage at arm's length in normal light, with a straight reflection running unbroken across the repair. High spots and tool marks are not acceptable and are usually correctable the same day.
Contact the shop that did the work, describe what you are seeing, and bring the vehicle in. The panel is re-read under reflection lighting and compared against the original job record.
Ask which panels were actually worked and walk them under shop lighting; ask what changed from the original plan, including any supplement, refinish or panel replacement; ask what the warranty covers, in writing, and whether it transfers; ask who signed off quality…
Expect an update whenever the status genuinely changes, and no more than two business days of silence even when it has not.
Photograph it, stop washing that area, and contact the shop before anyone else works on it.
Plan on removing it and replacing it rather than reinstalling it. Film and wrap block the reflection reading and the glue-pull methods PDR relies on, and neither material reliably survives removal.
About once a year is a sensible default, ideally before spring storm season, plus a check after any new hail event and before you sell, trade or return a lease.
Often, yes. Missed shallow dents, high spots from over-pushing and mild waviness can usually be improved substantially by a more experienced technician.
Refinishing is correct when the metal can be brought back to shape but the paint is cracked, chipped or the area was previously filled.
Inspect and accept your own vehicle first, then return the rental the same day.
Call the shop that did the work — do not live with it and do not let another shop open the trim first.
No. Paintless dent repair adds no new coating, so there is no cure time — you can wash, wax, seal or polish the same day. Two things change that.
It gives the shop written permission to perform the repairs described in a specific estimate, and to move and test drive your vehicle while doing so. Most forms also direct your insurer to pay the shop directly.
It is treated as a new loss, not a warranty claim. A panel repaired paintlessly can usually be repaired again, because PDR restores the contour without adding filler. Expect a second claim, a second loss date and a second deductible.
Because outdoor light hides shallow damage. A dent has no color of its own — it is only visible as a distortion in a reflection, and diffuse daylight gives the paint nothing straight to reflect.
Every reviewed guide in this learning center is checked against what actually happens on the shop floor in Plano — 15+ years of paintless dent repair, thousands of vehicles, and technician training experience in the U.S. and Europe.
Meet Vytas and see his reviewed guides How DentPicks reviews repair adviceSend us photos of the damage or schedule an inspection at the Plano shop — we'll tell you honestly what your vehicle needs, what it should cost, and whether a claim makes sense.
Someone from the team will get back to you. If it is urgent, call (866) 336-8767 and you will reach the Plano shop.
