What should a written PDR estimate include?

Written by the DentPicks Editorial Team · Technically reviewed by Vytas Kucinskas, Founder & Master PDR Technician

Published: Aug 19, 2026 · Last reviewed: Aug 19, 2026 · 8 min read

A verbal number over the phone is useful for deciding whether to bother. A written estimate is what you actually make decisions on — whether to file a claim, whether to approve the work, and what you are entitled to argue about later if something changes. The difference between a good estimate and a scribbled total is that a good one shows its reasoning panel by panel.

Here is how we sequence it at DentPicks, and it is worth knowing because most shops work the same way. Quotes are usually verbal, from photos, in about 30 minutes — enough to tell you whether you are looking at a $150 repair or a $3,000 one. A written estimate follows an in-person inspection, because photographs cannot show metal stretch, panel access from behind, or how a dent actually behaves under reflection lighting.

Why photos alone cannot produce a written number

Paintless dent repair is priced on things a camera does not capture. A dent that looks minor in a phone photo may sit directly on a body line, where the metal is stiffest and the repair takes several times longer. A panel that looks straightforward may have a brace, a foam pad or a sensor bracket behind it, and access is most of the labor in PDR. Paint condition matters too — an older repaint or a previous filler repair changes what is possible.

On the shop floor, panels are read under LED line boards. The reflected line bends over any deformation, so a hood that showed six dents in daylight regularly reads at three times that. That is not a sales tactic; it is the reason estimates written in a parking lot are so often wrong. Our guide on how paintless dent repair works explains the reading process in more detail.

What a written PDR estimate should contain

Whether you are looking at ours or somebody else's, work down this list. Anything missing is something to ask about.

1. Vehicle identification. Year, make, model, trim, color, VIN and current mileage. The VIN matters because panel material and construction change between model years and configurations.
2. Date and the name of the person who wrote it. An estimate with no author is not an estimate.
3. Panel-by-panel line items. Not "hail damage — $2,800." Roof, hood, left front fender, left front door, and so on, each with its own line and its own price.
4. The severity basis for each panel. For hail work that means dent count band, dent size band and access difficulty. For a single dent it means location, size and whether it sits on a body line.
5. Any non-PDR operations, listed separately. Removal and reinstallation of trim, headliners, lamps or interior panels. Glue-pull work. Any panel that needs refinishing or replacement.
6. Paint or replacement work called out explicitly, with a clear note that it is not paintless. Panels sometimes do need replacing and refinishing — the estimate should say so rather than bury it.
7. The total, and what is and is not in it. Taxes, shop supplies, sublet work such as glass or calibration.
8. Whether it is a cash estimate or an insurance estimate, and if the latter, the claim number and the deductible position.
9. Warranty terms in writing. Ours is a written lifetime warranty for as long as you own the vehicle. It is not transferable to a new owner, and that should be stated plainly rather than discovered later.
10. A supplement note. Every honest estimate acknowledges that hidden damage can appear once trim comes off, and says how that is handled.

How hail work is actually priced

Full-vehicle hail is not a flat rate and it is not a per-dent tally either. It is priced per panel, and each panel is assessed on three things:

• Dent count on that panel, read under proper lighting, grouped into bands rather than counted one by one.
• Dent size — the largest impacts on the panel drive the band, because a single quarter-sized dent takes longer than a dozen pea-sized ones.
• Access — whether a technician can reach the back of the panel, and what has to come off first. A roof with a sunroof and a fixed headliner is a different job from a bare steel hood.

So two cars with identical-looking damage can carry noticeably different estimates because one has an aluminum hood and a panoramic roof and the other does not. That is also why full-vehicle repairs run about 5–10 business days in the shop — a typical range, not a guarantee. Our guide on how long hail repair takes breaks the timeline down stage by stage.

What our own numbers look like

For a sense of scale before you ever see paperwork, this is how DentPicks quoting has tended to run. These are our shop's ranges, not published industry data, and any given vehicle can land outside them:

More detail on what drives each of these sits in our PDR cost guide. Where a panel falls outside what paintless work can achieve, the estimate should say so explicitly rather than leaving you to discover it mid-repair.

Red flags in a written estimate

The deductible-matching estimate deserves its own mention. After a North Texas storm, temporary operations quote to whatever number makes the repair feel free rather than to the damage in front of them. That is the classic pattern described in our guide on spotting storm-chaser operations, and a panel-by-panel written estimate is the simplest defense against it.

Estimate, supplement, final invoice

On insurance work, the first estimate is rarely the last document. The sequence normally runs: your insurer's adjuster writes an estimate, the shop writes its own, and where the two disagree the shop submits a supplement with photographic support for the additional damage. That is a routine part of hail work, not a dispute — our guide on how supplements work covers it properly.

Worth being clear on one point: you file the claim. We help and walk alongside you — documentation, meeting the adjuster, writing supplements, keeping paperwork moving — but the claim is yours, which is also why the choice of shop is yours.

Questions worth asking before you sign

• Which panels, if any, do you expect to need refinishing or replacement?
• What happens to the price if you find more damage once the trim is off?
• Is the warranty in writing, and what exactly does it cover?
• Who signs off on the finished work, and can I see that?
• How long will the vehicle be in the shop?
• Is anything being sublet — glass, calibration, refinishing?

What to do next

Send photos first. Straight-on and angled shots of each damaged panel, plus one wide shot of the vehicle, are usually enough for a verbal range within about 30 minutes. If the number is worth acting on, book an in-person inspection and we will write it up properly — panel by panel, under LED lighting, with the warranty terms attached.

Every finished repair is signed off by whoever runs quality control, and that sign-off is visible in your customer portal alongside the estimate and any supplements. You can see completed examples in our before and after gallery or read how our dent repair process runs from first photo to delivery.

Frequently asked questions