Slaying Monster Dents Without Painting

When did you start your PDR career?

I started pushing dents in 2003, after traveling to San Diego for a one week training course.

How did you discover PDR?

I stumbled upon the trade while working at my father’a auto repair shop. A local PDR technician showed up to work on a wholesaler’s car we were servicing at the time.  I was blown away by how well the repairs actually turned out.  Negative rumors about the process were flying around about the repair methods and results, but when I actually saw it done properly in-person I realized i had to learn this art form.  From that point on the ambition and determination started to kick in as I did my research online and decided to pursue a career in paintless dent repair.

Breakdown your PDR business.

I’m a one man operation offering mobile service within a 60 mile radius of Orlando, Florida.  I focus mostly on individual retail customers (70% of my business).  However, I also provide service to body shops and dealerships.  When I get overwhelmed with jobs I have no problem subcontracting out my work to other high quality dent technicians with great reputations.

What technique do you use when repairing complex dents (fog or lines)?

I mostly use the fog technique.  However, throughout the repair I will look at the natural reflections of surrounding objects to see the slight distortions and waves remaining in the panel.  Currently, I am using the Elim-a-dent LED light.

When did you start taking on the large collision type damage?  Was there a learning curve?

I started working on difficult stuff immediately.  I didn’t really know any better as I was pretty much forced to learn in an auction environment right out of a one-week training course.  The volume of cars and variety of dents gave me tons of practice and experience until I eventually became confident in my repair skills.

How many years did it take until you felt you could deliver a high quality retail result?

I would say at 5 years it really started to hit me that i was building a name for myself for offering high-quality PDR, through word of mouth and repeat customers.

Do you have a general process or strategy for complex dents?

Knowing how to improvise is key as every dent is different in nature.

Do you focus on rebuilding the entire shape of the panel and then cleaning up individual sections?

Yes, I work the deepest sections first in order to establish what the next step will be.  Reading the entire panel in order to find trapped tension in body lines, edges, and crown is very important.  For instance, you may have a stretched area that might need building for strength to enable it to lay somewhat flat.  Before you do that, work the other areas that may have hidden pressure to be relieved first. This will sometimes enable you to build the strength you need for stabilizing the stretch in the end.

What tools, tips, materials, and techniques do you lean on when working on complex, deep, or large dents?

I like to start off larger dents with larger surface area tips (usually rubber) and work your way down (delrin) to smaller sharper tips while finishing (steel).  I am also a huge fan of the Slapper Tapper for moving crowns.

Do you actively market yourself as someone who can handle collision type repairs?  If so, what has been most effective? (word of mouth, youtube, facebook, yelp, angie’s list, google, instagram, etc.)

Yes, when you’re focusing on retail customers, marketing your skills and service is critical.  I have had the best results with Google, Yelp and old school word of mouth.

How do you price the large time consuming dents? Size? Estimated hours of completion? Do you consider how much a conventional repair/repaint would cost?

Time is money right?  There really is no standard pricing system for estimating collision type PDR.  I usually like to consider what  a conventional body shop repair would cost.  Then I try to figure how many hours the repair will take me to complete, come up with a per hour figure and multiply it.  I always try to balance my repair costs so the customer receives a great value, while I earn a fair amount for my skills, time, and effort.  Most people are very impressed with the results high level paintless dent repair can deliver on complex, large dents.  They are mostly impressed with the speed of the repairs compared to a conventional body shop repair/repaint and the fact that their car retains its original factory paint finish.

Any advice for guys looking to tackle “the big stuff.”

Don’t turn it down…… Just because it doesn’t look fixable doesn’t mean it’s not.  Keep practicing and challenging yourself.  It’s the only way you progress as a dent guy.

To learn more about his Brice’s business check out CFLdentrepair.com
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