PDR or Collision Shop?

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nubbers

Member
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2016 CX-5 GT Sonic Silver
Little league baseball is an expensive endeavor.

I was watching my son play last night when on the adjacent field (where a high school game was simultaneously underway) a batter smacked a foul ball into the parking lot. Hearing the ball bounce off a car I had a sick feeling that it was likely mine. Sure enough...baseball size dent on the top of my back passenger door and a penny size small ding on the bottom. (unamused)

Pics are attached - I stopped by a local PDR shop and the owner took look at my car (really nice guy w/all five-star reviews on Facebook). Dent is approximately 3" wide and 2 mm deep. I was quoted ~$500 for the repair. I don't see many other PDR threads for CX-5, so tossing the question out to the community for input/reaction as to whether or not I go the PDR route, or consider a collision shop for repair. I am not claiming through insurance, but I plan to bubble-wrap the car on game nights going forward.

Thanks in advance.

IMG_0316.JPGIMG_0317.JPG
 
PDR is best. for Collision - they will have to

work on the door by fixing the dent.
They will repaint the door and the next for a blending in.
You may still be not happy with the paint job if you are very particular.

Good thing is yours is silver which masks minor irregularities the best. So I would recommend PDR - cost should be < 300 for both dents.
 
Get a total of 4 quotes from separate reputable shops. 2 PDR shops. 2 Body shops. I'd probably go PDR myself.
 
PDR for sure, but $500, that is a complete rip off. That's a body shop
Quote right there. Lol

That would be $125-150 at the reputable PDR guys here.

Good luck...
 
Wow - thanks for the quick input! This community is great!!

W/re: to the $500 quote, the breakdown is as such: $250 base PDR + $250 b/c it is high-strength steel and deep (perhaps the pictures don't do a good job of showing depth). Just had a referral for the same guy from a colleague who repaired four dents on his Camaro SS last week. I am pretty particular about my cars and I think a repaint would drive me nuts, especially as silver is challenging to match. While $500 is a healthy sum, I am likely paying as much for the repair as I am for peace of mind.
 
nubbers said:
Wow - thanks for the quick input! This community is great!!

W/re: to the $500 quote, the breakdown is as such: $250 base PDR + $250 b/c it is high-strength steel and deep (perhaps the pictures don't do a good job of showing depth). Just had a referral for the same guy from a colleague who repaired four dents on his Camaro SS last week. I am pretty particular about my cars and I think a repaint would drive me nuts, especially as silver is challenging to match. While $500 is a healthy sum, I am likely paying as much for the repair as I am for peace of mind.
Click to expand...

Well, get a quote from the less reputable PDR guys to match it (hopefully In the $125-250 range). No way would I pay $500 for that. The most reputable PDR shop here is slammed with hail damage right now, and their work is incredible. They would charge $150 tops for your dingy.

Negotiate man, negotiate. He'd be glad to do it for $250 even I bet if you just ask...
 
nubbers said:
Wow - thanks for the quick input! This community is great!!

W/re: to the $500 quote, the breakdown is as such: $250 base PDR + $250 b/c it is high-strength steel and deep (perhaps the pictures don't do a good job of showing depth). Just had a referral for the same guy from a colleague who repaired four dents on his Camaro SS last week. I am pretty particular about my cars and I think a repaint would drive me nuts, especially as silver is challenging to match. While $500 is a healthy sum, I am likely paying as much for the repair as I am for peace of mind.
Click to expand...
Sheet metal is not high strength steel. That's used for structural members such as door pillars and roof supports. If that's his rationale for charging $500 for this, that explains a lot!
 
Less reputable PDR guy came out to my house and said the bottom dent is easy, the top is on the boarder of too deep/metal too far stretched to fix. He quoted me $175 for both. Bedsides manner was meh - didn't instill the same confidence as the first guy.

I also called the collision shop that replaced my bumper after being rear ended last year. He didn't recommend going straight for a repaint, but said he would show the pics to their PDR guy for an opinion.
 
nubbers said:
Less reputable PDR guy came out to my house and said the bottom dent is easy, the top is on the boarder of too deep/metal too far stretched to fix. He quoted me $175 for both. Bedsides manner was meh - didn't instill the same confidence as the first guy.

I also called the collision shop that replaced my bumper after being rear ended last year. He didn't recommend going straight for a repaint, but said he would show the pics to their PDR guy for an opinion.
Click to expand...
For the dents like yours PDR is the ONLY way you should do. Our CX-5 went through one whole PDR job last year for about 100 hail dents instead of using insurance suggested hood replacement and repaint, my wife and I couldn't be happier about the result. Now our CX-5 went through another hail storm 3 weeks ago suffered with 300+ dents and broken Tech windshield and LED tail light with estimated $10,000+ damage. I plan to do another full body PDR job when my PDR guy's business slows down several months later.

The insurance uses $10~$20 per nickel dent and $40 per oversized dent for damage estimate with PDR repairs. I thought $500 charge for 1 large dent and 1 small dent is really excessive! Especially when the guy started using high-strength sheet metal as the excuse to double his charge!
 
yrwei52 said:
For the dents like yours PDR is the ONLY way you should do. Our CX-5 went through one whole PDR job last year for about 100 hail dents instead of using insurance suggested hood replacement and repaint, my wife and I couldn't be happier about the result. Now our CX-5 went through another hail storm 3 weeks ago suffered with 300+ dents and broken Tech windshield and LED tail light with estimated $10,000+ damage. I plan to do another full body PDR job when my PDR guy's business slows down several months later.

The insurance uses $10~$20 per nickel dent and $40 per oversized dent for damage estimate with PDR repairs. I thought $500 charge for 1 large dent and 1 small dent is really excessive! Especially when the guy started using high-strength sheet metal as the excuse to double his charge!
Click to expand...

Thanks, yrwei52 - appreciate your advice and that of the community.

Agreed that $500 is high and more than I had anticipated spending, but it is like being under the weather...I would pay anything to feel better. Moreover, I am fascinated by auto work and especially PDR - just not confident enough to attempt anything on my own. Like many things, I believe you get what you pay for.

I saw the first guy's (Dan) work firsthand while visiting the shop. He was working on a Toyota Highlander with a variety of dents across the hatch and a rather deep dent on the back driver's side quarter-panel. Also a newer Acura with dents/creases on the front fender, back door, and back driver's side quarter-panel. Dan had already worked the front fender - couldn't tell that there was ever damage...truly amazing! I simply didn't feel comfortable yesterday with the second opinion (especially when he told me that he needed to drill a hole in the door to begin work and it was a crap shoot as to whether or not he could fix). I decided to meet with Dan Sunday morning to drop my car for him to work on it over a couple days while I am traveling (a BMW is rolling in at that time as well - a Bentley is scheduled for next week). I suppose it's a good sign when higher-end autos are in his book of business...just wish I could actually watch him at his craft.

I have that unfortunate gene like others in this forum...always park far away, walk around my car every time I get out, put the kids in hazmat suits when they climb in, etc. Having to look at the dent every day makes me a bit nauseous - I just want it fixed. My birthday is Wednesday and I told Dan that this is a gift to myself. Here is hoping for a perfect repair! I'll post pics after.
 
nubbers said:
Agreed that $500 is high and more than I had anticipated spending, but it is like being under the weather...I would pay anything to feel better. Moreover, I am fascinated by auto work and especially PDR - just not confident enough to attempt anything on my own. Like many things, I believe you get what you pay for.
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I agree with all of your points and there's definitely no free lunch. I'm sure Dan will do fantastic PDR job as evidenced by those customers with luxury vehicles. The only thing I don't like about Dan is he uses the high-strength sheet metal as an excuse to double your price! According to Chris, who is my PDR guy and supposingly one of the early pioneers on PDR business in our area, the degree of difficulty on PDR job is purely related to the thickness of the sheet metal. Our thin hood is very easy to work on, but a Ferrari once he worked on is so hard to do he refuses to work on any Ferrari's since then.

I have that unfortunate gene like others in this forum...always park far away, walk around my car every time I get out, put the kids in hazmat suits when they climb in, etc. Having to look at the dent every day makes me a bit nauseous - I just want it fixed. My birthday is Wednesday and I told Dan that this is a gift to myself. Here is hoping for a perfect repair! I'll post pics after.
Click to expand...
Same here and I actually left one spot on the roof rail area imperfection as it suffered broken paint. Since it can't be accessed from the back, and PDR can't use bond to pull up (yeah, drilling a hole to pull the sheet metal is not the PDR, as you have to fill and paint the hole) as the paint may be breaking loose, the area was supposed to be repaired in the traditional way with repainting but I chose to leave it as is and touched it up.

My experience is if I keep it too perfect, something bad would always happen to it ⋯ (whistle)
 
"My experience is if I keep it too perfect, something bad would always happen to it..." - never were there truer words, yrwei52.
 
nubbers said:
"My experience is if I keep it too perfect, something bad would always happen to it..." - never were there truer words, yrwei52.
Click to expand...

In my old town, I once heard about an old timer painter who would do custom paint and body for the rods and restorations. Upon completion of each project, before handing back over the keys, he would hand the owner a ball peen hammer, and let the owner choose where to make that "first ding". So they can then enjoy the car without stressing.
(boom08)
 
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