Any experience here with Paintless Dent Removal? (auto hail damage)

[Lil Missy]

My car was pummeled with golf ball size and larger hail last Thursday. I watched from the restaraunt where I was dining with friends. :( Also my rear window was shattered to smitherines.

I'm scheduled for the assessor next Tuesday, in the meantime I got an opinion from a Paintless Dent guy. He said a lot of my damage would have to be done the conventional way because of where some of the dents are; the areas on each side up near the window, a couple large ones on the top, and one on the hood where debris scratched down to the metal. Otherwise there are numerous small dings that he could take care of.

My first question: Would auto insurance (State Farm) pay me for conventional repair on some of it and insist the rest of it be done PDR? (PDR is much cheaper) Or do they pay all one way or the other?

Second question: I am researching some do-it-yourself repairs that would save me a lot of money. There's the Dent-Out-Cross-Ding-Repair that has good reviews. http://www.amazon.com/Dent-Out-Cross-Ding-Repair/dp/B0006FKFMC/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2OB8KWOJPUX6T&colid=AUBHOT6CLG8T

There's also a method of using dry ice on the dent to contract the metal, the dent pops out. I am wondering if this would work on the dozens of tiny dings around the sides up near the window (where the PDR tech can't do with tools)

I have some touch up paint for the few scratches.

Anyone here with experience in the do-it-yourself methods? I want the car to look nice (Toyota Celica), but I'd like to pocket some of the insurance money too.

Thanks for sharing any experience or valuable tips.

[Lil Missy]

1. morning kick

[hunter]

2. My car was made in 1984. I don't worry about dents and scratches.

I think if somebody gave me a new car (or an old car in pristine condition) I would have to give it away to one of my favorite charities. Worrying about dents or dings or scratches would make me crazy. I never pay anyone to repair purely cosmetic stuff on my cars, nor do I insure them against such damage.

Nevertheless, there are too many body shops that will replace sheet metal, drill, fill, grind, and paint simply because they see the insurance money. Find a body shop you can trust (same as finding a great mechanic -- it's not easy) because otherwise the insurance company will do whatever they please and you won't be in a firm position to negotiate.

If you want cheap, Harbor Freight has all sorts of inexpensive car body repair tools, hopefully not made by prison labor in China. I cringe every time I buy Chinese tools, but these days most tools are made in China. I'd love to say all Made-in-USA tools are great but some are worse than the middle of the road Chinese stuff.

(edited to fix link)