How do I find qualified shop to provide scratch and dent car repair?

Someone recently asked if we could provide them with scratch and dent car repairs on a late-model car they purchased. You might wonder why someone would buy a vehicle with scratches and dents in the first place but it’s actually pretty common. Of course, there are many other reasons cars require repair for scratches and dents. In this article, we’ll share a few things you should know about these types of repairs before you start to look for a shop near you to help with them.

• How insurance works with scratch and dent car repairs
• What to watch out for when asking for cosmetic repairs
• How to find a repair shop that’s the right fit for your scratch and dent repair needs

How insurance works with scratch and dent car repairs

Collision and comprehensive claims

Your specific car insurance policy will determine whether or not you’ll be able to submit a claim for scratches and dents. If you’ve been in an accident or carry comprehensive coverage for your vehicle, there’s a good chance some or all of the damage may be covered. Examples of comprehensive claims that might be covered could include things like dents and scratches from shopping cart damage, dents from stray foul balls at a baseball game, or even scratches or dents you discover from other people or vehicles when you get back to your car in a parking lot.

Dents related to hail damage are not always covered automatically by an insurance policy. If you’re unsure about what’s covered, the best place to start is with a call to your insurance agent. If your claim is covered, you’ll work with the body shop and the insurance company to ensure the full amount is covered, including the payment of any deductible you’re responsible for according to the insurance policy coverage options you chose.

Self-pay scratch and dent repairs

If you don’t have comprehensive insurance or the specific scratch or dent damage you want to have repaired, you’ll probably need to pay for the entire repair out of pocket. This just means you’ll be responsible to personally pay the full amount of the repair directly to the body shop.

Buying a car with cosmetic damage is another example of a self-pay scratch and dent repair. Even if your vehicle has comprehensive coverage after you purchase it, many insurance companies will not authorize claims to repair damage in place prior to the date of coverage.

What to watch out for when asking for cosmetic repairs

What is a “minor” scratch or dent repair?

We often hear from owners that they have “minor” scratch and dent car repairs. That’s understandable. Most people are not auto body and paint repair technicians so they don’t always understand the extent of damage for what looks like a small dent or scratch. It can be especially surprising for people who negotiate a slightly lower price to account for cosmetic damage when purchasing a used vehicle. Here are some factors that make the cost of repair higher than you might expect:

• Scratch location
• Dent location and type
• Scratch depth and condition
• Paint type

Scratch repair location

Scratch locations can range from very simple to very complex. The amount of time required to fix a complex scratch can significantly increase repair cost – making what looks like a minor repair take a lot more time.

For example, if you have a pickup truck and something falls between the cab and bed and the cab, the repair shop may need to remove the bed from the truck in order to properly repair the scratch. On the other hand, a scratch in the clear, smooth face of the front door will likely take less time to repair because nothing has to be removed.

In the same way, if you have a bumper with a gouge or lots of scratches, it might seem like a simple repair to just paint the bumper cover. However, most bumper covers on modern cars are made out of rubber and other composites that are impossible to repair and, in some cases, require a full replacement. Some bumpers even have safety equipment behind them that requires calibration after painting. These additional steps can significantly increase the cost of car scratch repair.

When a shop repairs scratches and dents (where the paint breaks because of the dent), they will also need to blend the repair area to match the existing paint. You can read more about that in “The rest of the vehicle” section of this article (below).

Dent location and type

Dents are similar to scratches – with some additional things to consider. When a smooth dent is present in a big flat body panel like a door or a fender, it can be much easier to repair than other types of dents and locations.

When a dent happens in a place like the car’s belt line or on a crease like the the one where a fender or tailgate wrap around the body itself, dent repair can become time consuming and costly. In some cases, a dent may be too severe and panel replacement will be the right repair for you to make. That will always require paint work in addition to the new panel cost.

Another consideration you and the repair shop will need to understand is the type of dent itself. Some dents are wide and smooth. Other dents are creased or even cone shaped. These kinds of dents can be far more time consuming to repair than a simple ‘pop’ type of dent. In some cases, the repair shop may even need to disassemble part of the vehicle in order to make the repair. Depending on the panel, they may be required to take out key safety equipment like sensors that require recalibration when they put your car back together.

Scratch depth and condition

A scratch can be at different depths. While no scratch is “simple” to repair well, the lightest scratch to repair in the shiny top layer called the clear coat.  The next layer down is the color coat. Scratches in the color coat take additional effort to repair but not as much as one that goes all the way into or through the base coat. The base coat is the layer directly on top of the car’s sheet metal, plastic, or other material. All three layers work together to provide a clean protective paint coating that makes your vehicle stand out. The depth of the scratch is a major factor in scratch and dent repair cost.

Another factor that can increase the cost of a scratch that seems minor to you is the condition of the paint along the scratch. Some scratches are very clean while others actually tear the paint around them. Sometimes these tears can be significant and increase the surface area your repair shop will need to address.

Paint Type

The last condition we’ll cover in this article is the type of paint your vehicle has. There are a wide variety of finishes available and they all require slightly different approaches. For example, a candy coat paint job takes more prep and application time because it requires multiple stages in the color application itself. Flat or “matte” paint jobs are equally difficult but for different reasons – any repair area will stand out if the finish (clear) coat is too shiny or not shiny enough.

The paint color can often make a difference as well. For example, a red or white vehicle is usually significantly more difficult to match than a blue or green one. That’s because of the way light reflects off of different colors. The paint repair shop will need to be able to evaluate your car’s current paint condition and determine the best approach for blending an matching it so it blends in as seamlessly as possible (more on that in “The rest of the vehicle” section of this article).

Lastly, if your vehicle has a Paint Protective Film (PPF) or a ceramic coating, your paint repair shop will have to take additional steps to make sure the paint will stick in the blend area. They’ll need to remove the film or coating from the repair area. Most auto body paint shops will not re-apply PPF or ceramic coating so you’ll need to also plan to have those re-applied by your detailer separately from the repair. In most cases, you’ll need to wait between 30 and 90 days before reapplying in order to allow the paint to properly cure. If you reapply earlier than the repair shop recommends, you will almost always void any warranty the repair shop offers.

How to find a repair shop that’s the right fit for your scratch and dent repair needs

Align your expectations with your budget

It’s not always possible to perfectly match an existing paint job. That’s because most cars are manufactured with paint that’s applied through a robotic application during manufacturing. However, in most cases, a reputable auto body repair shop with experienced technicians can complete your car’s scratch and dent repair without obvious signs of prior damage. The older and more faded your existing paint is, the harder it will be for the paint team to blend the new paint with the old.

It’s not always true but in this industry, the lower the price, the lower the quality so we generally advise car owners to plan accordingly.

The rest of the vehicle

In many cases, vehicle owners are only concerned with fixing specific areas of their car or truck. Our team always advises customers that paint repair in one area can actually highlight defects in other areas. Those include things like scratches and dents outside of the repair areas as well as other fitment and discoloration issues.

If the clear coat on the rest of the vehicle is chalky, milky, or has other damage, the repair shop may be unwilling to take the job. That’s because they won’t be able to provide you with a satisfactory result. In those cases, you may need to consider a shop that will provide a full car paint job. That level of scratch and dent car repair is sometimes more than the value of the vehicle. Our shop does not take on full vehicle repaint jobs unless they are part of a full classic vehicle restoration.

Electric vehicles

While you might think that scratch and dent repair is the same for gasoline powered cars and trucks as it is for electric vehicles, it’s actually not. Even a simple repair can have life-threatening risk to a technician without following strict safety protocols. That’s because electric vehicles operate on very high voltage circuits. They’re safe for normal operation but when a technician begins using tools, they can accidentally complete circuits between the car and their body – with catastrophic consequences. Our shop does not provide scratch and dent repair for electric vehicles.

Fully electric vehicles require very different safety procedures before even simple repairs are conducted. They have to be fully disabled before repairs can begin. Then, they have to be brought back online following specific steps so the vehicle will operate properly. Even a seemingly simple repair to a door panel will likely require complex re-calibration of the vehicle’s systems.

Track record

An example of an improperly repaired dent on the tailgate of a BMW SUV. Our experienced technicians find and repair or replace improper repairs like this one.

The last factor you’ll want to consider when looking for a scratch and dent car repair shop near you is the track record of the shop itself. We’ve been asked to repair vehicles that have been improperly repaired at other facilities. That often happens based on low technician experience, missing supervision, or even pressure from insurance companies to cut corners and save costs.

Unless you have an unlimited budget for your dent and paint repair, some auto body paint and repair shops will use filling compound during repairs. Even brand new replacement panels often require additional smoothing or minor repair before being installed on your car or truck.

The difference is whether or not the shop has done everything possible to avoid using filler. The best shops only use a small amount called a skim coat when necessary to fill and feather out tiny imperfections.

Most independent paint repair shops work on an hourly rate and will give you a written estimate for scratch and dent repair just like they would with any collision repair or restoration project work.

About Automotive Collision Specialists in Fuquay Varina, NC

Do you want your car repaired correctly? We do too. That’s why we stand behind all our work with a limited lifetime warranty. We need to be sure your vehicle is repaired correctly when it rolls out of our collision center.

If you’re trying to find a good auto body repair shop near you to help, please give us a call. We’ve been serving neighbors in and near the local Fuquay-Varina, NC community for more than 30 years.

We’re ASE and I-CAR certified and offer a limited lifetime warranty on all the work we do. Call us today at 919-552-0333 to see how we can help!