[mattthecoxcomb]

Hello everyone,

I know it's a topic that has been visited in the past, but because each situation is as unique as each ding or dent, I feel the best way to get an answer is to share my own situation with the forum and get some feedback on how to proceed.

About three weeks ago my car took a hit from a falling tree limb. Fortunately, the windshield took the brunt of it but there was also some damage to the front passenger-side door. I live in an area near a nationally-known automotive auction so there is no shortage of qualified, experienced cosmetic repair specialists around me supporting that operation. I have already had the windshield replaced by a well-regarded local specialist using Pilkington (the OEM supplier on my car) glass.

Coming to the passenger door, it looked to me like the dent could be fixed by PDR (thereby preserving the original paint on that panel). I took off the interior door card and brought the car to my go-to PDR guy (who has done great work for me previously), but after looking at it closely he said there is a high-strength steel crash beam inside the door compartment preventing him from getting sufficient access to the dent from inside and that he couldn't fix it satisfactorily with PDR. He recommended a body shop who he said he has a good relationship with and enthusiastically vouched for. It is a Cr*sh Ch*mpions franchise. I know nothing about these (hopefully their reputation is better than M*acco or some of the other national chains.

I thought the price I was quoted for the body work (from my PDR guy) was suspiciously low for the scope of work (only about $100 more than what he quoted for PDR when I initially sent him photos of the dent). I'm told the scope of work includes stud-pulling the dent, skim-coating it with filler, and blending paint/clear. He also told me they could do all that in one day (tomorrow, which would be really great if it's done right). I asked him how all of this was possible and he said he has a good relationship with the body shop through mutual referrals so they afford discounts on materials as well as priority to clients whose projects he can't do himself.

While deliberating on what to do, I called some other PDR specialists and sent photos to get additional opinions. Another well-regarded PDR-only shop said they could repair it. They haven't provided an estimate yet but they are confident that they can do the repair without new paint.

So here is my dilemma: looking at the photos below, is this a repair that would be better served by the body shop process or PDR? And which should I choose here? I'll lay out the pros and cons as I see them but I am looking for outside input:

Going with the new PDR shop:

Pros: 1. Preserves paint integrity against corrosion/rust--the less invasive the repair, the better for longevity

Cons:
1. Not 100% sure yet whether it can be done, when it can be done, or how much it will cost
2. Might result in torching my relationship with my current PDR guy who does great work for very reasonable prices

Going with the recommendation of my current PDR guy:

Pros:
1. Immediate turnaround and finally having my car back on the road (it's been off the road for a LONG time--this tree-limb thing happened three weeks ago and literally two days after I got it back after waiting a month to fix a bad valvetronic sensor)
2. Suspiciously low cost

Cons:
1. Suspiciously low cost (can they really do ALL those things for so little money in so little time? PROPERLY?)
2. Compromising paint/body integrity (conventional wisdom seems to be that ANY amount of body filler is worse if PDR is an option for a near-factory match of shape)

And finally, since the body shop is due to start work on my car tomorrow, and without an estimate from the new PDR shop in hand, I need to make a decision in the next 12 hours or potentially wait another few weeks to have my car back in order.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. I guess fundamentally the question is, assuming that cost and final results are all cosmetically- and longevity-equivalent, is PDR preferable to body work/filler/painting, when possible? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[mattthecoxcomb]

I'm going to try to submit the images in a different, smaller format for ease of viewing.

[mattthecoxcomb]

New PDR place thinks they can fix it for $14 more than body shop that wants to pull the dent, fill it, and paint it. What would YOU do?

[whyzee125]

I would PDR all day long