Collision & Body Work
Paintless dent repair near you
Paintless dent repair for door dings, creases and hail dents: metal pushed out from behind with no filler or repaint, often at your home or workplace.
- Time at the shop
- 1 h 30 min
- about
- Mobile service
- Available
- at your address
- Shops in Canada
- 1
- doing this work
- Your price
- You set it
- shops bid on it
You set the budget
Shops near you send their bids
1 shop in Canada does this
Collision & Body Work
What paintless dent repair is
Paintless dent repair reshapes the metal from behind, so the factory paint stays on the panel. The technician reaches the back of the dent through a door shell, a light housing or the trim, reads the dent’s contours in the reflection of a lamp or a striped board, and works it up in small steps with steel rods. Where the back is closed off, glue-pull tabs lift the dent from the front.
It suits door dings, hail, shopping-cart marks and creases where the paint is intact. It does not suit cracked or chipped paint, sharp folds, stretched metal or dents on the very edge of a panel, and some aluminum panels resist it. A technician will tell you plainly if your dent falls outside those limits, in which case a body shop repair with filler and paint is the alternative. Most single dents take thirty minutes to two hours.
- For cars, EVs, vans and trucks
- Takes about 1 h 30 min
- Can be done at your address
What does paintless dent repair cost?
It depends on your vehicle and the shop. Post a job with your budget and compare the bids shops near you send.
Get bids
Name your budget. Shops near you bid.
1 shop across Canada does paintless dent repair.
What to expect
Paintless dent repair, step by step
What the job normally covers, what to mention in your request, and the signs that it is time. Every shop says what its bid includes.
The job
What’s included
- Dents assessed under a reflector board or lamp, with a plan for reaching the back of each one
- Trim, tail light, inner door liner or a section of headliner removed where access requires it
- Metal pushed back a little at a time with steel rods and body-shaping tools from behind the panel
- Glue-pull tabs and a mini lifter used where the back of the panel cannot be reached
- High spots tapped down and the surface finished flat, then checked from several angles
- Panel wiped down and any removed trim refitted
- Advice given before any work begins if cracked paint or a sharp crease rules out a paintless repair
Checklist
Before you post
- 01Have photos of each dent ready, with a loonie beside it for scale; the technician can usually say if a paintless repair will work
- 02Tell the shop if paint is chipped or cracked in the dent; paintless repair only works on paint that is intact
- 03Say whether the dent sits on a body line, a panel edge or an aluminum panel, which adds time and can rule the method out
- 04For hail, ask whether the price is per dent, per panel or per vehicle, and whether roof, hood and trunk are counted separately
- 05Ask what happens if the dent will not come out fully: a reduced price, no charge, or a referral to a body shop
- 06For a mobile visit, arrange a sheltered spot with even light; direct sun and rain make the reflections useless
Signs
When you need it
- Door dings from another vehicle, a shopping cart or a garage wall, with the paint unbroken
- Hail dents scattered across the hood, roof and trunk lid
- Creases or round dents from a tree branch, a ball or a pushed door, with no paint damage
- A dent you want gone before you sell the vehicle or hand a leased one back
- Shallow dents on a fender, quarter panel or roof that a body shop would otherwise fill and repaint
Sound familiar?Tell shops near you what you need and what you want to spend.
Get bidsHow it works
Get paintless dent repair done in four steps
You set the budget and choose the shop. Posting is free, and you pay the shop you hire once the work is 100% done.
- 01
Post your job
Choose the service, describe the job and your vehicle, and set your budget. It takes two minutes and costs nothing.
- 02
Shops compete
Nearby shops that do the work see your request and send their best offer: price, when they can start, what is included.
- 03
Accept the best offer
Compare bids, ratings and distance, then hire one shop. The others are told, politely.
- 04
Talk and get it done
Your conversation with the shop opens right away to agree on the day. You pay only after the job is complete.
Keep exploring
Related services
Collision repair
Collision repair at a body shop: damage estimated, structure straightened, panels refinished in matched paint and driver-assist sensors checked.
Paint repair
Paint repair for faded, peeling or damaged paint on one panel or area: sanded, primed, colour-matched, clear-coated and blended in.
Scratch repair
Scratch repair for scuffs and stone chips: polished out, touched up or repainted, from light clear coat marks to gouges down to the metal.
Bumper repair
Bumper repair for scuffed, cracked or pushed-in plastic covers: repaired, repainted or replaced, with parking sensors and mounts checked afterwards.
Questions
Questions about paintless dent repair
General answers for drivers in Canada. The shop you hire confirms the details for your vehicle.
Does paintless dent repair work on every dent?
No. It works when the paint is intact and the metal has not been stretched or creased sharply. Dents up to about the size of a palm are ideal, and larger ones may be possible when the panel is flexible. Cracked paint, tight creases, damage on the very edge of a panel and some aluminum or high-strength steel panels usually need conventional body repair instead.
How long does a paintless dent repair take?
A single ding is often done in thirty to sixty minutes, and a larger dent or two panels takes about two hours. Hail damage across a whole vehicle takes several days at a specialist. With a mobile technician there is no drop-off: the work is done where the vehicle is parked, and it is ready as soon as the job ends.
Is paintless dent repair covered by insurance?
Hail and other weather damage falls under comprehensive coverage, so it is covered subject to your deductible. A single door ding costs less than most deductibles, so it is usually cheaper to pay for it yourself. For hail on several panels, an insurer will often approve paintless repair because it costs less than repainting. Confirm with your broker first.
Will the dent come back after it is repaired?
No. Once the metal is reshaped it stays where it is put. What can happen is that a poor repair leaves a slightly wavy patch or a high spot that shows in a reflection, so check the panel from a low angle in good light before you pay. The factory paint is untouched, which matters when you sell.
Can paintless dent repair be done in winter?
It can, with limits. Cold metal and cold paint are less forgiving, and paint is more likely to crack while the dent is worked, so technicians prefer a heated garage or warm the panel gently first. A dent on an unheated driveway well below freezing is better left until the vehicle has warmed up inside, or booked as a shop visit.
Something else to ask? Once you hire a shop, you talk to it directly in your request’s conversation.
Ready when you areTell shops near you what you need and what you want to spend.
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