About Me

About Me

I have been in the auto body repair business for over 30 years, which included paintless dent repair (PDR) for the past 15-20 years. I got started doing PDR because I occasionally failed to notice small dents until I was painting the panels I had repaired. Since pay was commissioned based on completed work, we were not paid to redo our work. The paint used on earlier vehicles was brittle, but with the fresh paint I was able to push the missed dent up and avoided having to redo the job. I wasn’t aware that PDR was being done in the Mercedes Benz factories for decades.

In the last couple of years I’ve only been doing PDR. I started working for a PDR Company in 2008. No more dust or paint fumes, and when the day is over, it’s over. I love it! I always believed if you do something you love, you will excel in it.

Due to the bad economy I decided to start my own business, Painless Dent Removal. Without the overhead of a large corporation I could do repairs for less, and the consumer would still receive the same quality repair.

In November 2009 I became a member of National Alliance for
Paintless Dent Repair Technicians. The NAPDRT is a Not-for-Profit organization that was started by quality PDR Technicians who are concerned about the future of our trade, the lack of consumer awareness about quality paintless dent repair, and its many advantages over conventional body shop repairs.

It is said that you learn a lot more by failing than from succeeding. I learned of an aphorism by motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can learn to do it well.” This is pretty much how I got started in PDR.

Many people think that if they just had the tools they could pop out the dents themselves and in some cases they actually succeed. There are a lot of DIY tools for sale on the Internet, including eBay, and on TV. Using these tools, you may be able to work out the dent to give it an acceptable look, but it’s usually not as easy as it looks (or sounds).

Caution: If you do try to do it yourself with a PDR kit, be careful using a glue puller on any previously repaired areas, as you may pull off the paint.

PDR requires skills, patience, and knowing where and how much you can push, and being able to gain access to the back side of the damaged area. Although PDR is simple in theory, a skilled dent technician has to spend a lot of time to get good at it. Unless you’re up to the challenge, it may be better and less expensive to have a reputable technician work out the dents for you.