Frequently Asked PDR Questions

A warranty is a contract between a vehicle owner and the manufacturer that built your car. It promises to take care of any applicable repairs, provided that you maintain the vehicle to proper expectations. But like any contract, it can be broken if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain, so it is important to know what circumstances can void your warranty. Edmunds.com says this:

Environmental damage: If your vehicle was damaged in a fire, flood, earthquake or any other environmental disaster, the automaker will not honor your warranty.

Aftermarket parts or modifications: This aspect of warranty coverage has a great deal of gray area. Although many dealers would have you think otherwise, simply having an aftermarket part or modifying your vehicle cannot void your warranty.

Some dealerships may say, for example, that just because you have a performance part such as a cold air intake on the vehicle that the whole vehicle warranty is void,” says Loren Wong, a car enthusiast and a former warranty administrator for BMW and Acura. “That’s not true,” he says.

The saving grace for consumers is the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act states that “a dealer must prove that aftermarket equipment caused the need for repairs before it can deny warranty coverage.”

A lot of people feel that if PDR is recommended by their insurance adjuster, they should expect money back because the PDR method is a “cheaper” form of repair. We can see how insured individuals might think that.

No matter how the estimate is written, the amount they will be willing to pay-out of the claim remains the same. If it is written for paintless dent repair, they have taken that into consideration. If a panel has been written in the estimate to be replaced, it is estimated to be replaced.

In some instances, where a claims adjuster might write-up that a roof should be replaced instead of repaired, you should always get a second opinion. Many of the roofs that your insurance company deem “unrepairable” are in fact repairable with paintless dent repair.

But, as we mentioned in another FAQ about insurance adjuster estimates, you already know that insurance companies almost NEVER overpay a repair facility.

The benefit and big money savings come when a panel is repaired instead of replaced. If an OEM panel is replaced instead of repaired with an aftermarket panel, you run into the risk of voiding your vehicles original manufacturers warranty. Many auto body shops will replace panels with aftermarket panels.

In the end, PDR is less invasive and a quicker repair process that can also save vehicles from going to a body shop to have panels replaced, cut and painted. So, no matter how many estimates a customer gets, insurance has the final say on what they are going to pay so this is why we tell customers that we work directly off of their initial estimate and might need to submit a supplement for any damage missed the first time their vehicle was looked at.

Many of our customers think they can get estimates even after their insurance adjuster has written the initial estimate. There is nothing out there that says you HAVE to get the initial estimate from your insurance adjuster but you really should.

Why? The initial estimate is what the PDR technicians at Auto Hail Zone work off of because that is what insurance is saying it will cost to repair their vehicle. Ultimately, no amount of additional estimates will change this.

No Insurance Company has Ever OVERPAID on an Auto Hail Damage Estimate. In fact, insurance companies 99.9% of the time have NEVER overpaid on any claim, as far as we have ever seen. If anything, this is why we have to do a supplement over 95% of the time. What the insurance company writes the initial check for is what we accept. This is the amount they come up with after putting the dent count and damage into their hail damage assessment program.

95% of the Time, Insurance Estimates are UNDERWRITTEN. Once we get the hail damaged vehicle into our shop, we look everything over under our paintless dent repair lights and compare the adjuster’s initial estimate to our assessment of the damage. This is where usually 95% of initial estimates require a supplement due to missing dents, trim, glass, side mirrors, taillights, etc. Since most adjusters do not have the time it takes to thoroughly inspect a vehicle, have the proper lighting or facility to correctly write the initial estimate the first time, most adjusters will explain the need for a supplement to their insured because they realize the difficulty in looking at vehicles under a tent or without the proper tools to write a solid repair estimate.

It is not uncommon for an insurance adjuster to write your initial claim to replace a hood or roof, or both, we see it all the time. Remember, an adjuster is not in the paintless dent repair or body shop business, nor do they have the time that it takes to properly look over and write your damage correctly during a catastrophic hail storm. During a major hail storm, the insurance companies are extremely busy and usually do not have the time or staff that it takes to look at thousands of damaged cars in such a short period of time, this is why they will tell you that you “may need a supplement”. As the insured, you have the right to take your vehicle to whomever you decide to use for repairs or get a second opinion if your insurance adjuster tells you the hood needs replacing and the roof needs to be cut. Keep in mind, if you choose to take your vehicle to your insurance’s direct repair body shop, you will be required to pay your deductible. Hope this information helps.

Usually, a hail damaged vehicle with too many dents to count will often be written by your insurance adjuster to replace a hood or cut and replace a roof. Don’t panic! If the damage is light but there are several dents, PDR can still repair the damage without replacing panels. Remember, your insurance adjuster writes initial estimates, they do not repair hail damage and most do not know what can be repaired with PDR, this is why we strongly recommend you always get a second opinion when an adjuster tells you your hood and roof need replacing. Why take your vehicle to an auto body shop and alter the safety of your vehicle or replace panels when PDR can save the original manufacturer warranty on your paint, does not require replacement of parts or panels and there is no need for BONDO, sanding, paint refinishing, etc.

It depends where you take your vehicle for your repairs. Your insurance company has contracted with several corporate body repair shops which are required to collect your deductible if you choose one of their DRP’s, direct repair facilities. Because we specialize in repairing vehicles with PDR and are not considered a “body shop”, we have no contractual agreements with insurance companies and waive deductibles at our discretion.

When your insurance company “suggests” you go to their “Preferred Body Shop of Choice”, this only means one thing…you will be required to pay your deductible because your insurance company and the “Preferred Body Shop of Choice” they refer you to has a contractual agreement that requires the body shop to collect your deductible before they begin repairs.

“Preferred” does not mean better. Most paintless dent repair technicians have worked doing contract PDR work for “preferred” auto body shops, dealerships, and even other paintless dent repair shops at some time during their career.

Unfortunately, PDR technicians don’t get paid as they should when working for a “Preferred” shop. Because of this, most highly qualified and sought after PDR technicians won’t opt to work at a “preferred” shop full time.

It depends on the severity of the hail damage. If there are holes or paint damage, your repair could require a replacement roof or hood panel. Also, if the damage on a roof or hood has extensive damage, the insurance company will always write “replace” but it’s not always necessary to replace a panel, if the hail is light and there are several small dents, PDR is the perfect solution. This is the main reason that insurance companies may write to replace your roof, hood or any other vehicle panel rather than paintless dent repair on your estimate. The work you choose to have done on your vehicle is your choice and your choice alone. Be sure to ask the opinion of a paintless dent repair shop before making your final decision.

At Auto Hail Zone, we offer both repair & replacement services. If we know we can repair the hail damage with paintless dent repair, we will. If the panel is repairable with paintless dent repair, we always recommend to our customers to use PDR whenever possible.

Paintless Dent Repair saves your OEM parts, OEM paint and does not require parts or panels to use Bondo, sanding, paint refinishing, etc.

In a perfect world, this absolutely makes sense but unfortunately, waiting could eliminate the possibility of a viable repair with paintless dent repair, resulting in your hail damaged vehicle needing to go to a body shop with panels needing to be replaced, roof cut and replaced, hood replaced and eliminates the original manufacturer warranty on your vehicle’s paint.

Also, if you wait until the end of hail season to get your vehicle repaired, it may even total if it has been through more than one hail storm because hail on top of hail is not ideal for paintless dent repair, in most cases.

We highly recommend you contact us and set-up an appointment after each hail storm and get an assessment of your damage, we can get you in immediately for repairs and will work directly with your insurance so you pay zero out-of-pocket.

If you have hail damage and you get hailed on again, it’s a more difficult claim to process.

Double Hail Damage = Reduced Chance For Repairs. For instance, let us say your vehicle was damaged in an early summer/late spring hail storm. The damage wasn’t severe or entirely noticeable but you can still see a few dents & dings left behind from the dime to nickel sized hailstones. Instead of filing a hail claim for the damage, you decide to wait because there is a possibility that it might hail again in the late summer. Sure enough, it hails again but this time the hailstones that fell from the sky were nearly quarter-sized. The result, massive hail damage. Hail damage upon existing hail damage. You call your insurance company to file a hail claim. The insurance adjuster comes out to inspect your hail damage. Unfortunately, because there was existing damage, the surface area of your vehicle has been severely weakened and there is essentially a layering of damage. They deem your vehicle unrepairable and leave you with a totaled title.