OUCH!! Palm Tree Dent Advice Wanted!!!t
06-15-17, 10:33 AM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
OUCH!! Palm Tree Dent Advice Wanted!!!t
So I woke up this morning to this mess....my beloved car has a nice dent in the roof from a fallen palm frond. Think it is possible for a PDR guy to fix this or should I head to the Lexus body shop. The location of the dent scares me. There are scratches but I have used some water in the worst spot and they appear to just be dirt and surface scratches from the branch not actually in the paint which is good. Any advice is appreciated. I know comprehensive will cover it but with a $500 deductible, I am hoping it will be less to fix it. Also, don't want my car report tarnished for something that isn't an accident by making a claim, especially since there is hopefully no paint work. Thanks!
06-15-17, 10:36 AM
#2
Pole Position
Ouch is right. Man sorry to see that. My first thought would be to take it to a dent doctor type place. See if this is something they can pop out. If so, you're good to go. If not, usually they will refer you or, check around for a good body shop and get quotes.
06-15-17, 10:52 AM
#3
A dent wizard will be able to get this out but you will likely have to remove the headliner, increasing the price. I'd clean and buff out the area first to make sure the paint isn't damaged. If it is, you're looking at repair at a body shop or DentWizard/touch-up (which probably won't look good).
06-15-17, 01:28 PM
#4
Pole Position
Dude, sorry to hear that. You may have just found the only downside to palm trees!
On my 430 late last summer, I had a baseball sized dent that came from my wife backing into my car. It looks to be about the same size as what you have. I took it to a guy who was a dent repair specialist and he did something I think he called "paintless (or maybe "touchless") dent repair" which involves using a couple of tools and ironically involves some paint. I was somewhat pleased with the outcome because it looked better than having a dent, but keep in mind that was on a 2004 LS that had 250k miles. I could absolutely notice the area being touched up from almost all angles (my car was silver FWIW).
I would NOT do the same thing on my 460L. I'd recommend you consider eating the $500 and having it done correctly through your insurance so it's done right. I think I paid the guy $150 to do it and if it was on a nicer car like my 460, I'd have viewed that $150 as a total loss and would have been angry I didn't do it right the first time. It's too nice of a car to have sketchy work done on it. Your eye will be drawn to the area and find all the flaws.
I'm still waiting on my 460 to get done with repairs after being rear-ended. It's $16k in damages and will end up taking 6-7 weeks to fix. I could've probably had the car back by now going to some other body shop, but I don't care because I intentionally took it to the highest end shop in my market to get it fixed correctly. I'd rather have a rental car for an extra 2-3 weeks than constantly be looking at areas that aren't done perfectly. I waited a long time to buy my 460 so want it to look as good as possible for as long as possible.
My $.02.
On my 430 late last summer, I had a baseball sized dent that came from my wife backing into my car. It looks to be about the same size as what you have. I took it to a guy who was a dent repair specialist and he did something I think he called "paintless (or maybe "touchless") dent repair" which involves using a couple of tools and ironically involves some paint. I was somewhat pleased with the outcome because it looked better than having a dent, but keep in mind that was on a 2004 LS that had 250k miles. I could absolutely notice the area being touched up from almost all angles (my car was silver FWIW).
I would NOT do the same thing on my 460L. I'd recommend you consider eating the $500 and having it done correctly through your insurance so it's done right. I think I paid the guy $150 to do it and if it was on a nicer car like my 460, I'd have viewed that $150 as a total loss and would have been angry I didn't do it right the first time. It's too nice of a car to have sketchy work done on it. Your eye will be drawn to the area and find all the flaws.
I'm still waiting on my 460 to get done with repairs after being rear-ended. It's $16k in damages and will end up taking 6-7 weeks to fix. I could've probably had the car back by now going to some other body shop, but I don't care because I intentionally took it to the highest end shop in my market to get it fixed correctly. I'd rather have a rental car for an extra 2-3 weeks than constantly be looking at areas that aren't done perfectly. I waited a long time to buy my 460 so want it to look as good as possible for as long as possible.
My $.02.
06-15-17, 04:50 PM
#5
Instructor
Thread Starter
Yeah I hear you guys. So I went out there today and used some M205 on it. There is absolutely no paint damage to the car at all. It was all just scrapes of dirt from the palm tree. So that is some good news. I have scheduled one of those pointless dent repair guys to come and look at it. If he thinks he can get it back to 100% again I'll consider it because of the fact that there is no paint damage not even a scratch, but if he can't then I guess I will start going to body shops for estimates. I would just hate to see the car taken apart and filled and painted for something like this. Never a dull moment!
Jrmckinley, glad yo hear your LS is coming along. You are doing the right thing. When my 430 was rear ended 2 years ago it was close to $10K in repairs and they didn't total it. Took 5 weeks but it was worth it. Car looked like new when done. I had the local lexus dealer do it they have their own 24 hour body shop in house. That is probably the first estimate I will get if the dent guy doesn't work out.
Jrmckinley, glad yo hear your LS is coming along. You are doing the right thing. When my 430 was rear ended 2 years ago it was close to $10K in repairs and they didn't total it. Took 5 weeks but it was worth it. Car looked like new when done. I had the local lexus dealer do it they have their own 24 hour body shop in house. That is probably the first estimate I will get if the dent guy doesn't work out.
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06-16-17, 03:13 PM
#8
Instructor
Thread Starter
Happy ending to the story.....I called around to 3 places. All specialize in Paintless Dent Repair. All 3 requested photos by text. 2 of th guys said they couldn't do it, the location was too hard and not accessible. They said that needs full body work and paint. The last guy said he wanted to take a closer look. Well.....2.5 hours later it is 100% undetectable. I am so beyond happy! If I had to go through insurance it would have been a $500 deductible. I saved hundreds and it is good as new! No body work, no paint! The guy is really an artist!
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DavidinCT (06-17-17)
06-16-17, 03:59 PM
#9
Lexus Fanatic
I've only used Paintless Dent Repair once. Took them less than an hour and it was magic. It was not a simple dent either, but had somewhat of a crease. You absolutely CANNOT tell that there was ever any damage. He did 2 dents for $150
06-16-17, 04:28 PM
#10
Lexus Champion
Originally Posted by LS430FL
Happy ending to the story.....I called around to 3 places. All specialize in Paintless Dent Repair. All 3 requested photos by text. 2 of th guys said they couldn't do it, the location was too hard and not accessible. They said that needs full body work and paint. The last guy said he wanted to take a closer look. Well.....2.5 hours later it is 100% undetectable. I am so beyond happy! If I had to go through insurance it would have been a $500 deductible. I saved hundreds and it is good as new! No body work, no paint! The guy is really an artist!
06-16-17, 07:21 PM
#12
Instructor
Thread Starter
The dent guy is Mobile and he services Palm Beach and Broward counties. Even if you were in miami dade it is worth the drive up.
What he explained to me is that he couldn't do it through the sunroof because you can only work backwards, not forwards with the sunroof because forward there is all the bracing for the roof. It was clear you could see a defined line through part of the dent where the sheet metal hit part of the bracing underneath. He took off the side panel and then the corner of the headliner. He worked from the inside and the outside. I triple checked everything and he installed it all back perfectly I was very impressed. He did that big dent and also a door ding. It was $295 to fix. I was very happy with that price. Like I said, two others refused the work telling me to head to the body shop for that to be filled/fixed and the whole roof painted. The cost was still $200 less than my deductible and I really didn't want body work on the car.
What he explained to me is that he couldn't do it through the sunroof because you can only work backwards, not forwards with the sunroof because forward there is all the bracing for the roof. It was clear you could see a defined line through part of the dent where the sheet metal hit part of the bracing underneath. He took off the side panel and then the corner of the headliner. He worked from the inside and the outside. I triple checked everything and he installed it all back perfectly I was very impressed. He did that big dent and also a door ding. It was $295 to fix. I was very happy with that price. Like I said, two others refused the work telling me to head to the body shop for that to be filled/fixed and the whole roof painted. The cost was still $200 less than my deductible and I really didn't want body work on the car.
06-17-17, 09:14 PM
#15
Thumbs up and they did a remarkable job.
