A lot of dealers, but not all dealers do not have body shops. When you take the car for repair the send the car out to a shop and take a cut of the bill. The first thing I would ask the dealer is who is going to fix the car, will they do it or is it being sent out?

 

find a good body shop.

 

hmmm..a dent like that happened on my fender from some grandma backing up into it. As a broke highschooler, I used a blowdryer to heat up the area and pushed it out from the inside myself With some buffing and scratchX It looks like it never happened.

 

I also think it's too big for dent repair. Do you or your folks know of a local independant body shop? It's usually cheaper than Lexus body shops.

 

I will be paying out of pocket as I do not want to get my insurance involved.

 

What does PDR repair do (first time hearing it) and what's the cost difference between that and regular body shop?

 

Good body shop will cost you around $800. That's just a rough estimate form things that i've had repaired before. GOOD LUCK

 

This morning I went to 2 body shops (Service King & a local). They both said that PDR can't be done for mine. I will be taking it to few more shops today. Service King quoted: $1600; local one: $1200. Service King kept saying that soo much have to be done to the car, etc..etc. And I know those things doesn't need to be done. So still trying to find a better place.

 

I don't understand what you are saying.. how did u get this done?

 

that's why only you can assess how perfect you want it. to one person perfect is necessary, to others it is not.

put it this way - i had a big dent in the SC. it was an eyesore; about 7-8" diameter, with a similar crease in the paint. the PDR guy i used did a fantastic job of putting the bumper shape back to original form, but obviously he couldn't do anything about the paint. later i had the car detailed by my pro detailer and he touched up a little there and machine buffed it and you really couldn't tell. i terminated the SC lease early and sold the car to a DEALER and they didn't notice the damage at all...

i really hate doing body work or paint work of any kind unless it's absolutely necessary. you will always have a blending problem that may not be visible right away, but over time will fade at diff rates. my sister had body work done on a mercedes many years ago and when she went to sell the car they dinged her big time for "mismatched" paint, even though the MB body shop did the work and it looked perfect to the naked eye.

anyway, just my 2c. to me, spending $75-$100 on pdr FIRST and then deciding if you want to get more work done is not a bad way to go. it's good option value.

PDR guys also vary in skill level, so make sure you get a reputable one. some may think it's beyond repair, while others will say it's poppable. my PDR guy (in the same visit) also popped a vertical door ding that someone put in the factory-creased fender of my RX. i didn't think it was possible (i had read that creased areas are hard to put back), but he did it in about 10 minutes and it looks perfect now.

 

here's a link of a googled PDR company's photo gallery. you can see they do quite a wide range of work these days...

http://www.denttime.com/gallery/dents

 

$750 to $1,000 seems low to me. Maybe things cost more in NY but that looks like a job that would cost over $2,000. I can't be sure but the pictures look as if the paint is cracked so even if the metal is straightened the paint will need to be re-painted.

 

Lexus paint jobs are expensive to redo and of course you want it done right so it matches.

 

That is a good point. Maybe after the PDR the owner might decide that is enough. I guess it wouldn't hurt to just ask a PDR guy if he even thinks he can repair it. The good ones know when the job is over their skill level and expertise and will flat out tell you they can't do it.

 

So far I went to seven body shops, (none were Lexus body shop) and they all told me the paint has to be blended to match rest.. now I am thinking of getting a quote from Lexus.