The same door ding can cost you $195 or $900. The difference is not the shop being greedy — it is whether the paint survived the impact.
If the paint is intact, a paintless dent repair (PDR) technician can massage the metal back from behind. If the paint cracked, that option is gone and you are paying for filler, primer, colour and clear — a fundamentally different job.
What paintless dent repair costs
| Damage | What it looks like | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Single door ding | Quarter-sized or smaller, shallow, paint intact | $195 – $295 |
| Multiple door dings | 2–5 dings on one panel or across two doors | $195 – $350 |
| Medium dent | Golf-ball size, smooth profile, no crease | $250 – $450 |
| Large dent | Spanning more than one panel, or one panel fully affected | $500 – $900 |
| Light hail | Single or limited multi-panel, nickel to quarter-sized | $500 – $1,200 |
| Extensive hail | Multi-panel, high impact count, larger hail | $1,200 – $4,000+ |
Ranges reflect 2026 US pricing for repairs where the paint is unbroken. Once paint is cracked, PDR is off the table.
Why two identical-looking dents price differently
PDR is priced by how hard the metal is to reach and how much it resists, not by how the dent looks in a photo. Four things move the number:
- Access. A dent at panel centre is easy. One behind a brace, a reinforcement, or inside a door with limited entry can double the labour.
- Depth and crease. A smooth dish comes out cleanly. A sharp crease has stretched the metal and takes far longer — sometimes it will not fully return.
- Panel material. Aluminium panels have less memory than steel and need more heat and patience, so they price higher.
- Location on the body line. A dent crossing a character line is one of the hardest repairs in the trade.
One shop documents two dents in the same city, repaired by the same technician, at $197 and $500. A clean two-inch ding at panel centre would have been about $220; a dent on a steel Honda Accord door around $210, with depth doing most of the work.
Traditional body shop repair, for comparison
When PDR is not viable, the conventional route applies:
| Method | Damage | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Paintless (PDR) | Small ding up to about two inches | $75 – $200 |
| Paintless (PDR) | Larger or complex, paint still intact | $400 – $500 |
| Traditional | Panel repair with filler and refinish | $300 – $1,000 |
| Traditional | Extensive damage to a large panel | $1,500+ |
Traditional figures include labour, paint and blending time. The gap widens as panel size grows, because more area means more refinishing.
When paintless repair will not work
- The paint is cracked, chipped or flaking. This is the dividing line. PDR cannot restore a broken finish.
- The metal is stretched or torn. A sharp crease may have permanently deformed the panel.
- The back of the panel cannot be reached without cutting or removing structure, at which point the labour advantage disappears.
- The panel has already had filler. Previous bodywork behaves unpredictably under a PDR rod.
Should you claim it on insurance?
Usually not, for a single dent. Most minor PDR work lands below a standard $500 or $1,000 deductible, so a claim would pay you nothing and still appear on your history.
A workable rule: under $500, pay out of pocket. Above that, run the actual numbers — deductible, the repair quote, and what a claim does to your premium at renewal. Hail damage across multiple panels is the common case where claiming clearly wins, because the totals reach into the thousands.
Multi-panel hail damage on an older vehicle?
When a hail estimate approaches what the car is worth, it is worth knowing what a replacement would cost before you commit to the repair.
See vehicle pricingGetting an accurate quote
- Photograph the dent with a reflection across it. A fluorescent tube or window frame reflected in the panel reveals depth and creasing that a flat photo hides entirely.
- Say whether the paint is broken. It is the single fact that determines which price list you are on.
- Ask whether the panel has had prior work. Filler underneath changes the approach and the quote.
Sources
- Dentevo, How Much Does PDR Cost? — PDR tier table and deductible guidance
- Dentheads, Paintless Dent Repair Compared to Traditional Auto Body Repair — PDR versus traditional panel-repair ranges
- Dent Time, What a $197 Dent Repair Costs vs $500 — documented per-dent variance and the factors behind it
Figures verified 3 September 2026. Costs change; always get a written estimate from a licensed shop before authorizing work.