Insurance companies approve and prefer the King of the Ding paintless dent repair process

Paintless dent repair or PDR has come a long way since it's infancy in the early 1990's. The process has evolved from repairing very small dents on flat sheet metal to very large dents and body line or design features. This evolution is due to ongoing training and education to include advancement in technology. In the last decade Insurance providers have come to embraced the process as the most effective method of repairing minor dents, door dings and hail damage. Conventional body shops have also come to accept and respect the process as a viable alternative method of repairing light hits and hail damage. Most body shops bring in outside paintless dent repair companies like ours to execute paintless dent repairs for vehicles damage by hail or minor door dings versus hiring and training there own employees. Body shops have discovered that there is an extreme learning curve to produce and top notch paintless dent repair technician and choose to forgo that process by hiring a professional paintless dent repair company like ours.

The general public however, is not as aware of the benefits and limitations of the PDR process. So we have included a few links below to aid in educating the public on the paintless dent repair process.

Farmers Insurance on Paintless dent repair (PDR) http://www.farmers.com/paintless_dent_repair.html

State Farm on Paintless dent repair (PDR) http://www.statefarm.com/insurance/claim-center/auto/paintless-dent-repair.asp

Progressive on Paintless dent repair (PDR) http://www.progressive.com/newsroom/2005/April/Hail-damage.aspx

Got a Ding? Call the King http://www.kingoftheding.biz/ (512) 257-8306 Reviews

You have the right to choose where you vehicle is repaired. If your insurance company steers you to one of there "preferred" facilities it my not be a shop that is consistently producing the best repairs. It's a good idea to  contact the Better Business Bureau or get referrals from friends. Reading reviews online will also reveal which shop is producing the best repairs. Don't forget to ask the shop that you choose how PDR works and how they access hard to reach areas to make the repair. The best method is to pull the dent from the outside rather than drilling holes to access the dent from beneath the panel in those hard to reach areas.

King of the Ding Business Review in Austin, TX - Central, Coastal, Southwest Texas and the Permian Basin BBB

King of the Ding Business Review in Austin, TX - Central, Coastal, Southwest Texas and the Permian Basin BBB

Hail chasers doing horrible paintless dent repair work in Austin Texas! Enough is Enough!

Roof rail- cracked paint (bad paintless dent repair) and attempt to hide it by sanding to a dull finish! Horrible!

A spent glue tab! Delivered to the customer just like you see here! Terrible! 

The biggest hole I've have ever seen on a hood. looks like he signed it.  Drill bit skipped across panel. No plug, no sealer.

Rusty drill hole also on hood. Not needed, no plug, no sealer! All of the above photos are on the same vehicle. 

As a matter of personal policy I rarely speak poorly of our industry as I never want to cast a bad light on our industry as a whole. But this has to STOP!  This blog is not for the local shops in Austin, TX. that are putting out top quality work, you know who you are.  I am very disappointed with some of these hail chaser's who come to town after a storm and perform cut rate "repairs" that leave local residents and dealers with ruined vehicles.  I've listened to countless stories from innocent customers seeking help for shoddy repairs that they have received at the hands of hail chasers that have long moved on to their next storm location. Customers who's vehicles where sometimes delivered to them at night time only to discovered at first light that half of their vehicle was repaired and the other half neglected. My heart goes out to the people I have spoken with and have helped with these bad repairs.

Today (02/24/2011) I received into my shop a  2007 Toyota Armada (MSRP of 46,000) which was "repaired" by a hail chaser. I spent more time repairing the old hail damage dents than the hail damage I was hired to repair. It was very frustrating for me to have to knock down so many improperly repaired dents. So I decided to relieve some stress and express myself here on our blog. Above are some photo's of the shoddy repairs, mostly huge drill holes, cracked paint, poor sanding to cover up poor workmanship and most impressive was the spent glue tab still stuck on the roof after a year and a half. My initial thought was that the customer was looking for repairs on the cheap and they got what they paid for, but then I resolved that nobody deserves this type of service no matter what they paid. There are lots on local paintless dent repair shops in Austin that will take the time to repair your vehicle correctly. King of the Ding employs a no drill policy for hail damage repair and only delivers perfect repairs. I employ you to seek out  local BBB accredited businesses, with plenty of references and user reviews. Know who you are doing business with, and please don't become another statistic who has to pay more to get it done right. Please visit our website at http://www.kingoftheding.biz or visit our location at 12307 Roxie Dr. Ste 108 Austin, TX 78759 or call 512-257-8306 for more information. IF YOU DON'T USE US, PLEASE ALLOW US TO RECOMMEND YOUR NEXT BEST OPTION. 

Beware of people who approach you in parking lots offering to "fix" your dents!

Bad dent repair. Cracked paint. This dent will now need to be repaired and repainted. It would have been an easy repair for a qualified paintless dent repair technician.

The economy is tough, and people are looking for the cheap" fix" but it can end up costing you more to undo that  cheap "fix". There are scam artist all over the country, cruising parking lots looking for dented vehicles and offering to repair your vehicle on the spot and on the cheap. This investigative report will give you insight into what to look for and hopefully help you make a good decision on where to have your vehicles dent and dings repaired. These tips should aid you in choosing a reputable repair provider.

1. Always use a company with a verifiable address
2. Never have work performed without an estimate or work order.
3. Write down the name and tag number of the person approaching you.( useful for police)
4. Call the phone number and verify that the individual you are speaking with is an actual employee of the company they are representing.
5. Use your good judgement. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.
6. If referred to a website by the individual, call any phone number listed and verify their identity.

If you are in Austin Texas, King of the Ding is located at 12307 Roxie Dr Austin, TX 78729. Call 512-257-8306 for a free estimate or just stop by, we are hear to help.

Filing an automotive hail damage claim will not increase your insurance premium!

Many Insurance policy holders are reluctant to file a claim for damages to their vehicles caused by hail storms Many of these policy holders never even file a claim for fear of their insurance company increasing their premium. This is an absolute falsehood no matter what anyone tells you. It is unlawful for any insurance company to raise, or threaten to raise any single individuals insurance premium due to an "Act of God". Hail damage is considered an "Act of nature", and is covered under the comprehensive section of your policy. King of the Ding of Austin is an approved provider for all major insurance companies and is able to handle every aspect of your claim to ensure that your vehicle is repaired to pre-damaged condition. We are locally owned and operated at 12307 Roxie Dr Ste 108 Austin, TX 78759 .  Got a ding? Call the King!

Considering Buying A New Hail Damaged Car? Think again!

"Hail Sale". Sounds like a blessing to most buyers, but BUYER BEWARE! The vehicle you may think is a great deal can very likely be the worst decision you've ever made. Hail damaged vehicle repair cost can range from several hundreds to tens of thousands, depending upon the type of vehicle and the extent of damages. Dealerships have the upper hand in almost every instance when selling these "Hell Sale" vehicles. Allow me to enlighten you, The Dealer has a brand new ( hail damaged) vehicle, lets say the MSRP is $35,000.00 and he offers to sell you the vehicle for $30,000. Thats a 5,000 discount and a "Great deal right"...Wrong! Okay, lets start with what happens just after a dealership is hit by a hail storm. The Dealer calls his insurance company. Insurance company estimates the cost of repairs at lets just say $8,000 . Subtract the typical dealership deductible (1,000). Thats right, from the start the dealer has an 7,000 check in his back pocket. If he sells you the vehicle for 30,000 and he has a 7,000 check in his back pocket, he has just sold you a hail car for, Yep, you got it, $2,000 over MSRP. The Numbers do not lie, Unfortunately some dealers do. New vehicles also have markup ( Dealer Profit) and a dirty little word called "dealer hold back", all cleverly built right into the invoice just in case you are savy enough to negotiate to see it. Most of this profit you readily see on the invoice, but some is hidden from you in the form of "dealer hold back"."Dealer hold back" is a certain amount of the invoice price which is paid to the dealer directly from the manufacturer, if the dealership achieves a certain volume of sales and also maintains an acceptable customer satisfaction index. Usually paid to the dealer on a quarterly basis." Dealer hold back" is different on every vehicle unless the options and equipment are identical. The above described deal is considered a grand slam in the car business. Remember, you still may want to get this car repaired . Average markup on a new vehicle in that price range can be 3,000 - 5500 or more depending on the MSRP. But don't forget about the $7,000 worth of hail damage to the vehicle which is most likely a low-ball initial estimate of the damages from the insurance company. The actual cost of repairs could be a great deal more. If your are considering buying a hail car from a dealer a good "starting point' for negotiation for the example above would be atleast double what they where giving you off in the first place. . This deal would make sense if the dealer kindly handed over the $7,000 check and then started discounting the vehicle, Because he still has on average 4,000 in mark up and 500 to 1,200 in "dealer hold back". The dealer should be happy just to move this car off his lot and not take a loss. Example: insurance check 7,000 + Mark up 4,000 + Hold Back 750.00 = 11,750. I would say in the above example you should get at least a 10,000 - 11,750 discount for this deal to make sense. Why should any dealer make a huge profit selling damaged goods.   Note: If you plan to get this vehicle repaired the initial insurance estimate may have been on the low side and the actual cost of repairing the vehicle may be higher. An insurance company claims adjusters job is to satisfy a claim at the lowest price point. Any after appraising the dealers entire lot he/she maybe off on the estimate of damages.Also remember the dealership has a deductible on his inventory also which is usually 1,000 on average.  As a convenience to you and because we don't want fellow Austinites getting ripped off. We would love to look the vehicle over for you and give you a true estimate of the actual cost of the damages so that you can make an informed decision before you spend your hard earned dollars. Just give us a call at (512) 257-8306 and bring the vehicle to King of the Ding at 12307 Roxie Drive Austin, TX. 78729. Good luck, we hope you find this information useful. Read this Yelp Review! He was almost "Hail Sale" Victim.

Environmentally Aware Austinites Consistently Choose Paintless Dent Repair Over Traditional Auto Body Repair and Painting. Austinites Cite The Benefits To The Environment, Cost Associated and Vehicle Repair Time, As Just A Few of the Driving Factors for Choosing The Paintless Dent Repair Alternative...

Large Dent Repair Performed at King of the Ding.
 Just five years ago this type of repair would never have been considered for  paintless dent repair.
King of the Ding continues to push the boundaries of paintless dent repair with new techniques.

Paintless Dent Repair is a new phenomenon that has taken the auto body repair industry by storm. The benefits to local Austinites, auto insurance companies and the environment are quickly being realized.

It used to be that when your vehicle was damaged by a rogue shopping cart or a pulled golf shot (fore left!), you only had two options. Either pay an auto body shop to grind, sand, and paint your damaged panel or just try to live with it.

 Paintless dent repair is the only cost effective and time saving way to have your vehicle restored to pre-damaged condition while restoring your vehicles value and appearance. Repair cost in the hundreds can be reduced to as little as $75.00 for a small door dent.

Paintless dent repair is also helping the environment. Every year, millions of body panels are being repaired by the paintless method instead of repainting them. The Paintless process contributes to the reduction of harmful vapors and paint waste being introduced into the environment.

Insurance Companies world wide have embraced Paintless dent repair as the prefered method of repairing damage caused by hail storms.The paintless process has reduced the cost and time associated with these types of repairs, which saves the insurance industry billions. Paintless dent repair also restores your vehicles value unlike traditional auto body repair which lowers the value of your vehicle.


King of the Ding is Austin's Premier paintless dent repair shop . We are located 12307 Roxie Dr. Suite 108 Austin, TX. 78729 (512-257-8306). King of the Ding Has been performing top quality repairs since 1998. Our master technicians complete door ding and dents while you wait, in our comfortable waiting area equipped with flat screen tv's and free Wifi internet access. Most hail damaged vehicles are repaired in 1-3 days. All our repairs come with a written lifetime warrant and a 100% Money back quality guarantee. Please visit http://www.kingoftheding.com for more details.