Referring For Auto Body Work Helps Everyone Involved!

Referrals help everyone involved! What ever your business is, if you can build a referral network of trusted "partners" referring a customer does not cost you money in the long run and builds great customer trust.

Here is how not doing it can cost you. A few weeks ago I had a customer tell me that he had stopped in at a couple of body shops for a quote on his dented Jaguar trunk lid. He said that he asked each of them about my shop Smooth A Dent. (I had never been to or spoken with any one at these body shops and don't know anyone that works there.)
Neither shop had anything good to say about "that shop over on Sunbeam Rd."

And you know what? That is what drove this customer directly to Smooth A Dent!

He figured there had to be a good reason that these other body shops were trying so hard to keep him away from me. And he was right!

I ended up fixing his trunk, left quarter panel and right door for much less than their quote for the trunk by itself!

So ask yourself. Who do you think this customer will see first next time? Do you think he will trust either of these body shops for anything else in the future? How many people do you think he told about this?

Here is where it cost these body shops even more. A Paintless Dent Repair Shop sees a lot of cars that need conventional body shop repair. These car owners are looking for advice they can trust and a referral.

Do you think I will send my customers that are trusting me with their cars to a shop that is dishonest about what can and cannot be repaired with paintless dent removal? No.

There are a lot of cars on the road. There are a lot of dents in those cars and enough work for everyone.

I refer work to body shops. They refer work to me. They get new customers and so do I.

The customer is treated right by us both and will then return when the need arises again.

This is how a trusted business is built and this is how I intend on doing things.

It's the way I would want to be treated and I'm betting that you would to.

Thanks this month to - Detailing By George, Mandarin Collision, Sunbeam Auto Body, and Wise's Automotive & Fleet Services for their referrals!


Mike Parks
SMOOTH A DENT
www.smoothadent.com
904-347-1065

I'd like to help you with a repair need that you might have.

PAINTLESS DENT REMOVAL'S BIG SECRET!.......and it's problem

THE BIG MYSTERY!

If you look at before/after pic's of Paintless Dent Removal you will notice that many have either a florescent light or some kind of reflector board in them, which you can see in the reflection of the vehicle's surface.

You will notice that if you look at the dent being featured it is almost always situated at the edge of a stripe or line created either by the light bulb fixture being used or by the lines on the reflector board.

You will then see that the line passing through the dent is warped. this helps provide contrast and highlight the dent for you to see.

And that, for many PDR technicians, is the end and the BIG SECRET! The BIG MYSTERY! That is how they see and repair dings and dents!

Let me explain. Many PDR training schools teach their students to look only at that warped line and when that line is straight "PRESTO!" the dent must be gone!

And that makes some sense but it's not the whole story.

It's certainly not the end of the dent removal.
But that is one reason why you see some reflector boards with so many lines on them.

The school of thought is that narrower lines in greater numbers will allow for a smaller dent to be repaired.

Here is one problem. When using that method only, a technician can only be as accurate as the lines are narrow. If the dent is not distorting the lines, the technician can't tell exactly where the tip of his tool is so he must quit.

That is not accurate enough for a retail quality job.

It will pass as a wholesale repair on a used (or even new) car lot, but shouldn't be confused with retail work.

It is just not accurate enough.

I don't look at light's and reflector boards in only one way. (see my post on Deloreans)

So now you know why I don't like that many lines on my reflector board and you just learned one thing that many PDR students are paying money for.

I tried to keep this short because you know I love this stuff and I could go into much, much more detail but like I said last time, that could take a book.

I'd like to help you with a repair need that you might have

so feel free to call or stop by the SMOOTH A DENT shop located on Sunbeam Rd. in beautiful Jacksonville Florida.

Michael Parks

SMOOTH A DENT

904-347-1065

4533 Sunbeam Rd.

Jacksonville, Fl. 32257

"What's the Light For?"

In the Paintless Dent Removal process, proper lighting and reflection is very important for a quality end result. This is an image of a lighting system similar to one that I use daily.

There was a customer in the Smooth A Dent shop the other day and I was showing him some "before/after" photos. He asked me a question that I had really never even considered some one thinking about.

He said "What's the light for?" What a Great Question!

He was talking about that light band that passes through the dented area you see in many of my photos.

When I am personally showing some one different ways to read a dent and make repairs I explain the light thoroughly. But when expecting customers to see a dent in a photo and use the light, it is assumed. That's not right!

So here you go. I will keep this to a minimum and not get into the training part (mostly because much of how many PDR training facilities teach students to use the light or reflector board is flawed and leads to low quality repairs like you might find on a car lot. To straighten all that out would require a book! or at least a video!)

Simply put, the light or reflector board that you see in the reflection is only there in photos to highlight and or distinguish the area from any other background reflections such as trees, grass, buildings etc. Many times, without that light band or reflector board being in the photo, it would be difficult to see the dent in that photo as well as it can be seen in person.

Look through these photo pages on the SMOOTH A DENT website. You will see many that have either the light or reflector board in them reflecting on the vehicle surface. Some photos didn't need that aid and you won't see them.

Here is a picture of a reflector board similar to the one that I use. (I don't like that many lines on mine)

This type of device is usually used in circumstances where surrounding light is plentiful and just needs to be "reflected" onto the vehicle surface.

Thanks go to the Customer who asked this question. I appreciate it!

If you have a question about Paintless Dent Removal let me know. Maybe I can address it for everyone's benefit.

Michael Parks

SMOOTH A DENT

4533 Sunbeam Rd.

Jacksonville, Fl. 32257

www.smoothadent.com

904-347-1065

Do It Yourself Paintless Dent Repair?

That's right. This can be the result of DIY Dent Removal!

And you know I can't always blame a guy for trying, but come on! Wouldn't you think of stopping after say the 2nd or 3rd time you almost push your screwdriver through the metal?!

I know people want and need to save money, so I really did understand. He just took it a little too far!

The rest of the car wasn't in the best of shape anyway and he just didn't want it to look wrecked.

I actually applaud him for bringing it in and admitting this was the result of his own handy work.

Anyway since there was no way that this was going to be perfect again I made him a great deal of a price (about $100 I think it was) to make it look like this.

No it really isn't perfect. The photo makes it look a little better than it was I think, but it did come out very nice. I also re-attached his wheel well trim and didn't sweat the minor blemishes. It was exactly what he wanted and now I don't have to worry about him driving around town with people looking at it the way it was and thinking "my God is that what paintless dent repair looks like?!"
Because it isn't or at least it shouldn't be.

Stop by and see me. I'd love to help you with a repair need that you might have.
(But lets keep this stuff to a minimum)

Mike Parks

Paintless Dent Removal on a DeLorean

DeLorean!

There were only about 9,000 of these made so

Paintless Dent Removal on a DeLorean is not a common thing but it is interesting so I thought I would share this with you today.

The owner of this DeLorean was concerned about finding someone for paintless dent repairs and rightfully so.

He was not only the owner of this beautiful car but a Concours show Judge as well!

You see, this car is not painted and polished like other cars. In fact it is not painted at all. Therefore it does not have the same reflective properties across it's surface as other cars.

It is also made of stainless steel and the surface is brushed or "grained".

These things make a Paintless Dent Repair on a DeLorean a more challenging, or at least different task than for other cars.

Apparently when production ceased there were to be 2,000 spare body parts to help with future needs. It wasn't until later that it was discovered there were not any extra left fenders!

This makes replacement of a left fender a very expensive (read $6,000) option. And yes this car had a dent in it's left fender as well as several on the top of the gull wing door.

I learned alot more about DeLoreans that day and have a whole new appreciation for them.

I was glad the owner choose me for the repairs (I think he was also)

If you are interested in training and would like to learn the Paintless
Dent Repair trade, SMOOTH A DENT can help you with that.

I would love to show you what I know and help you on your way to making smooth repairs.

Mike Parks

SMOOTH A DENT

http://www.smoothadent.com/

904-347-1065

Paintless Dent Removal Tips & Information

I was called to this customers home to make bumper and door repairs to his Infinity QX56.

After looking it over I could see it also had about 30 hail dents in the hood.

We discussed the needed repairs and, since I was already there, we agreed on a discounted price to remove all. (see previous post name
"We All Win!" for this discussion)

So here the hood is open and this is what the under side looks like.

All of these plastic clips (there are more than a dozen on this hood) must come off so that the liner can

be removed.

This is an interesting view that most people never get to see, if their hood is equipped with a liner. (There are of course some differences between vehicles but most are similar to this.)

Now with the liner removed you can see the structure underneath and that it is likely there will be many dents that are more difficult to access because of this.

(Remember; each dent is repaired individually from the backside)

A few hours later and all repairs, including the doors and bumper, are complete and this customer never had to leave home!

Mike Parks

SMOOTH A DENT

904-347-1065

www.smoothadent.com

Paintless Dent Repair Tips & Information

"So how is Paintless Dent Repair done any how?"

I am frequently asked this type of question.

There are a lot of misconceptions about exactly how it is done and the methods used to provide a quality dent repair without having to re-paint or use auto body filler on your car.

When meeting with a customer about their car and it's dents I do try to help them understand what it is I will do (that is if they seem to be interested).

From now on, with each post, I will try to do some explaining of the "how I did this" and "why I did that" when I make a repair.

First, let's get rid of this one right away.

Dents do not just "pop" out like magic.

Over the years I have completed literally 10's of thousands of individual dent repairs and of those only about half a dozen or so have just completely popped out. It's rare.

Yes you can use a suction of some sort to pull on a dent but don't count on your dent going away completely. And by that I mean to the degree that you would pay for it.

Usually when I do it there is still some of the dent left to be worked on to finish the job.

Also you must be careful that when you pull on the dent that it does not wrinkle the metal. If that happens it can make things alot more difficult. Sometimes I am working a dent and it seems like it wants to just pop out but, given the shape or location, I have to resist that until the right time during the repair process.

I hope that these posts will give you, the customer, a better understanding of the PaintFree Dent Repair process.

And I hope they will help you PDR technicians, that are looking for more information, provide better repairs.

Mike Parks

SMOOTH A DENT

904-347-1065

PDR - Ferrari's and Tundra's and Jag's, Oh My!

Paintless Dent Removal in Jacksonville, Florida on another beautiful day and I get to work on this Ferrari, Tundra, Jaguar, combo.

The Ferrari had a small ding in the 1/4 panel and each door.

The customer and I were glad that we didn't have to completly remove the wheel liner (they are fiberglass and fit very well!).

Next I went over to repair a new Nissan Tundra at the customers office.

It had a dent on the tail gate right above the handle.

The access for this repair was made by removing the access panel on the tail gate, then removing the gate itself.

I was really at this next customers house to fix his Mercedes SL (but that doesn't sound right with the title of this post). His Jaquar was in the garage and I noticed it had a small outward dent in the 1/4 panel so I just took care of that for him (I felt bad because he hadn't even noticed it but now I could tell it would bother him)

Three beautiful vehicles!

I love my job!

Mike Parks

SMOOTH A DENT

904-347-1065

Thanksgiving Paintless Dent Repair in Jacksonville Florida

Thanksgiving Paintless Dent Repair in Jacksonville Florida.

This would be a good time to share an experience I recently had with a customer, a customer I learned something from.

1st, I have to tell you that I really liked this family. They were genuine and real. Not pretentious at all and willing to help others. I admire them a great deal.

I was at their not so new or costly home working on some not so new or costly vehicles.

But these cars meant a lot to them and they wanted to keep them looking and running as good as they could.

Here is what "did it" for me.

Here is what I will never forget about this visit.

One of them said to me that "we would never be able to have all that we have now if we had not moved here" from (another state).

Keep in mind that all three of these cars were probably not worth more than $2000 total and yet these people were so grateful to have them and their home.

They didn't complain about what other people have or what they couldn't afford, they were just very glad for what they did have.

It really got me thinking.

On a daily basis I work on some very expensive automobiles for some very wealthy people.

I think I will try and be more like this family and give more thanks for what I already have.

I'll start right now.

"I am thankful that my own 16 year old truck with almost 250,000 miles is still running and looking good enough to represent me and my service in a professional manner."

That wasn't so hard.

Now you try it.

Mike Parks

SMOOTH A DENT

http://www.smoothadent.com

904-347-1065

Paintless Dent Repair & The Why?

Well, here's the other end of the scale of a previous posting

titled "If it won't be Smooth....."

Many times the dents and dings that customers are having repaired are pretty small.

Look at some of these door ding photos.

For most people, at least some of these dents are the kind you probably wouldn't fix at all if you had to go to a body shop for an expensive conventional repair.

But if you are going to use a PDR provider and all you are going to get is a repair that just makes your dent look different (even if it is cheaper than other methods) then why do it at all?

Think about it.

You have a problem on your door. You pay to have it fixed. You still have a problem on your door but now it just looks different.

Not smaller, not really better, just different.

It doesn't make sense to pay for a repair like that.

The whole reason for doing it is to make the

ding go away & save money. Right?

I'm sure that there are some Paint- Free Dent Repair providers out there that can give you a very nice repair.

But why risk it.

There is no upside for you to use another PDR provider.

So that is why I say "If it won't be smooth, why bother?"

Stay smooth.

Mike Parks

SMOOTH A DENT

904-347-1065