Hail PDR - KhS Automotive Solutions, are they any good?

[88CRX]

Being referred to "Know How Solutions" by my insurance company and their reviews online seem less than stellar. They're actually all shitty.

Anyone have any feedback on them thats used them recently?

[lilmira]

Why not take the car to a shop with good reputation? It shouldn't cost you an extra dime. I went through the same thing last year and took my car to a shop I trust instead.

[NRGie]

They did work on my brother's car about 2 years back when cross iron/airdrie got hit hard.

They finished his car in a few days and the repair made it look just like new (it actually was new, only 5000km). Only complaint, there was a miscommunication with the rental company, so my brother was left without a rental. I guess when you get a 1000 customers overnight due to a storm, some things can get overlooked.

Td has me going to them for an appraisal on my vehicle in about 2 weeks, I'll update when i get more info

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I used them and it wasn't great or bad (TD at the time). The PDR techs are average from the work I saw, nothing stellar.

[ExtraSlow]

Had no issues with them on a previous hail claim through TDMM. They are a very high volume place, so I'm sure they have a variety of skill levels. One thing though is that if you aren't happy, your insurance company (probably) will warranty the work and pay for any re-work.

If you aren't pleased with them, ask your insurance company if they have anyone else on preferred list. Or yes, you should also be able to get it done anywhere, although if you choose a shop that's not on the list, your insurance company may not provide you with warranty, you'd have to deal with the shop directly.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

http://www.calgarydentrepair.com

Brian and Sasha are very very good at what they do. I use them for de-denting almost all of our trucks we export. They would be my go to guys for my personal vehicle no questions asked.

[dj_rice]

WHY no-one recommend TomCoPDR? HE NO DO GOOD WORK HOW COME?

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by dj_rice
WHY no-one recommend TomCoPDR? HE NO DO GOOD WORK HOW COME?

Thanks thanks for the props, appreciate the loyalty.

Frankly and openly. I'm actually disappointed at the way this industry's turned into.

Basically (at time of this post 2016), we're not competing for quality, service anymore with hail. It's just about business 2 business relationship, and big corp's grabbing multi million dollar deals based on cheap volume pricing and avalaiblity of manpower promise to nation wide big insurance or nation wide bodyshop chains to partner with.

So comes down to I'm basically a 12345 Alberta contractor Inc. which 9/10 of professional hail pdr techs are, and we'll just carry multiple t-shirts of different big pdr corps in our suitcases in the work truck. :rofl: If Corp A has great gig (good bid, easy damage, etc...) all about internal industry networking, so we'd just beg the pdr service advisor of that Corp A to get us a spot or see if we got any work friends there to squeeze us in. If the work sucks (poor estimates, poor management, etc...) we'd just remove a t-shirt, and slap on a t-shirt from someone else. No different of what a dealership (or big bodyshop) mechanic or bodyman would do, it's just work.

For the past few years I've honestly tried to contact a few local Calgary detail/door ding shops to see if they'd be interested sliding into this Beyond PDR spot (Eco Dent included). I'm sorry, honestly, nobody wants or needs this Beyond $100 door ding spot. When it's been basically hailing yearly, don't even need to impress any single consumer anymore. (not saying this in a cocky way, I'm still a contractor where insurance and big pdr corps would hire me with just a text away; we individually are still known to be good/shitty techs within our internal system/past experience with each other)

Yes, kinda sucks for the public, you're bringing your car into a big corp, and cars are assigned by their PDR service advisor (so a shitty tech could be brother in law or son of the pdr service advisor, etc. So typical company politics at play, lol)

In the words of my Beyond hero InRich, basically I make more $$$ being a skilled contractor going for highest bidder to these big corps... than to impress single individuals even if I owned and purchased my own warehouse shop.

It's an adapt or die situation. I also feel my skills are better served and efficient under a big corp (I do appreciate their advantages over the disadvantages, I'm just pushing dents, big corp handles other admin, paperwork, bad customers, etc...)


I am sorry Beyond, I've tried (since 2006), but I've failed you all as a (small) business. If I grew bigger and bigger I personally don't like the fact that I can't control quality of "my guys", but doing small Beyond work, just doesn't make sense for me... where I've accounted for home service lowered pricing (but then biting me in ass some of you thinks I'm a backyard mechanic, while humbly but proudly speaking I'm still higher seniority within this industry; don't have proof, just circle of industry good old boys club inner circle), friendly (and spending more time) type of service (proven in past posts on very reasonable prices, and some of you even did 2-3 secret quotes elsewhere). But to a point some of you, well ONE of you, pulled the open-wallet sorry Thomas I didn't bring cash on me. (you know who you are, yes, I've waited for the perfect thread to vent this, lol... haha whatever, happens all the time... but you really stuck out from $60 bucks agreed before work began, to me settling $20 for lunch money, but pulling the open empty wallet, lol; love it actually)

I still do very much enjoy being a Beyond member, with career as "dent pusher, for many and all big PDR hail corps" title. Met a lot of friends here, hang out with a lot of you, avoid some of you assholes lol, and everybody else in between. And of course for car lovers and the likes, of course eventually I do connect with those pdr worshipping clients in my private personal time off (be it market value pay, competitor invoice, dinner date, etc...)

[TomcoPDR]

I'd say in the non hail season I'm still a pretty chill member to hang with for chill peeps.

Come pay me for some dents, watch me work, watch some tv... tell me stories, listen to my 50yo white ass rant about the good old days, etc... etc...

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r95/Tomcompany/01bb3dfd2c9863edc84ef426001dd89a00d74bfabc_zpsvh2lulkj.jpg~original

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r95/Tomcompany/012510e56ff1d3d03b8ec108a8238850665e943769_zps7idrsqi6.jpg~original

[JustinMCS]

I had great work done by TomCo on two of my previous cars - but he's a busy one these days and so I go to Dent Boss now. They are great! :)

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by JustinMCS
I had great work done by TomCo on two of my previous cars - but he's a busy one these days and so I go to Dent Boss now. They are great! :)

Think Bob and Darcy made enough $$$ and probably retired now. You musta not had much work needed for quite some time then. http://dentboss.com

[SCHIDER23]

Lmao chill Thomas , garage is looking great :)

[max_boost]

Originally posted by dj_rice
WHY no-one recommend TomCoPDR? HE NO DO GOOD WORK HOW COME? VIP only. Noobs need not apply. PFY lol

[88CRX]

I've harasses Tom multiple times to fix some door dings on my s2k to no avail. Assume he's to busy these days which is fine.

Getting the car appraised this afternoon at KhS.

[JustinMCS]

Originally posted by TomcoPDR


Think Bob and Darcy made enough $$$ and probably retired now. You musta not had much work needed for quite some time then. http://dentboss.com

Yeah, I just noticed this. Sounds like they closed recently, all their signs are still up at their shop though. Darn! It's good to not need work done on your personal car though, that means it is ding free :)

[zipdoa]

Holy shit - TomcoPDR is a G!

Gonna park in the NE just for an excuse to come see that garage.

[M.alex]

Run from KHS - they're TD's go-to volume chop shop. I've never heard anybody speak positive of them.

My dad's car got pounded by hail - went to ECODent and was 110% satisfied. I would definitely use Sasha/Brian for any of my cars (http://www.calgarydentrepair.com/).

I've heard good things about DNT but didn't have that favorable an experience there (maybe new owners, I don't know) - i had to re-align my own body panels because I wasn't satisfy with the gapping after the repair and they gave my dad a quote that was 3x higher than KHS and ECODent.

[civicrider]

I just picked up one of these units for PDR, seems to work pretty good on the smaller stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cP6StA5VYg

[Chandler_Racing]

TD referred me to KHS as well - quite nervous going to them to be honest.

A co-worker also is going in for repairs this Friday so I'm interested to see the quality or lack thereof KHS offers.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by M.alex
Run from KHS - they're TD's go-to volume chop shop. I've never heard anybody speak positive of them.



Hey hey come on now the original know how systems owner is a multi millionaire just like you. Sold it to dent wizard last year for (rumour) $50 mil https://www.dentwizard.com/in-the-news/dent-wizard-international-corporation-acquires-khs-global.aspx

Don't hate the playa... :poosie:

[Mibz]

I'm going to CarStar for hail claim. We'll see how it goes. I'm not too worried either way. Fuck this car.

[M.alex]

Originally posted by Chandler_Racing
TD referred me to KHS as well - quite nervous going to them to be honest.

A co-worker also is going in for repairs this Friday so I'm interested to see the quality or lack thereof KHS offers.

My understanding is KHS rebates money back to TD at year end. So it's in TD's interest to send them as much work as possible (because they'll get more funds back at end of year)and thus it's in KHS interest to pound out the work as fast to compensate for fund flowback

[01RedDX]

.

[JustinMCS]

BMW sent me to Dent Clinic today across from SHAW GMC to remove a little ding and they did a great job in 20-30 mins. Quite a busy shop with quite a few techs.

[88CRX]

Booked in with ECO Dent for mid-October (earliest they can fit me in).

Not dealing with potential issues at KHS. Funny enough KHS can get me in next week, seems odd haha.

[JustinMCS]

Originally posted by 88CRX
Booked in with ECO Dent for mid-October (earliest they can fit me in).

Not dealing with potential issues at KHS. Funny enough KHS can get me in next week, seems odd haha.

The reviews are absolutely horrible. I wouldn't even give them a chance!

[Pacman]

I had an appraisal done at KHS last year. I'm not sure exactly how they are setup, but I got the impression that all of the staff are pulled in from the US and simply bounce around between cities over North America following hail storms. I spoke with a few of the PDR techs that indicated none of them were full time employees and were contractors who set up shop with KHS and once the high volume of repairs were done, they would be working for a different outfit in a different city.

It may not necessarily be a bag thing, but any positive or negative reviews probably don't mean much as the chances are high it's a different group of staff this time around.

They are very high volume. They had a warehouse in the NE with lots of cars all being worked on. They were processing estimates 5 cars at a time.

I ended up negotiating a cash payout with TDMM vs getting the car fixed as the payout amount was not far off what I had actually paid for the car.

Was it the S2000 that got hit?

[88CRX]

Originally posted by Pacman


Was it the S2000 that got hit?

Nope. It was the TLX.

I would have been livid if the S2K had been nailed... but it stays parked when there is rain in the forecast to avoid any chance for hail and that shit.

[jonsey737]

AMA sent me to KHS back in 2012. They had just setup shop literally that day and got my car in the same day as the estimate and arranged for a rental car.

I'm no expert but the work seemed good to me and they got it back to me in the quoted time. One of the PDR techs took the time to demo the technique to me which was cool to see.

Maybe I got lucky with a good tech?

[The_Penguin]

I'll be watching this thread, as my Caddy got messed up at Park & Jet at the end of July.
Appointment next week with Intact for an appraisal.
2 of the big dents just above the windshield cracked the paint, so at least some paint work, so likely back to Contemporary South for some of the work, depending on what insurance says.

My only dent experience was a nasty creased dent on my hood when a plastic storage box jumped off a shelf in my garage. Canadian Dent in the SE near the Deerfoot Casino did a really good job on it.

[Peyto]

Originally posted by Pacman
I had an appraisal done at KHS last year. I'm not sure exactly how they are setup, but I got the impression that all of the staff are pulled in from the US and simply bounce around between cities over North America following hail storms. I spoke with a few of the PDR techs that indicated none of them were full time employees and were contractors who set up shop with KHS and once the high volume of repairs were done, they would be working for a different outfit in a different city.


TD also sent me to them for an appraisal last year. The advisor I was working with was from Missouri and actually was quite good and very thorough. I imagine YMMV. However, I chose to get the work completed by Screamin'. I gave them the KHS appraisal and they took care of the rest. It was a $10K+ job so I didn't want to roll the dice with a place I didn't know much about.

[The_Penguin]

So the Caddy is booked in at Contemporary Coachworks South. They're farming out the PDR to Hail Specialists, then they'll be doing the parts that need paint later.

[Ashers]

My GLK was parked at the airport employee lot with the July hail storm and got nailed. AMA sent me to Dent Clinic NW for the appraisal. They're quoting $2500 to repair, which I honestly don't believe that it could be so little. I have 69 dents to the hood, 7 to the roof, 4 on the right roof rail, 3 on the left roof rail, and "1 to 5 on every other panel." None have broken the paint, but the hood has some decent dents to it, the rest are visible in the right light kinda deal. AMA recommends KHS (which right away I'm going to avoid, thanks guys!), PDR Hail Team, Dent Squad, or Dent clinic. Any recommendations? Or should I see if I can get in with ECODent?