My baby got hailed on - Where to get it fixed?

[microslave]

So my Z4 just ran a gauntlet of the QE2, with MLB pitchers lined up on either side throwing baseballs at my car...

...and by that I mean, my car was victim of last weeks huge hail storm north of Airdrie.

The insurance adjuster came out, said my hood, and trunk need to be replaced and repainted. Along with some other ding fixes.

...Just wondering where I should take my little baby to get fixed?

I've heard Screamin' Paintworks or Maranello's are two of the favorites...

Anyone have any info/stories to add?

[KRyn]

The search button should provide you with some answers..

[teggypimp95]

Maranellos FTW.

[JGerke]

PDR for some of them possibly?

[PINOY-X]

try talkin to TomcoPDR on here

[SilverGS]

You can contact TomcoPDR but he is really busy outside of Calgary at the moment

[benyl]

Marinellos is booking into October...

[microslave]

I think all reputable shoppings are booking into late September or October. I was more worried about horror stories or the like.

I'd rather drive around with some ding's for a bit and have it fixed right.

[scat19]

definately maranellos.... the person who hit me did NOT want to go to marranellos, too expensive, but it was my choice and i had to my ins company to fight for my right to go there, anyway, you get what you pay for.

coiles notes = maranello ftw

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by JGerke
PDR for some of them possibly?

Originally posted by PINOY-X
try talkin to TomcoPDR on here

Originally posted by SilverGS
You can contact TomcoPDR but he is really busy outside of Calgary at the moment

Hey thanks for the support.

Right now, it's a cluster frick freak show for people calling themselves "Paintless Dent Repair guys"... pretty much anyone of you can apply for a City license, AMVIC license, print up some business cards, buy some dent tools off Ebay; walk into a dealership claiming you "fix dents" and you'd get a job/contract.

With that said, I'm hopping all over the place (one week here and there, chasing the hail from town to town, etc...)

With all my articles trying to scare other Calgary dent guys to produce good quality doesn't apply this year... right now the problem is that there's a huge US company (who trains by the hundreds) we call them McDent... as far as we know (top player Canadian PDR companies) we're thinking they are here working illegally or some Canadian push-over legal loop hole where they have 1-2 Canadian P.O. box location and now all of a sudden "transfers 2000 employees from US to Cdn" and all they do is go into a dealership under bid and crank up the dents and get the frick outta town, my town ; some dealerships either don't care (just want the claim settle) or right now in Alberta we're so short of dent guys (and bodyshops are busy to properly take on hail repairs too; correct me if I'm wrong)... BUT when the dust settles, people purchasing showroom new cars right now might eventually notice poor PDR work (crack paint, uneven oragne-peel paint texture compare to factory, missed dents, wavy panel in straight line)... well guess what, I guess the local PDR guys will be stuck to get the blame hearing about PDR is a scam, PDR doesn't work, PDR guys make quick money, etc... etc...

In regards to the OP... I've seen the Airdire stuff, some of them will not be PDR repairable, OR, it requires the proper technician who cares about their work. But honestly, right now, it's a bad time to get your PERSONAL hail damage claim using PDR, as there're a lot of out of Country, out of province companies coming in trying to grab da $$$ and then getting out. (YES, our team drives all over Canada which fits this profile, HOWEVER, everyone from our team lives and represents from different Provinces; which makes each Province bound to be someone's backyard from our crew)

Most likely your insurance adjustor is correct where you'll need to replace the hood and trunk, BUT hopefully the bodyshop you choose will have a dent guy in there to "push out" most of the dents before the bodyman put a thinner body filler on it. (otherwise, when I was younger doing bodywork, I remember just putting Bondo over every dent on hail damage; without banging out the dents, just Bondo level the panel...)

Sorry I honestly can't say more in terms of "where to avoid"... just trying to respect the dealerships, insurance companies with personal claims where they're sending "YOU GUYS" to, and the few "quality" dent guys... Breaks my heart that some cars will not be fixed properly, but I'm just one guy, working for one team. (and our team isn't a huge corporation with 100000 employees)

In sum, if "YOU" were going to get your personal vehicle fixed using PDR right now, make sure you ask lots of questions to the PDR guy/gal/shop, look over the vehicle they're working on UNDER THE FLOURSCENT LIGHTS while they're working, rotate yourself to the panel (where the dents WERE) up and down and all around, just hawk-eye their work like a 30 year old body-builder staring at a high school girl partying at a rave like it's nineteen----ninty----nine (1999). Edit: to be fair, just so everyone knows, we the crew I work for sets up, EVERYONE is more than welcome to look over our work; as sometimes we're set up in showrooms, wash bays, bodyshop, mechanic shop, even when repair is off dealer site; we encourage anyone working at the dealership to look over our work. (as compare to some companies who just grabs the cars, drive to their shop, brings them back "claims" they're finish and hope for the best of public quality ignorance)

Also you might want to ask your insurance the allowable repair time (most hail cases, espeically massive claim year like this... they'll give you a full 1 year to get it fix)... might as well wait out the "building boom" (or fixing boom in our case) frenzy... better chance of getting quality and proper service. Wait till other dent shops (or even me ) have slowed down, and be able to pace ourselves.

^^^ anybody with a local shop that has a problem with me saying that (waiting till every shop slows down, because quality is at risk right now), let me know, my boss know, the guy who pulled me back into the industry know... and we will be happy to do a courtesy quality check on behave of the customer anytime.

Sorry can't be home to help out for the time being... thanks for all who are still waiting for my door ding services (and to my best knowledge, I highly doubt any decent quality dent guys/shops will have time to provide good priced door ding services). It's your money though as long as you're happy.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by microslave

I'd rather drive around with some ding's for a bit and have it fixed right.

Sorry, missed this one... best response for the OP