Our Cars
Steve Rothwell’s Honda CR-V.
We all know that sinking feeling when we realise that a silly mistake that took a matter of seconds is going to cost a bundle to put right.
Nothing is more annoying than a selfinflicted dent in metallic paintwork. The ding in my 2013 Honda CR-V was not just a small indentation, but more of a deep line with ripples across the whole front wing. The damage had been caused by a sharp object left in a rubbish sack hanging by the garage door. As I reversed out, the wing of my Honda brushed the rubbish sack and began dragging it along. This has happened in the past, so silly me ignored it and just kept reversing out of the garage.
Only when I inspected the wing afterwards did I appreciate quite how bad the damage was. Taking my Honda to a bodyshop, they would very likely have decided that either a new wing was the best option or a repair would be carried
out using filler. This would then need to be painted and, as with all metallics, the matching of the paint would be very difficult. I would forever look upon the front wing with a disconcerted eye, wondering if anyone else could spot the colour difference. I would probably never park under a streetlight again. Have you noticed how colour variation is exaggerated under streetlights?
My saviour came in the form of Dent Devil Jon Taylor. I’ve known Jon for many years and he performed miracles on my Jaguar S-TYPE in 2006 and my
Honda Civic hybrid in 2007 (neither of which were the result of my silly mistakes, though). When I owned my garage business, he was a familiar face coming in to repair my customers’ little accidents.
I sent Jon a short video of the damage and, at first sight, he was unsure if it could be rectified. Dent Devils has a policy that if the dent isn’t fixed it will not charge. The important factor is that the paint must not be broken and it must be original paint – any repainted areas may not take kindly to hammering.
Shine a light
When Jon turned up to look at the dent in the flesh, he examined it using a large battery light that fixes to the body via a magnet and shines a series of lines onto the damaged area. Using this to establish the areas that need to be repaired, he then highlighted them with a luminous pen to give a good idea of where to start.
Dent Devils normally costs repairs on the size and orientation of the dent and the amount of different sections that need work. Access to the rear of the dent is also a factor. Luckily for me, having stripped off the inner wing, the rear of the dent was easily accessible. Jon said that if he had treated each dent as a separate job, I would have been looking at more than £600. That may sound expensive – and it was a lot more than the £240 that Jon eventually did charge me – but when you consider how much a bodyshop would charge for a new wing and respray, it’s good value. And that’s without considering that the new paint might not match exactly in all lights. The other factor to remember is that, when you sell the motor, the paintwork will still be original, which will add to the value.
Having worked out a plan, Jon set about with the tools of his trade. With the bright light shining on the panel, he began tapping away at the damaged areas. This is not something which is learned overnight, and Jon has been doing this for 17 years now. The Dent Devils training programme is three intensive months at a residential training centre, including homework for the weekends. A tap in the wrong area and the metal will be stretched, rendering any possibility of a repair impossible.
As in the mechanical side of the motor trade there is no legislation that stops anyone from advertising as a mechanic/ dent magician, so if you’re getting in a small local company, you should ensure you get a recommendation first. That cheap repair may prevent a more complete repair from being carried out.
Sheer perfection
With plenty of access on my Honda, Jon didn’t need to use many of the rods in his kit to access the inside of door panels. Neither did he need to use the small pads which he can glue to the outside to pull out dents, after which the glue is dissolved to leave a clean panel. As he gently tapped away, the wing slowly began to return to its former shape. It really is an incredible skill and quite amazing to watch. By the time he’d finished, my wing was back to the way it looked before the rubbish bag incident. In fact, it was better because Jon had also polished it.
Jon is a perfectionist and I have known him to claim that a dent fix is incomplete and that he won’t be charging the client. When I have looked at the job which Jon has not been happy with, I have struggled to see the problem!
Dent Devils has 80 branches throughout the UK. dentdevils.co.uk