One of the first questions we hear at our Wishart workshop is simple: how much will this cost to fix? It's a fair question, and the honest answer is that paintless dent removal (PDR) is priced per job rather than off a fixed menu. Below is a plain-English guide to what actually drives the price, so you know what to expect before you call.

What affects the price of a PDR repair

Three things matter most:

1. The size of the dent

A small door ding the size of a five-cent coin is quick to work and sits at the lower end. A larger dent the size of your palm takes longer and costs more, because the metal has to be coaxed back gradually to avoid stressing the paint.

2. Where the dent is

Access is everything in PDR. A dent in the middle of a flat door is straightforward to reach from behind. A dent on a brace, a panel edge, or a double-skinned section (like some bonnets and tailgates) takes more time and specialised tools, which lifts the price.

3. How many dents there are

A single ding is priced on its own. Hail damage — where a roof or bonnet can carry dozens of small dents — is assessed across the whole panel, and we'll usually quote per panel rather than per dent.

How PDR compares to a panel shop

The reason people choose PDR is that it's almost always cheaper than traditional panel beating, often by a wide margin. A conventional repair involves filling, sanding, priming and repainting, plus the labour hours that go with each step. PDR skips all of that — there's no paint, no filler, and no booth time — so you're paying for skilled hands and tools, not materials and respray.

For many small dents, the PDR cost comes in under what a comprehensive insurance excess would be, which is why a lot of customers simply pay out of pocket and leave their no-claim bonus untouched.

Why we don't quote a flat price online

A dent that looks identical in two photos can behave very differently once we see it in person — the depth, whether the paint is stretched, and what's behind the panel all change the approach. Any business quoting a firm price sight-unseen is guessing. We'd rather look at a clear photo (or the car itself) and give you an accurate number with no surprises.

The fastest way to get a price

Send us a couple of well-lit photos of the damage — one straight on and one at an angle so we can see the depth — along with your suburb and the make and model. We'll come back with a quote, and an honest "yes, we can fix that with PDR" or "this one really needs a body shop." There's never any obligation.