I have gotten a few messages asking me about PDR. What is it, and how does it work? Is it a business I want to get into? How do I train for it? I will try to answer a few of these questions. Hope this helps.
1st Paintless Dent Repair (PDR for short) is basically the process where trained technicians take specialized tools like either Rods or Hand tools and get under the dent and slowly massage the dent out. We do this by relieving the stress points in the metal. A dent is, after all, streched metal. As the name implies, we don't paint the car, this is not bodyshop work, we don't drill holes in the dent and pop it out. To give you an example of what I would do, lets say I have a customer with a door ding that they recieved in a parking lot where someone parked next to them opened a door and caused a little nick and dent in the car. What I would do is take a door tool, stick it down the window and slowly push the dent out to where it is totally invisible to the naked eye, because in PDR, in most cases you can completely eliminate the dent. Unlike in windshield repair, where you might have a small blemish left.
2nd What can you fix with PDR? PDR is designed for small dings and damage. If someone has a collapsed panel or the dent is larger then lets say a dollar bill then probably they should have body work done. Now their are some techs who can repair very large size damage. Techs of this skill are very rare, PDR is very much an art form and requires a tremendous amount of practice. Most door dings or small damage can be fixed by PDR. The thing I like about PDR is virtually every car on the road has some type of dent in it. Another thing that PDR is used for is hail repair. Hail repair involving PDR is very beneficial for insurance companies. They really prefer this to conventional body work because body work can be very expensive. Insurance companies would rather pay 60% to 75% of a conventinal body job, using PDR. Hail work is very specialized because when doing hail work, a car can take anywhere from 2 days to 1 week to work on. You are looking at from 400 to 1000 dents on a hail car. Granted some area's of the country don't get hail, so many techs chase hail. They go around the country following hail storms.
Most hail teams won't let you join them unless you have about 2 years experience doing door dings. A good hail chaser can make easily $150,000 a year no problem.
The only downside is if you have a family it can be hard on them. 
3rd How do I train to get into PDR? Well you have a few options, some companies will train for PDR, however in most cases you are going to need to sign a 2 year commitment with them, and you get to do all the grunt work. You are also on straight commision, so don't expect to make much money until after your 2 year training period is done. The other option is to go to a school for PDR. Most schools will offer a 4 week program to learn the very, very basics of PDR. Cost involved to do a 4 week course on PDR start at about $8,000 dollars to train, plus lodging. Most of these schools are good, however don't expect after 4 weeks to be able to do a retail job. You are just beginning. You will need to spend at least 5 months after school practicing on junker cars for a few hours everday. After you have practiced about that amount of time, then you are probably ready to do retail work. PDR techs are in very high demand, however it isn't very easy to learn how to do it. An experienced PDR tech would make it look easy, however they have been doing it a long time. I personaly know a Hail Chaser who only worked 7 months last year and make $250,000 last year.
4th Is it a business I would like to get into? Don't know thats up to you. Make sure if you do, you are willing to spend a lot of time practicing your new trade. There are a lot of hacks out in the PDR industry. Also some schools will try to convince you that a 1 or 2 week course will get you ready, trust me, if you do fall for that you will be out of the industry within a few months of getting out of the school because customers won't be happy with your work. If you do decide to practice and practice and practice and get good at PDR get ready for an awsome income. Virtually every car on the road has a dent in it. Also when hail does happen, there are so few hail techs out there they they demand very top dollar. Most hail techs make minimum 4 to 5 grand a week. You could also decide you only want to do door dings, very profitable income because just doing door dings in your area could make you over 100 grand a year, great addition to your windshield repair business. Remember every area of the country needs PDR techs, if you are willing to put in the time and money to learn it. If you have any questions please post a reply. Thanks, hope this helps out to those who had questions.
David
Coitster
