Google merely brings up websites, it is up to the reader to evaluate the quality of the sites.
Clueless, your problem isn’t with auto body shops or even medical professionals.
Your problem is your admitted ignorance on these matters, and resulting anxiety about that ignorance.
Here’s the truth: I don’t know much about how body shop work is done, nor about most medical issues or procedures. And I don’t have to know, because I trust the professionals to handle these kinds of issues for me. That’s why they do what they do, and get the training and resulting compensation for their time/expertise.
Will you potentially get “taken” on some of these tasks? Sure, it’s not a 0% chance. But here’s the more certain thing: You are making this far harder than it needs to be in an attempt to control the outcome.
Take the car to the body shop, hand them the keys, and let them call you when it’s ready. It really is that simple. Trust them to know what they’re doing, because you don’t. That’s why you pay a professional to do a job for you.
Good luck.
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OMG. That’s asinine.
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What do you think will be worse, selling/trading a vehicle with obvious damage that has bad enough dents in the roof that you are so worried about that you have made at least 2 topics about it, OR a properly repaired roof, that to the average person will never know anything happened but shows up on Carfax as a tree limb fell on the roof and it was repaired, but now looks factory??
Again, we have not seen the damage, you could be over exaggerating the issue like you do with a lot of post and you did when running to the doctors every time something happened…
At the end of the day, it is your vehicle, your money and your decision…
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A lot depends on how thick the layer of filler is. My father’s '63 Plymouth got its trunk lid dented when someone rear-ended it at low speed. Luckily, nothing else was damaged.
After getting a couple of estimates that he thought were too high, he used a body shop that quoted a much lower price. It looked good initially, but after a year or so, cracks developed in the filled-in area and–of course–those cracks were visible through the new paint.
This was a case where it would have made more sense to replace the trunk lid, rather than slathering a much too thick layer of filler on the dents.
Leaving the dents there will devalue the car more, obviously.
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If something happens in the future to dent that area again, would it cause the filler to break away and expose the original dents? That could get quite messy.
Based on how they seem to consider anything that can only be repaired to less than original condition to be a totaled vehicle, wouldn’t your vehicle be considered totaled? Like like if the frame is pushed in 1/2" in the back, and it can be fixed on the outside so you can’t see it and it still drives fine, they consider it totaled since fixing the body or frame would exceed the value of the vehicle, and they insist on fixing the frame back like it was.
Can’t you cash out? Just keep the cash value of the repair estimate and not fix it.
I would want some kind of warranty on the work. What if it starts chipping apart in 5 years? Then what do you do?
That makes no sense. Sure, have another accident, have to fix it again. That’s a reason not to fix it? Nope.
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I was just thinking that at some point the car may get older and people may decide to switch to minimum liability insurance. I saw a child run over the top of a car. It bunt the roof down but the metal returned to its original shape. Or what if the owner wants to strap something to the roof? What happens now if there is dent filler up there? If they are small dents I suppose it would be all right.
@TheWonderful90s Just once would you post something logical ? There is no frame damage here .
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Why wouldn’t they pull the dents out to return it to original condition rather than put some filler material in there?
My good friend told me the same thing. His car looked like a mess within a year after it was filled.
I’m going to check around for a paintless repair shop to get a second opinion.
And for those asking for a photo of the damages, I’ve tried to get the dents showed up in photos but couldn’t. Some damages are better seen with your naked eyes.
If you know that you will dent the car before you sell it, then don’t fix it. If you sell without fixing the dents, that will lower the value of the car by the amount it costs to fix it. OTOH, if you delay fixing the dents now, your insurer might not cover it later.
[quote=“davesmopar, post:24, topic:195245”]
you could be over exaggerating the issue like you do with a lot of post and you did when running to the doctors every time something happened…
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If Google was a reliable search engine, wouldn’t we all just google our stuff to find what we’re looking for ? There wouldn’t be sites such as Reddit, Quora and other social platforms aimed at sharing experience and knowledge.
When I googled a health issue and read a supposedly well informed article on the matter, I saved it so my doctor could read it. When I mentioned to my doctor that this article might have had the answer we were looking for, he deliberately refused to read the article and said Google is the worst place to go to for reliable information.
I used to self-diagnose my car problems by using google and then go to the dealer with the information I had gathered. Every single time the dealer would tell me the article was misinformed.
Exaggeration? Definitely not, otherwise I wouldn’t sign up for CarTalk.
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I just look at Reddit and Quora if I need a good laugh 
I can’t take those very seriously
And the dealership people were correct for telling you that
Many people find stuff online, assume it MUST apply to their vehicles, when in fact what they found is for a different model, wrong engine, different model year, different option package, etc. So they’ve wasted their own time and everybody else’s time, as well
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A couple of my doctors have essentially said the same thing.
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In the old days they used lead as a filler. If you could still find an old guy that could do that, the price would at least triple. That’s where the term lead sled came from. It was an art.
I have seen cracked filler and also rust developing under the filler. Metal expands and contracts. Filler absorbs water until it is sealed and painted. It’s like asking if a cake is good. Depends on the baker and ingredients. I’m pretty sure there is some plastic filler already used in the factory.
I mean no disrespect, but people this fussy may be better to just trade cars. A friend hit a deer and traded rather than have a car that was repaired. They are out there and will drive shops nuts with all the questions and concerns.
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While just web surfing to kill time I saw a article with the head line ( If there are no Stupid questions then why does Quora exist ). After about reading 20 questions I gave up because I had lost all faith in humans.
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Two examples of bad repairs. A well-done repair, using the minimum amount of filler, will last the life of the car.
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Worrying works, 95% of what I worry about never happens 
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