Seven Reasons to Get That Dent Fixed Today

Picture this: you’re at your favorite big-box store browsing the electronics department and considering whether you need a larger TV or maybe you’re shopping for a new pair of pants. It doesn’t matter––what matters is that while you’re inside marveling at the 8K HDTV on display or twisting to see yourself in the fitting-room mirror, there’s a shopping cart rocketing across the parking lot and slamming into the rear side panel of your vehicle. Or some obnoxious jerk who parked too close to you let his car door swing wide and smack into your door. No matter how it happens, it happens, and when you come out, a bag full of new pants swinging in rhythm with your carefree gait, everything’s ruined when you discover the dent in your car.

It doesn’t matter if you’re looking at a tiny ding or a more substantial dent; you should get it fixed as soon as possible. As an auto body shop near you, you might think we’re saying this just to drum up business, but the reality is that dents are like anything else when it comes to the maintenance of your vehicle: a small problem today, left unfixed, can become a much bigger deal tomorrow. Still not convinced? Let’s look at some of the main reasons you should have a dent on your car, even a small one, fixed sooner rather than later.

Reason #1 – It’s Unsightly

Sometimes the most obvious reason is still a good reason, so for starters, a ding or dent on your vehicle just looks bad. As a car dealership, we know that great vehicles aren’t exactly cheap, and when you’re putting that much money into something, it’s worth keeping it looking good. It’s not about impressing anyone else––you deserve to drive in a car, truck, or SUV that you feel good about, which is hard to do when you have a big dent in the side of it. Honestly, this isn’t the biggest reason to get that ding repaired, but it’s worth considering.

Reason #2 – Small Problems Are Cheaper to Fix

Beyond the simple aesthetics of the situation, there are numerous reasons to have even a small dent repaired right away, starting with the fact that it’s just that: small. A minor dent can be easy to overlook or ignore, and maybe you don’t care about things like how your vehicle looks––that’s fine. The reality is that a minor issue is pretty much always easier and less expensive to repair than a major issue.

This is true of mechanical things with your vehicle––like having your oil changed rather than replacing a seized engine. It’s also true for stuff like a minor dent on the body of your vehicle. A small dent is a weakness in the construction of your car, and that weakness means it’s now easier for more damage to occur. So a small dent that could be fixed quickly and on the cheap can turn into a much bigger issue that costs more to repair and leaves you without a vehicle for a day or two.

Reason #3 – Dents Can Damage Your Paint

Your vehicle is initially painted when it’s new and freshly constructed, with the body in the proper shape for how it was designed and manufactured. Changes to the shape of that body will create issues with the paint applied to it, and a dent can often create a small gap between the paint and the body where it’s been sprayed on. This means that the paint can start to bubble at the location of a dent or ding and eventually crack and start flaking off. Fixing a dent right away will help you avoid this and ensure your paint job keeps looking good, but even more importantly, it will keep your paint there to protect your vehicle from rust.

Reason #4 – Dents Can Cause Rusting

Speaking of which, here in the Chicago area, rust is one of the biggest enemies for our vehicles and causes tremendous damage to cars. Rust occurs due to the oxidation of metal, which is frequently caused by moisture on a vehicle. The paint on your car isn’t just there to make it look good; by covering the body of your car, the paint actually helps protect it from moisture in order to prevent rust.

When a dent occurs, this protection is now compromised, and the weakness of the ding and potential loss of paint creates the perfect opportunity for moisture to get inside. Once that happens, rust can start to occur, and if it’s not dealt with quickly, it can quickly get out of hand. That minor dent, when left unfixed, results in rust, and small bits of rust left unfixed become bigger and start to eat away at your vehicle creating holes in the body and even the frame. Again, fixing these things early on by having a dent repaired is cheaper and easier––fixing holes caused by rust is costly and much more time-consuming.

Reason #5 – Your Car Is an Investment

Financial experts and planners will tell you that a car isn’t a great investment, at least in terms of seeing any kind of growth or profit from it. That being said, you should still see your vehicle as an investment because it’s one of the biggest purchases most of us make on a semi-regular basis. You should do everything you can to protect that investment and keep your vehicle worth as much as possible. Fixing dents will help maintain a higher resale value for your car, along with avoiding all of the other stuff we’ve talked about so far that can cut into its value.

Reason #6 – Dents Can Indicate Bigger Problems

Beyond paint and rust issues, a dent can be an indication of something bigger that you can’t see from the outside. Any impact to your vehicle powerful enough to damage its body can potentially send force through it and into something within, causing damage. When you get a dent fixed, we can take a look and make sure nothing else was damaged so that your vehicle is running properly. It’s also worth noting that there are a lot of moving parts designed to fit beautifully within your vehicle; damage to the outside distorts the shape of your car, and those parts can potentially collide with the body, causing more problems that will cost more to fix.

Reason #7 – Nothing Is More Important Than Your Safety

In addition to everything else we’ve looked at, dents on your vehicle can potentially compromise the safety of your ride. As we just said, the dent misshapes the structure of your vehicle, which can cause other issues that might affect how well you can control your car on the road. In addition to that, a dent is a weakness in the body of your vehicle––a body that’s designed as the first layer of defense to protect you against an impact. If you get into a crash, then it’s possible that your vehicle won’t be able to shield you from the collision as well as it should due to how the dent has compromised its overall design and construction. Trust us; this is the last thing you want and just one more reason to have us fix that dent.

Let Us Help With All of Your Auto Body Needs

With small dents and dings, it can be tempting to look at a video online and grab a plunger or pot of hot water to try to fix it yourself. Sometimes those life hacks can work, but they can also end up causing more damage than you had to start with. In general, you’re always better off letting a professional look at your vehicle and repair anything wrong with it, whether that’s replacing part of your engine or fixing a dent. You deserve to drive with confidence and know that your car is in the best condition possible at all times. Call or come visit our collision center and body shop at Romeoville Toyota today, and we’ll fix that ding to have you back on the road in no time.