Q&A with Nick Ridley – Founder of Dent Revolution and PDR Expert

Nick Ridley is the founder of Dent Revolution, who started working in Paintless Dent Repair when it was still relatively unknown as a technique. Since 1985, he has led the way as a PDR expert, helping the industry to grow by demonstrating how to repair dents and hail damage to vehicle panels in a way that retains the integrity of paintwork and panels. He has passed his knowledge on to his sons, Dan and Tim, who now run the business along with a highly skilled team of technicians.

Q: As a PDR Expert, what do you love about fixing dents and hail damaged cars?

I love problem solving. Especially when I get presented with a dent that everyone says is too hard. When this happens I release all frustration I might have about the dent in question, and get out of my head and into a still place. From here I can just quietly work on the problem until I find a way through. And if I can’t do this, then I will tell the client that the dent is not repairable using PDR techniques.

Q: Why did PDR come about – what gap in the market did it fill?

Back in the days, when the automobile industry was still replacing complete panels to fix dents, tools were beginning to show up to help us push the dents out instead of having to replace panels. Panel beaters realised this was a much quicker and effective way to remove a dent than the old way of fixing dents with putty and fillers.

It didn’t take long before everyone learned that this was more efficient, kept the car owners’ costs down, and basically got their car on the road faster as opposed to being in the crash shop for weeks.

Q: Why don't more people do dent repair?

The reason is because they don’t understand the process and they have not heard about it. But this is changing and now there is more awareness in the community about PDR. When people find out about how much more time and cost effective it is to do Paintless Dent Repair, they will come to us to fix their dents and hail damage.

Q: How do people know a PDR expert? What do people need to take care of when choosing a PDR provider?

Well, basically they need to choose someone who has the experience and knows what they are doing. There are different levels of skills out there, so ask questions and have a look at their case studies. You can damage a car more if you don’t know what you are doing.

We are one of the original companies to start the PDR process which is why we have become PDR experts. We have 35 years’ experience and we have advantage over our competition because of how long we have been doing this.

Q: Why would people come to Dent Revolution to fix dents instead of a crash repairer?

PDR methods are far more efficient in cost and time and keeping the originality and not having to match a panel and paint which has always been tricky.

Our skills are well known and we are often sought out by the luxury and prestige car dealerships because they have confidence in our expertise and know their cars are in good hands with us.

Many years of learning the trade, experience, focus and a commitment to constantly improving our skills is why we have the confidence to tackle the hardest of jobs.

If you’re fixing expensive cars like BMW’s, Mercedes and prestige/classic cars, then you need to be very good at what you do.

Q: Why did you start this work?

It was an opportunity back then, a new way of fixing car panels keeping the integrity of the paint and panel in place. It made a lot of sense to me so I pursued it. When we started we only had limited tools and I did a course in Sydney and I didn’t have much guidance back then because it was so new. So I had to work through all of this and set my own standards for workmanship and what I thought would give me a sense of pride in my own work.

It was important to me to have repeat business based on a good reputation in the industry and this was a specialised niche market.

My sons came on board a few years later and they have helped to increase our skills, technology and tools to tackle harder and more challenging types of jobs.

I love this work, I am still passionate about it, it gives me great job satisfaction and it’s rewarding. My sons have adopted the same work ethic and have grown the business to a whole new level.

Q: Is it expensive?

We don’t know what a dent will cost to fix until we look at the vehicle. Photos don’t always tell us but we can do an overall assessment via the photos and provide a price indication.

Often fixing dents is not as expensive as people think. Prices start at $100 and go up from this and the job is done to the client’s satisfaction. Some of the comments we receive are:

“Never thought we’d achieve this result!”
“Never thought it would be so cheap”

Compared to conventional crash repairers, we are always less expensive and this means you save on insurance excess and your premiums going up.

Call Dent Revolution today – PDR Experts

Call us on 1800 NO DENT to book your car in for a dent repair or hail damage or drop in to our Vehicle Cosmetic Centre at 118 Magill Road, Norwood. You’ll be amazed at how efficient it is and how quickly we can get your car back on the road again.