How to Get a Dent Out of a Car: Get Started with the Basics 2024

We’re pretty sure many of you will agree with this-

Keeping your car ‘good as new’ for longer periods is like a luxury. Despite some of the major technical instances, getting a dent out of a car is one of those annoyances you can’t overlook.

It’s almost certain that the cost will make you forget the small accidents like getting bumped into a tree, out-of-the-blue football throws, and more. The body shop just feels too expensive at times.

That’s why we want to share some tricks so that you know how to get a dent out of a car.

We will be sharing some easy tips and tricks that will help you out with your DIY endeavors. There are two main advantages you can enjoy.

One, you get to save up some money. Two, you get to learn the exterior maintenance of a car, without losing a single penny.

We do hope you will stick with us until the very end. Otherwise, we can’t guarantee you anything proper.

So, let’s get started!

Types of Car Dents: The Basics

Before DIY dent removal, you need to understand the type of dent in a car. There’s no telling how accidents happen.

Unwanted incidents give rise to unwanted results. Still, some patterns have certain identifiable characteristics.

So, let’s talk about some of them.

Type 1: Rounded dents

Rounded dents are the most common types of annoyances you can find. These sorts of dents typically have a rounded or oval-like outlook.

Sometimes, such dents have a pointy dot in the middle. But sometimes, there isn’t a pointy middle. It’s just a large blob inside out.

If there are no paint chippings, then these dents can be fixed without much effort.

Type 2: Creased dents

If you were to use a sharp object and run it on the edge of the car, it would create a crease-like dent, hence the name.

Such dents are both hard and expensive to recover from. There’s substantial paint chipping, which adds to the cost of the dent recovery overall.

Type 3: Sharpened dents

The body lines of a car, commonly known as swage, are the main victims of such annoyances.

Generally, the body lines of the car have a slight incline. These inclines are very exposed. Even a simple collision can cause a serious dent.

Type 4: Hail dents

Hail dents occur on the roof and roof and hoods.

It can group up in an area. In general, you could get it fixed without any major paint job.

These shallow dents aren’t common. You could use a mini dent puller to get rid of such dents.

Type 5: Multiple surface dent

These types of dents can occur on certain points or surfaces.

The severity of these dents depends on a couple of key factors, size being one of the major ones. Still, there aren’t any severe cases that cannot be fixed with a DIY method.

How to Get a Dent Out of a Car: Tips and Tricks

To conduct a car dent repair on your own, there are certain things you could do. But, there’s a way of doing it.

It’s now time for us to share the tricks that we’ve hidden up our sleeves. Pay attention, because they can save a lot of your hard-earned cash.

Process 1: Use a cup plunger

A cup plunger isn’t just for cleaning the sink. It can also come in handy when you have to remove a dent from a car door. Here are the steps you should follow:

Splash some hot water on the plunger
Splash some water on the dent as well
Start pushing or pulling
The push-pull action brings the dent out and smoothens the surface

Process 2: Remove dent with hot water

It’s one of the easier ways to get the dents removed and get the body in its original position.

Here are the steps:

Get a pot of hot water. Use safety gloves if necessary
Pour hot water on the dent
Give the dent a push from the inside to bring the body back to its original state
Now quickly pour cold water on top of the repaired part
Let it rest for 4-5 minutes

Process 3: Use Dry Ice

You couldn’t exactly buy dry ice a few years back. But now, it’s easy to get a pack of dry ice in your local store.

So how does it work? Pay attention to the steps that follow:

Take some dry ice in your hand. Use protective gloves for such an operation
Rub the dry ice on the dent
At one point, the dent should pop out
Now let it rest for a few moments

Using dry ice instead of a car dent plunger can be efficient in small cases. But for large dents, the use of dry ice is not recommended.

Process 4: Vacuum Cleaner Method

This method is a bit complex. But it works! Here’s how it’s done:

First, take a medium-sized bucket and make a small hole (just enough for the vacuum hose to slide in).
Place the bucket over the dent
Get the vacuum cleaner hose inside the bucket
Start the cleaner, and wait until you hear a faint pop
The pop is an indication that the dent has been repaired

Although many people may be skeptical of this method being applied in reality, this method works. Try it out for yourselves.

Process 5: Hot Glue and Screws

This method can come in handy if you’re dealing with bigger dents.

Place two screws on each side of a cylindrical dowel (use wooden dowels for this purpose).
Put some glue on one end of the dowel
Attach the dowel to the dent
Leave it for a couple of hours to dry (2-3 hours should be enough)
Pull the dowel until the dent comes out
Now use some rubbing alcohol on the sticky end of the dowel to get it off

It’s a very useful method if you’re dealing with large and shallow dents. Still, the total effect will depend on your patience of course!

Dent Repair: Special Tools

If you want to spend nothing on fender dent repair, then you could use some of the techniques we showed you.

But what if you don’t want to get your hands dirty in the process?

In that case, making a small investment in buying specialized tools can be the way to go. These tools aren’t overly expensive, but they can be very useful for small to medium-dent repairs.

You could go with suction cup dent removers and some of the other similar options. These are simple tools that can be very handy for quick repair jobs.

But if you have to fix a major bumper dent, you may want to consider going with a more reliable repair solution.

Some Common Questions and Answers

How much does a dent in a car cost to fix?

That mostly depends on the depth of the damage. If the dents are small, then you are looking at somewhere between 50 to 100 dollars (or slightly more). But larger dents can cost you up to 150+ dollars. Also, if there’s paint chipping, then you could be looking at anywhere from 200-300 dollars or even more. Overall, it all comes down to the harshness of the situation.

How do you get a dent out of a car with hot water?

We did mention the answer to this question earlier. Still, we can share a small tip. And that will be to use be quick with such n operation. The transition from hot water to cold needs to be quick for better results.

How do I fix a dent in my bumper?

You need to be a bit careful when you’re dealing with a bumper. The best practice to manage bumper dents is to take out the bumper and then apply the methods talked about here. Then, after you’ve finished the dent removal process pop the bumper back into place.

How do you get dents out of metal?

The metal body of a vehicle is hard to deal with properly. Our suggestion would be to go to a body shop to get proper treatment for such a solution. Still, you could use screws and dowels to deal with a metal body. You could also try out the soft methods we’ve discussed here. But, if you don’t know what you’re doing, then it may cause more harm than good.

Final Thoughts

If you want the proper answer to the question of how to get a dent out of a car without losing a dollar, then our guide should offer plenty of guidance.

The methods we discussed here are effective. Still, there is a possibility of failure if you don’t follow the steps properly. So, be mindful of what you’re doing. You wouldn’t want to ruin your precious car!

We will leave the rest up to you. We do hope you will be able to save a few bucks!