A bit of unseasonable weather a couple of weeks ago in southern NM. The pathy was parked outdoors at work, but looked fine when I drove home but it was still wet. Left early next morning to catch a plane so didn't see it again in daylight until the Monday, only to discover quite a few of these...



Turns out after a professional assessment there's 56 dents on the hood, a further 118 on the roof, and a few on the roof rails and top of the tailgate. So now they are all being "massaged" out one by one - anyone had any experience of these mobile paintless dent repair shops that rove the country? I went with the one through progressive so it will be guaranteed for as long as I own the car, but there's loads of these tents popped up in mall parking lots all across town promising to cover my deductible etc... clearly out of the goodness of their hearts.

So, I'm driving around in a Ram 1500 for the next few days. The Ram is OK, certainly quieter and less rattly than the Pathy with a much better stereo, but it is so wide, has the turning radius of Jupiter, and the wheels chirp from a standstill no matter how gentle I try to be. It's also quite hard to get in and out of, especially with a dodgy knee. For some reason my kids think the truck is the best thing ever, I'm less convinced.

I've seen the "paintless dent" guys at dealers and shops where I worked. The ones I've seen are very good at what they do and is a far better option than having to fill in all the holes with putty and repaint the vehicle. However, that's an awful lot of dents to have to massage out!

Well, got the pathy back and the bodywork is all fine again, you really can't tell. I had some issues with the re-installation of various bits of trim, which had been done rather sloppily, but those have been resolved now so it all looks good. Totals cost was $3200, so glad it wasn't out of my pocket!