Nissan Repair: dent left rear qaurter panel, auto body filler, rubber mallet

Question
my name is travis.i recently notice when i got off work there was a big dent in my rear left qaurter panel.how much is the reasonable price to pull it and and sand it down or bondo and sand?what is the best way to do this?thank you.

Answer
If its where you can get to it, you should be able to take care of most of it yourself...remove all the interior in that area and see if you can't pop it out with the palm of your hand or a rubber mallet.

In the end, the metal has been stretched...so we can't hope that its going to look presentable, even if you can pop most of it out.

If the indentions didn't crack the paint, you could purchase a dolly set and pound it out yourself...as if this was a classic, we wouldn't be running to bondo.

In fact, some people would rather allow a shop to strip the paint off, and use a torch to actually shrink the metal back--all to avoid placing auto body filler in a car.

For you, however, if you or a shop is unable to pound it out right, then you'll have to fill it.

As for cost...that depends on its location, severity, paint type, and the ability of the shop to match your existing paint or to just paint the entire section.