vikingshelmut

When I purchased my 550i last week they tried to sell me on a plan called Dent Shield from Dent Wizard. Basically for $500 they my car would be "covered" for any dent/ding repair for x number of years (I can't remember how many right now). Seemed kind of steep at the time, and they gave me a week to decide. I'm actually considering it, but it seems too expensive when most PDR services I've seen charge about $100 per dent.

Has anyone purchased this service? If so what did you pay and for what term?

Gene

unless you park in tight spaces daily/often because you have no option (designated parking spot) I would think that plan is worthless. We all seem to make a conscious effort to avoid door dings (parking on the edge/last slot, parking far away, parking to "nicer" cars, etc...) so that alone saves us from door dings most of the time. So an occasional ding may or may not happen once every 1 or 2 yrs perhaps (hopefully never), each pdr repair would cost 75-100...so the 500 plan price would not be recouped IMO.

uheenada

Hey there, I have an experience about dent wizards plan.
Back in July 2003, when I purchased brand new infiniti G35 coupe, I was offered the dent shield. At that time, it was $300 for 3 years or $500 for 5 years. I took the 3 year plan. The funny thing is, although I purchased the 3 year one, the dent shield card(which you will receive in 2 weeks after you purchase the plan) says expire date as Feb 2012!! So I still have 2 more years left. On the card, it printed your name and the VIN number.

I'm not sure if the plan has changed since, but when I got one, it wasn't unlimited. You are covered 5 times/panels. On the card, there are 5 places where they'll punch a hole after the service is done. They'll cover upto 3 quarter sized dings or 1 golf ball size of ding per 1 punching a hole on your card. If you have 2 dings on the car, one in the passenger door and 1 in the driver's door, then they'll punch 2 holes on your card while if you have 2 dings on the same panel, they'll charge you only one.

Anyway, after purchasing the plan, I parked everywhere since I'm covered but somehow I never got any dings on my g35. On the otherhand, my 545i got 2 dings in a year.... maybe a karma? like you know when you are covered, it won't happen but you are anal about something then it happens.

nomis_nehc

How many years covered and whether or not it's unlimited is big. If it really is 5 years, and say just 5 dings a year, it's super worth it to me.

I tend to think I am careful where I park, and my car is always garaged or in a covered lot at the office, but I have still racked up two dings somehow over the last year.

Most people will probably not see the ding, and to be honest, it's not that noticeable as well (otherwise I would've fixed it already). But with that said, if I had that ding plan, I would've gotten them fixed in a heartbeat.

Gilgorm

Seems like a total waste of money. I believe in pay as you go for something like this. Any guarantee the company will be around for five years? Paying $500 for a possible $75 repair down the road just seems wrong.
I had an MB that was in a bad hail storm and had 50 dents all over the car. Even that didn't cost $500 (granted it was 1994) because insurance kicks in for big problems. Its so easy (with the right equipment) that I learned how to do it watching the guy fix them all.

forever5

I purchased a similiar plan (3 yrs unlimited) for each E60 I own; as each are daily drivers, one at college and one at high school. When they go in for service, just get the dings done too, don't even think about it. Used it twice so far and lots of school left. I don't want my kids stressing about it, or acting spoiled to their friends about 'don't ding my car!'. They hate when it happens (as we all do) but there are more serious things to stress over.

nomis_nehc

^+1

That really is my mentality as well. I imagine it's a rarity that a car in operation, especially daily, will not get dings. That's just unreasonable.

aretardedorange

We were offered that plan too for $500 but decided not to take it. Over the last 2 years of ownership I take my E60 to school everyday (high school) and I have 2 dings on the car. One was caused by my friend she has a 07 525xi she doesn't care about her car and the other must have happened soon after. Both dings happened recently though. I take precautions while parking at a public place such as a mall or store parking far away and next to other nice cars. My car has been keyed at high school while it was parked far away so I just started parking next to everyone now.

So no that plan is not worth $500. My .2.

DentWizard

Good Morning.
My name is Christine Chamberlin and I am the Director of Marketing for Dent Wizard. I wanted to provide you a response, and some additional details, to your question regarding the purchase of Ding Shield.

When you purchase the Ding Shield plan you will be covered for an unlimited number of PDR (paintless dent removal) repairs during the 5 year term. That is unlimited repairs and unlimited visits. Ding Shield will cover repairs up to the size of a credit card which includes creases, bodyline damage and dents on all vehicle body panels.

Although a door ding may be $100-$125 to repair, larger damage can cost up to $250 per dent. In addition, you will not need to claim from your insurance policy (which typically has a $500 deductible) or be out of pocket with any excess wear and tear if you are leasing the vehicle. Most owners also benefit from the enhanced appearance at trade-in value which can also more than offset the difference. What?s more you get to drive your vehicle in ding and dent free condition during vehicle ownership.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions and Thank you for considering the purchase of Ding Shield from Dent Wizard, the World Leader in Paintless Dent Removal.
To learn more, visit us at: http://www.dentwizard.com/content/233/ding-shield.aspx
or contact me at our home office at 800-267-9369.

tuffluck

i had my car for TWO MONTHS and someone dinged my driver's side door pretty bad. paid $200 to fix that one and 2 others that the dealer didn't catch before they gave me the car (nor did i actually). there is another light one on the trunk that i can live with.

for $500 that's a good deal most likely. i think the dent service the dealer offered me was $800 though and that seemed like a no-brainer "no."

in the end, ideally after you get one door ding you usually start parking in different places further away, so hopefully it won't happen again. it's happened all of 4 times on 3 cars in 10 years for me, though 2 months after owning the bmw, that one was awfully upsetting.

also, i don't know if dent wizard is who works on all bmw's, but one of the 3 dings the local PDR company fixed was actually one the dealer did that wasn't done very well. i had to sign a waiver saying that they fixed a door ding on my car, and it was still visible. the local guy took care of it in a much better fashion, so for me i actually prefer my local PDR guy. i can't say that is the case with all of dent wizard's work, nor can i even say dent wizard worked on my car (poorly) before. food for thought anyway.