Do you own a car that seems to be a shopping cart magnet? Are you tired of your car being covered in multiple dings and dents? While having a car with dents in it won't make the car more difficult to drive, the car will certainly be less appealing until you can get those dents out. But if you've never had any dents fixed before, you may be wondering about the process. Here are a few things you may want to know about having your vehicle repaired: 

How long will the dent repair take? This obviously depends on the type and number of dents that are in your car. But if you have a newer model car, chances are good that the repairs will only take a few hours. A few decades ago, your parents or grandparents would have had to leave the car at the auto body shop for the damage to be literally pounded out of the body panels. This, obviously, could take time. But modern cars are often made out of more flexible materials than the old ones were. The shop where you leave your vehicle can use special tools to gently pull the dent out instead of hammering at it from the back side. Since the body panels don't need to be removed, each individual dent may take only a few minutes to fix.

Will the car need to be repainted? In many cases, no. Modern paint formulas are extremely flexible and can stand some degree of distortion. If the paint didn't chip when the dent was created, it's highly likely that the paint will continue to stay in place during the process of dent repair. But if the damage did chip the paint, that still doesn't mean that you have to repaint your whole vehicle. Either the repair shop or a nearby auto paint shop may be able to repaint just the area around the damage. You shouldn't even be able to tell that any repairs were performed. 

Does dent repair need to be paid for out of pocket? Unless you only have the minimum amount of liability coverage necessary to legally drive your car, the repairs should be partly or completely covered by your insurance company. If you're reluctant to file a claim, lest the insurance company raise your premiums, the cost of the repairs are often low enough that you can easily pay for them out of pocket. This is especially true if your dent doesn't need to be repainted.