The Auto Hail Repair Industry uses many terms and has even coined a few. Learn some of the actual language used by the technicians in the hail repair field. Note: Feel free to link your website to this page, but do not copy any of the information. As with the entire site, it is copy-write protected.
A-1 – One of the first PDR tool manufacturers in the United States
Access – refers to being able to actually get to a dent for repair.
Adjuster / Adjustor – a person who specializing in estimating hail damage.
Aluminum – refers to the type of metal that the car panel is made with.
A-Pillar – The post that runs down along the sides of the windshield in front of the front doors.
Appliqués – The vertical area between the doors (usually Black).
Atlas Glue Tabs – Special plastic tabs used to repair dents from automobiles using the glue pulling process.
Auto Hail Damage – Any damage that is caused by storms which drop hail stones.
Auto Hail Repair – The process of repairing or replacing any materials damaged by a hail storm.
Base Coat – The color layer of the painting process.
Battery – Used to power dent lights and glue guns. Learn about battery safety.
Belt Molding – The trim at the base of the window glass.
Black Plague – PDR Crease Tabs for glue pulling.
Blehm – A manufacturer of quality dent repair tools. Original owner of A-1 Tools.
Blending Hammer – A tool used mainly for blending dents and fine tuning high spots during the PDR process.
Block / Sanding Block – A square block used to lightly sand the clear coat layer to help smooth repairs.
Body Filler / Bondo – The putty like substance that body shops use to fill in dents.
Body Line – The bend in the metal panel for added strength and/or appearance on a vehicle.
B-Pillar – The support posts between the front and rear car doors.
Brace – Reinforcement behind the panel to add strength and rigidity.
Brace Tool – A specially designed tool to slide between a brace & the panel skin for removing dents.
Brake Light / Tail Light / Tail Lamp – The red lights on the rear of the vehicle that light up when stopping.
Catastrophe – A large-scale disaster or horrific event.
Catastrophic Event / Catastrophe Storm – A storm causing large-scale damage.
Cherry Picker – Nickname for a technician that grabs the easier to repair vehicles when working wholesale deals with other technicians around.
Claim – A demand for payment (or sum of money) in accordance with an insurance policy.
Claimant – The person that is covered by the insurance policy.
Clear-Coat – The top layer of paint that is applied to cover and protect the base coat.
Comprehensive Policy / Comprehensive Coverage – Covers damage to your vehicle caused by situations other than a collision
Conventional Repair / Conventional Dent Repair – The process that body shops use to fill dents.
Corrosion – The act of metal rusting.
Corrosion Protection – A spray or brush applied protective coating used to re-seal any scratched painted surfaces.
C-Pillar – The support post that runs along the sides of the rear windshield.
Cracked Paint (Ouch! – Hard for a dent guy to even type) – Paint is brittle and can crack either from the impact or from too much force during a repair.
Crease – A long narrow dent.
Cross-checking – The act of looking at the dent from various angles to ensure a complete repair.
C.S.I. – Catastrophe Service International – Quality Large Hail Brokerage Company
Deck-lid – The car part that covers the vehicle’s trunk. Also known as a boot in some countries.
Deductible – The amount or portion that a claimant is responsible for paying when dealing with insurance repairs.
Dent – When metal is bent out of shape, the depression is known as a dent.
Dentcraft – A very reputable paintless dent tool manufacturer and supplier.
Dent Glue – Special hot melt glue used in the process of glue pulling.
Dent Light – The special light used by a technician to magnify the dent and read the reflections in order to make a repair.
Dent Repair – The act of reshaping or filling the metal to bring the dented area to pre-damaged condition.
Dentless Repair – What a lot of people call paintless dent repair.
Dent Wizard – One of the largest and oldest paintless dent repair companies.
Ding – A term used to describe a small dent.
Double Brokered – When there are two middle men between the work and the tech taking a percentage.
Double Panel – When a vehicle panel is more than normal bracing and over 50% inaccessible it is known as double paneled.
Drill / Drilling – The act of creating a hole used for access.
Drip Molding – The long moldings that run along side the rail on the edge of the roof.
Estimate / Quote – When the dents are counted up and priced and the R & I and other expenses are added up, this paper is called an estimate.
Estimator – The person who evaluates the damage and writes the estimate. (Also known as an adjuster)
Fade – Refers to the workable area of a dent lights reflection.
Fender – The vehicle part that covers the front tires. (Next to the hood) Also known as a guard in some countries.
Fender Liner – The plastic cover around the tire opening the protects the underneath side of the fender panel.
Flat Spot – An area of the paint lacking orange peel, usually after wet-sanding.
Glass / Like Glass / Glass it out – A term used by many dent technicians for extremely good repairs.
Glue Pull – The method of pulling a dent rather than pushing it from the backside of the panel.
Glue Tabs – The plastic piece that is glue to the vehicle used to pull a dent out.
Gravy – Slang term for easy to repair damage. Usually dime sized shallow dents.
Hail – An ice formation created when water droplets freeze and are carried by updrafts where another layer of ice is formed.
Hail Stone – The actual ice ball that falls to the ground.
Hail Storm – A storm either carrying or dropping hail.
Hail Dent – The impression left in the metal from the hail stone’ impact.
Hail Strike – When a hail storm hits an area, it is referred to as a strike. Also a company specializing in hail maps to track and find hail damage.
Hand Tools – Short tools used more for muscling a dent versus using leverage.
Headliner – The interior panel above the passengers below the roof of the vehicle.
High Spot – When the metal is pushed past level, it is known as a high or a high spot.
Hi-Tech – A large hail catastrophe broker based in Chicago. Known in the industry as ‘The Russians’
Hood – The panel that covers the engine compartment in the front of the vehicle. Also known as a bonnet in some countries.
Hood Clips – Little plastic retainers that hold the insulator pads in place.
Hood Stand – A device designed to place hoods and deck lids on to make repairs easier.
HSS / High Strength Steel – Super strong and lightweight metal used in the manufacturing of car panels.
Inventure – A Florida based dent tool manufacturer.
Invoice – The receipt for a completed repair.
Insulator Pad – Heat resistant cover under the hood or deck-lid.
Keco – A popular brand of glue tabs.
Kick the panel – PDR slang for letting the body shop repair the panel. “Kick the hood”
Knockdown / Tapper – A small device used to tap high spots.
KHS / Know How Systems – A hail catastrophe company.
Laminated Glass / Laminated Window / Double Paneled Glass – Windows that have two thin panes of glass instead of one thick one.
L.E.D. / LED Light – A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source. Dent lights are switching from fluorescent bulbs to LED.
Light Board / Reflection Board – A small panel used for PDR to show highs, lows and imperfections.
Low Spot – An area of a dent that is not brought up to level.
Matrix – A reference guide used to determine PDR hail repair pricing estimates.
Micro-Fracture – Paint cracks that are not visible to the naked eye.
Mini-Lifter – A device used to pry up glue tabs to remove dents.
Mini Light – A small (usually 12-18 inches long) version of the dent light.
Mobile Tech Expo / MTE – The largest recon show for the appearance repair and reconditioning pro.
Mobile Tech Shade™ – A state-of-the-art umbrella used to shade not only the work area, but the technician as well.
Moldings – Decorative trim that aids in drainage and aero-dynamics
Mound / Mounded – When a dent is evenly pushed or pulled past level.
NAPDRT / National Alliance of PDR Technicians – A group of technicians working for the betterment of the PDR industry.
Oil Can – When the metal is so stretched that it cannot be put back into place.
Open-Area – An area of a car panel that is not double paneled or braced.
Orange Peel – Paint is not smooth but bumpy like the peel of an orange if you get a close look under proper lighting.
Oversized Vehicle – This refers not only to actual size of the vehicle but also extreme heights.
Paintless Dent Repair / Paintless Dent Removal / PDR – The act of reshaping a dented area without the need for conventional repairs.
PARS – A large hail broker based in Colorado.
PDR Linx – A large hail broker based in Texas.
Pitted – When a dent is almost completely removed except for a tiny area it is known as pitted.
Pizza / Cookie / Oatmeal / Chicken Skinned – Terms used to describe bad or chewed up dent work.
Plugs – Plastic discs used to seal up a hole.
P.O. / Purchase Order – The number on a document used to approve, track and process purchased items and services.
Primer – The first layer of paint used to seal the body filler before the base coat is applied.
Pulled Paint – When glue pulling a dent, sometimes the paint stays on the tab instead of the car.
Pull it – Lingo used to refer to glue pulling versus pushing a dent.
Push-to-paint / P2P / PTP – The use of removing the dents with PDR yet still requiring refinishing.
Quarter / Quarter Panel / QTR – The vehicle panel that covers the rear tire. Next to the deck-lid.
Rail – The thin panel above the doors that connects to the roof.
Reflector board – Instead of using lights outdoors, many door ding technicians use this to see a reflection for fixing dents.
Repairman – Person who fixes hail damage (See Technician)
R & I / Remove & Install / De-trim – This is the actual process of removing an undamaged part for creating access.
River / Valley / Railroad Tracks – The line that is left running through a repaired dent when it is removed without cross-checking.
R.O. # / Repair Order Number – The reference number assigned to a vehicle by a body shop, dealership or other fleet operation to track vehicle repairs.
Rod – A long metal tool used to push dents out with the use of leverage.
Rows / Corn Rows – More terms used to describe rivers.
R and R / Remove & Replace – This is the actual process of removing a damaged part and replacing it with an undamaged one.
Sail / Sail Panel – The triangular panel behind and above the rear door that runs along the rear windshield. The sail connects the rail to the Qtr panel.
Sand – Wet-sanding or color sanding with super fine sand paper.
Upper Sash or Scalp Molding – The molding that runs along the top of the window on a door.
Shadow – Just like your own shadow, but this one shows where the high spots are during a dent repair.
Slide Hammer – A weighted device used to pull dents either with glue pulling or conventional repairs.
Smoked – Referring to a panel or vehicle with severe amounts of damage. Almost not repairable using PDR.
Standards – Common mark-ups and practices used in the PDR industry
Stretched – When the dent reaches a certain depth, the metal is pulled which may result in oil canning.
Sunroof – The glass window in the roof of the vehicle that retracts.
Sunroof Assembly – The glass and entire track that it moves in.
Supplement – The dollar amount requested above the originally estimated amount.
Taco / Folding – The questionable method for removing a headliner without taking down all the pillar trims.
Tag-Team / Splitting cars – When two or more technicians work together on the same vehicle while repairing hail damage.
Technician – Person performing the repairs. Known as a tech for short.
Tech Sheet – Either paper or digital spreadsheet used to track the vehicles that a technician repairs.
Ticket – Total retail price of a repair. Often referenced by a percentage. (80% of the ticket)
Tool / Dent Tool – Any device or rod used to remove a dent.
Traditional Dent Repair – See Conventional Dent Repair
Typical Dent Guy – When spotted in their natural surroundings they are usually seen wearing flip-flops, camo shorts and an affliction shirt. 🙂
Ultra – Ultra Dent Tools, Inc is a tool manufacturer and supplier.
Whale-Tail – A dent tool used repair dents in braced areas.
Wedge – A long triangular-shaped piece of plastic used to gently spread the window opening apart.
Window Guard – Lexan, steel or plastic sheet used to protect the glass window on the doors.
Winter Work – Dents that may be repairable, but would take too much time and cost to much money to be worth fixing during busy season.
World Hail Network – Absolutely the best networking site ever developed.
Note: Feel free to link your website to this page, but do not copy any of the information. As with the entire site, it is copy-write protected.
Auto Hail Repair is always evolving and so is the terminology.
If you need a word defined or know of an auto hail repair term that we should add, simply leave a note in the comment section below.
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