How a PDR pricing matrix works

What a PDR matrix is

A paintless dent repair matrix is a price grid, one for each panel. Down the side are count ranges, such as 1–5, 6–15 and 16–30 dents. Across the top are dent sizes, named after coins: Dime, Nickel, Quarter and Half-Dollar. A panel's price is the cell where its range and its size meet.

The grid exists because hail damage is too dense to price any other way. A hood that sat through a storm can carry dozens of dents. The estimator walks the panel under a light, reads the size most of the damage falls into and roughly how many dents there are, and places the panel in a range. The range sets the price. Nobody tallies dents one by one, and two estimators who read the same hood into the same range arrive at the same figure.

Each panel has its own grid because each panel repairs differently. A roof is wide and flat and is reached through the headliner. A hood is double-skinned, with bracing underneath. A fender is curved and stiff along its edges. So the same Quarter-size, 16–30 reading is worth a different amount on a roof, a hood and a fender.

The four dent sizes

The coin names are the trade's standard, and they describe the typical dent on the panel, not the single worst one:

Dime

about 18 mm across. The smallest hail marks, often shallow, and the quickest to push.

Nickel

about 21 mm.

Quarter

about 24 mm. Deeper, with more stretched metal to work out.

Half-Dollar

about 31 mm. The top of a standard sheet, and slow work on any panel.

Damage bigger than a Half-Dollar, or a deep, sharp crease, is not what the grid was built for. It is usually handled with an oversize upcharge on the panel, or with a figure the estimator sets for that panel.

Reading a matrix: an example

Sample figures drawn for this guide, the same sample the home page prices a panel with. They are not PDRCore's dent matrix or any shop's or carrier's price sheet.

Read it like this: a hood with Quarter-size dents, read into the 16–30 range, takes the figure in that row and column. Read into 31–50 instead, it takes the next row's figure. The price steps from range to range; it does not climb with every dent.

Two things follow. First, the edges of a range matter: a hood near the top of a range is priced the same as one near the bottom, so a careful reading near a boundary is worth the time. Second, the size is a judgment about the panel as a whole. A roof of mostly Nickel marks with a few Quarters scattered in is usually read as Nickel, and the photos should show why.

Upcharges on top of the cell

The cell is the price for an ordinary steel panel. Conditions that make the repair harder are added on top of it, most often as a percentage of the panel's price:

Aluminum

aluminum panels, common on hoods and on the whole body of some trucks and SUVs, are harder to move and less forgiving, so they carry an upcharge.

Glue pull

when a dent cannot be reached from behind, because of bracing or a part that can't come off, it is pulled from the face with glue tabs, which is slower work.

Oversize

damage bigger than the sheet's largest size, added as a percentage or a set amount on that panel.

Access is not an upcharge. Taking down a headliner to reach a roof, or pulling a tail lamp to reach a quarter panel, is its own line on the estimate: an R&I (remove and reinstall), written in labor hours. The R&I and R&R guide covers those lines.

When a flat price fits better

A matrix is built for hail. Plenty of PDR work isn't hail: a single door ding, a crease from a shopping cart, a dealer's trade-in with three dents to clean up before it goes on the lot. For that work a shop quotes a figure, and the estimate carries that figure for the panel instead of a cell from the grid.

A whole-car price does the same at a larger scale: one agreed figure that covers several panels on a retail or wholesale car, common on retail hail work where the owner is paying out of pocket and wants a single number.

Wholesale work is usually priced off a sheet of its own. A dealer or fleet that sends cars every week tends to agree a price list with the shop, and the insurance, retail and wholesale guide explains how those estimates differ.

Why insurance work runs on a matrix

On a claim, the matrix is the shared language between the shop and the adjuster. Carriers commonly price PDR from a matrix of their own, so an estimate written by panel, size and range can be checked against the carrier's line by line. When the two disagree, the conversation is about a reading, such as whether the roof was Quarter 31–50 or Nickel 31–50, rather than about a bottom line nobody can trace.

That is also why good estimates photograph every panel under a light or a reflection board. A photo that shows the size and spread of the damage settles most range questions before they become a dispute.

Damage found after the estimate is approved, such as dents under a roof bow that only show once the headliner is down, goes in a supplement rather than an edit to the approved estimate. The hail repair workflow guide walks through that step.

A quick check before the estimate goes out

• Every damaged panel has a size and a range, and the range is the one the photos show.
• Aluminum, glue-pull and oversize upcharges are on the panels that need them, and only those.
• Access work is written as R&I lines under the panel it serves, in hours.
• Any panel quoted at an agreed figure says so, instead of borrowing a cell it doesn't match.
• The estimate names who pays: a carrier, the owner, or a dealer account with its own sheet.