If you notice what looks like a minor dent in your car you probably think it’s no big deal and you might get it fixed someday.
But seemingly small dents can turn into bigger problems the longer you let them go unrepaired.
Here are six reasons why you should get those small dents taken care of sooner than later.
Small Dents are Cheaper to Repair
To save money, the time to fix a dent is as soon as possible. Small dents eventually spread damage to surrounding areas of the car, causing bigger problems and bigger repair bills.
Paint Damage
In addition to the potential for rust, even those small dents can cause your vehicle paint to lose its bond with the auto body metal.
From there, the paint will crack, bubble, peel away, and spread, turning what was once a nice-looking paint job into a hot mess.
Rust
When your car gets dented, the paint around the dent cracks.
When rain or other moisture gets into those cracks, it seeps into the underlying metal underneath the paint. Over time, that moisture causes the metal to oxidize, which is how rust sets in.
Untreated rust not only looks terrible but will eventually eat away at your car body.
Function Issues
Dents can interfere with the performance of basic functions of your car.
Door dents can impact hinges and make car doors hard to open or close. A dent in the hood could do the same thing. A dent near the wheel well could affect the tires, causing the car to pull to one side while driving.
You get the idea. A small dent can have far-reaching damage that impacts the vehicle in more ways than you initially realized.
Safety Concerns
Because of the possibility of small dents affecting basic function issues of your car, this concern alone is enough to fix small dents right away.
Small dents can potentially affect alignment and the overall driving performance of the vehicle.
Resale Value
The goal of keeping your car looking its best is not only for yourself but also to retain the car’s resale value.
This may seem obvious but a car with unrepaired dents significantly reduces its resale value.
Conclusion
As you can see, the best course of action is to repair small dents before they turn into bigger headaches.
For dent repairs resulting from a minor fender bender to a more serious collision, trust your vehicle to the experts at Downtown Collision in Santa Rosa.