Randy Olson, left, grasps stainless metal rods the company uses to remove dents from
inside the vehicle panels. Darren Root, middle, and Steve Kaneda are dent removal
specialists with Olson at Dent/Chip Medic, the company's name after adding chip repair.
Anthony Dimaano / The Bulletin
Dent/Chip Medic easy on your vehicle,
wallet
By Katie Brauns / The Bulletin
Published: April 04. 2006 4:00AM PST
advertisement:
The Basics
Company: Dent/Chip Medic
Who: Co-owners, Randy Olson and Steve Kaneda; and Darren Root
Location: Operating as a mobile business by appointment or available at Red Carpet Car
Wash, 235 SE Third St., Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Telephone: 541-419-3368
Partners/employees: 3
After rolling through the Red Carpet Car Wash in Bend, you might find yourself
surrounded by a "dent-scoping" expert from Dent/Chip Medic.
"Some have asked if we are quality control (for the car wash)," Dent/Chip Medic coowner Randy Olson said with a smile.
Olson, co-owner Steve Kaneda and Darren Root, all "paintless" dent-removal specialists,
search vehicles for dents as small as a dime or as large as a golf ball. Their audience:
people diligent about their vehicle's appearance.
Dent Medic can smooth a nickel-sized dent in less than five minutes. It starts from the
inside out.
Bend resident Christy Dyer watched as Kaneda prodded in between her car door panels
with a metal rod and "massaged" a dent away.
The quick fix impressed her.
Aside from dents in metal, the businessmen also have found a niche fixing windshield
chips, many of them caused by the tons of rock dumped on Central Oregon roads each
winter. So they added a new division, Chip Medic, last year.
"A tiny chip came out of my windshield when a rock hit it," said Mike Flanagan of
Redmond. "It was about a quarter of an inch and just started to spider. If you catch it
early, you won't have to replace the windshield. Insurance companies almost beg you to
do it this way, they will pay your deductible. It's like you're doing the insurance company
a favor."
A windshield chip can be fixed quickly, too, using a three-stage process.
"We remove the air with a vacuum, inject resin using a pressure process, then we cure the
resin with ultraviolet light," Olson said.
The average, simple fix on a car, such as the one on Dyer's door, cost $75. A traditional
repair job could cost $450 to $650, Olson said.
"They (traditional auto body repair shops) are not ripping anyone off, it just takes a lot of
time and materials and that is just the way they have to do it," said Olson. "We have a
great relationship with body shops in the area, we send customers to them and they send
customers to us."
Olson's company deals primarily with cosmetic repairs and cannot fix structural damage
from collisions. Their specialty is massaging a vehicle's surface back into place.
Dent/Chip Medic also is mobile, performing repairs at homes and businesses.
When did you start your business?
Kaneda: Randy (Olson) started the business in 1997, and I became a partner in 2004.
Olson: We expanded the business in 2005 to include windshield repair, naming that
division Chip Medic. We utilize a system by the international leader in windshield repair,
GlasWeld, located here in Bend.
How did you come up with the idea?
Kaneda: Randy came up with the idea after doing some market research in Bend. He
found that this was a need that was not being filled. There are a few others in town doing
it now, though Randy was the first.
Olson: My good friend and entrepreneur, Vern Bartley - formerly of Air Life - shared the
idea with me. His son was doing this in Anchorage, Alaska. At the time, I was looking
for a business that would be compatible with and complementary to my fire service
career and this was definitely a good fit.
How does it work? Explain the process.
Kaneda: Paintless dent removal is a process that re-forms metal back to its original
condition without affecting the paint finish. Working from behind the panel, we use
specially designed tools to work the metal back to its original shape. (In) utilizing this
process, sanding, filler or repainting is not needed; the factory finish remains intact and
the vehicle remains structurally sound.
Does it reduce repair costs? How much?
Olson: Our pricing runs between 75 percent to 90 percent less expensive than a
traditional body shop. The advantages to using this process are convenience, cost savings,
preservation of the factory finish and time savings.
Do you know of any other auto body repair shops that fix vehicles in this manner?
Olson: Insurance companies are increasingly encouraging body shops to utilize paintless
dent repair for any appropriate damage. Fortunately, our relationships with the body
shops in Bend have been very complementary. They are able to utilize our service for
some very specific needs. We refer to them as the "surgeons," while we're only the
"medics."
Kaneda: Many body shops in Bend call us to perform these repairs. It requires intense
training and a lot of experience in order to become proficient at this art. The body shops
that we serve have found that it takes less time and money to utilize us, rather than
attempting PDR (paintless dent removal) themselves.
How original is the idea?
Kaneda: Paintless dent removal was established in the 1940s on the assembly lines of
Mercedes Benz in Stuttgart, Germany, to repair small dings created during the
manufacturing process. In the early 1980s, PDR found its way into the Midwest region of
the United States by an Argentinean auto body man who became frustrated with having
to fill and paint small dings and dents utilizing traditional body shop techniques. Today,
the PDR industry is recognized by all major insurance companies and auto dealerships as
the preferred method of repair for dings, dents and hail.
Are there areas of a vehicle that cannot be fixed from the inside out?
Kaneda: (Yes.) Access to these areas is where the process is hindered. However, most
areas of modern vehicles can be repaired to near perfection.
Olson: Since we have to work from behind the damage, access can be blocked by
bracing, hinges, double metal or welded/glued seams.
How do you prepare for each individual case?
Kaneda: When we get a request for a repair, we like to ask what type of vehicle it is and
(for) a description of the damage. From there we can get a general idea of the time and
equipment needed for each case. There are many different types of dents, which can be in
many different areas of the vehicle.
What equipment is required?
Kaneda: A variety of stainless steel rods and a method of light reflection is basically what
is needed for this process. It sounds easier than it is.
Olson: Our rods have different diameters, shapes, tips and bends. We choose the
appropriate rod depending on where the damage is located. The light reflection allows us
to visualize the highs and lows of the dent and where our tool is behind the panel so we
know where to apply pressure. But as Steve stated, it's not the tools, but the technician.
This is definitely more art than science.
How many people do you have working for/with you?
Kaneda: There are three of us at this time.
What is your customer base?
Olson: Over the past nine years, our foundation has been our dealership accounts. Our
new relationship with Red Carpet Car Wash is providing us an opportunity to expand our
retail base.
How many vehicles do you repair in a day?
Kaneda: A Dent Medic technician can repair anywhere between three and 15 vehicles a
day.
How much faster is your repair process compared to traditional auto body repair on
dents?
Kaneda: Our repair process is much faster. ... A typical repair can take us between 20
minutes and one hour, whereas a body shop will need to keep the vehicle for at least one
to two days.
What do you see for your business in the future? What growth do you anticipate?
Kaneda: We are excited for the future of our business. Since our first year in 1997, Dent
Medic has grown significantly on an annual basis. We have recently added Chip Medic a windshield chip repair service - to our business. This has also proven to be very
successful.
Katie Brauns can be reached at 541-617-7815 or at kbrauns@bendbulletin.com.