The All Access From Dent Repair Now

Ten shows away from 100, still not missing a week, still dropping Mondays at 7:00 AM Eastern. New additions to the set: a pink Dent Reaper shirt from the expo, Mack's second-place trophy, last week's Tool of the Week from Alex at PDR Original, the wood knockdown from Thad at Dentproof, Gene's judging badge, and new Dentproof and Black Plague hats (including the "Make Metal Flat Again" hat). 

EDITORIAL FLAG: "Thaddle" and "the pecker" — Gene's on-air nicknames for Thad's wood knockdown. Kept as spoken in the transcript. Confirm whether the tool has an official product name you want used in notes. 

01:50  The (short-ish) PDR Expo tool haul 

Not a giant haul — a mix of brand-new tools, old favorites, and "old things that are new again." No Tool of the Week this episode because the whole show is tools. 

02:30  Dentcraft OG Ultra Thin Whale Tails are back 

Dentcraft changed the Ultra Thin Whale Tail head a while back to a design with two little tips instead of the fanned-out shape. Not bad tools — just not the same. At the Dentcraft booth, Jennifer confirmed the original-style head is available again. Gene picked up his two favorites: the 10" and a roughly 30–32" in the OG head. Great for getting down in doors, through tight braces, and out to panel edges; bend in an S-curve to bounce off the glass and get out to the panel. 

Original 10" Ultra Thin Whale Tail (OGWT10) — $64.95 as of 10/4/26: https://www.dentcrafttools.com/10-ultra-thin-wt-1.html 

Dentcraft Whale Tails: https://www.dentcrafttools.com/whale-tails.html 

EDITORIAL FLAG: Dentcraft's homepage lists the OG 10" (OGWT10) at $64.95. I could not confirm a product listing for the ~30–32" OG-head version or its exact length. Gene also wasn't sure if more sizes came back. Verify before naming a size/price for the long one. 

EDITORIAL FLAG: "Jennifer" at the Dentcraft booth — last name/role not stated. Fine as-is unless you want to credit her fully. 

07:15  VIP Traction Tips 

Picked up for Mack after looking at his beginner dent. Screw-on tips with a collar and a small print, similar in concept to Black Plague's micro tips or Dent Slayer's R4-style tip. What makes them special is the cast texture right at the tip — it bites just enough to keep the tool from dragging when you're pushing up and in at an awkward angle. Think micro-hedgehog, but for traction, not shrinking. Gene uses them weekly at minimum. 

VIP PDR Tools — Traction Pushing Tips (#2, #4, #6, #8 sizes; from $40 each): https://vippdrtools.com 

EDITORIAL FLAG: Gene calls it a "three-piece set" in small/medium/large. VIP's site currently lists the 3/8" Traction Pushing Tips individually as #2, #4, #6, #8 (plus "Mini" versions), starting at $40 — I didn't find a 3-pack listing. Confirm which product to point to. 

EDITORIAL FLAG: "Peter" — VIP's founder. VIP's own site references him as "Piotr." Keeping "Peter" since that's how Gene says it on-air; your call for written notes. 

10:00  VIP chain hunt + the purple leather knockdown tip 

The team went looking for VIP's hanging chain for Mack's leverage point, but Andre, solo at the VIP booth, had sold out. They borrowed one from Anson instead. Then a slightly underused VIP gem: the purple leather tip. VIP labels it a blending tip, but Gene uses it as a knockdown nearly daily — it "murders" medium crowns like a standard fender crown or a hip check above a door body line. It's essentially a pool cue tip: when the leather pops off, re-glue it, or order a pack of pool tips and replace/shape your own. A new set went into Mack's kit. 

VIP PDR Tools — Leather Blending Tips set ($75) / Hook Chain & Captain Hook Set ($43): https://vippdrtools.com 

EDITORIAL FLAG: Gene says "I think Mack bought like a three-tip set" of the leather tips. VIP's Leather Blending Tips Set is listed at $75; set count not confirmed. Also listed: Leather Heads set ($145) and individual L/XL leather heads — confirm which one is "the purple" tip. 

EDITORIAL FLAG: Transcript: "Is DBAP still there?" — unclear what "DBAP" refers to (sounds like a glue/adhesive name). Please clarify or cut from written notes. 

12:20  OG Glexo full cold glue set (via Anson PDR) 

Ironically, for all the cold glue pulling Gene's done, he'd never owned the full set of Glexo steel tabs — he ran the plastic KECO/Glexo tabs from his KECO days. Christina at Anson PDR loaned out a full cold glue spread for Gene's expo talk, and the one item he used that wasn't brand new was the original Glexo set, so he bought it. Skinny crease, fat crease, small round (~1¼") and big round (~2"). Black Glexo is still a weekly shop staple — light creases, finishing, and the right kind of bigger dent. Gene believes he's still on the same black stick he bought in 2019. Reminder: cold glue isn't for starting every dent. Be smart about it. 

Glexo Full Set — 4 tabs and cold glue, Anson PDR ($290 as of 10/4/26): https://ansonpdr.com/products/glexo-cold-glue-pdr 

EDITORIAL FLAG: Anson's Glexo Full Set page showed $290 and a backordered note when checked. A cosmetic-blem "DISCOUNTED" version was listed at $260. Confirm stock before publishing. 

EDITORIAL FLAG: Retailer listings describe the Full Set tabs as 40mm and 30mm round plus 75x30 and 75x15 rectangular. Gene estimated the rounds at "maybe 2 inches" and "inch and a quarter" — 40mm is closer to 1.6". Fine as an on-air estimate; just don't print the inch sizes as specs. 

EDITORIAL FLAG: Gene mentions other cold glue tools in passing: Sergio's Bull Kick, a small and large "shotgun," the AR auto-return hammer "from Matt at Dent Slayer," the Cold Snap, and Anson's mini slide hammer kit. Sergio Bull Kick kits are listed on dentcrafttools.com; Dent Slayer lists AR-9/AR-10 hammers and the Cold Snap. Your notes file has James Ricci at Dent Slayer — confirm who "Matt" is. The "shotgun" maker wasn't identified. 

15:15  Little birdie: big-tab cold glue upgrade coming 

Gene got a text (not from Kevin Bird — a different little birdie) hinting that big cold glue on bigger tabs may be getting an upgrade. Stay tuned to future episodes. 

17:00  Gene's PDR Expo cold glue talk — headed to YouTube 

The crew at Convexx, who recorded the PDR Expo presentations, is supposed to send a copy of Gene's cold glue talk. When it arrives, he'll post it free on his YouTube channel. 

17:45  Black Plague glue-on straps + the new double-wide 

Gene's been using Keith's glue-on fabric strap tabs for a couple of years — lots of glue lessons, multiple quarter panels saved from replacement. It grabs two planes and has a metal bar so the KECO tab track adapter (the blue T) slides on, and you can U-bolt it or grab it with lateral tension adapters or Mo-Clamps. Because it's fabric, it follows a door jamb return so you can grab the outside and pull. At the expo he found a double-wide version — every bit of four or five inches of throat — which replaces doubling and tripling up. Perfect for heavy collision and lateral tension pulls (think the Level Up BMW hatch). Reasonably priced: "if you don't pay for the whole order on the first job, you're not charging enough." Gene's wish: a throwaway version, since they're hard to clean. 

Black Plague PDR: https://www.blackplaguepdr.com 

Black Plague Lateral Tension Tools (edge straps, Big Freakin' Green Straps, adapters): https://www.blackplaguepdr.com/collections/lateral-tension-tools 

EDITORIAL FLAG: Couldn't match the exact products Gene held up. Black Plague's Lateral Tension collection lists Green Edge Strap ($29), Yellow Edge Strap ($49.97), "Extended" versions of both, and Big Freakin' Green Straps, 2-pack ($42.76) — the double-wide may be one of these. Most showed "sold out" on 10/4. Confirm product names before linking directly. 

EDITORIAL FLAG: Gene says "available at blackplaguepdr.com or deadrattabs.com if you can't spell plague." I didn't verify deadrattabs.com resolves to Black Plague — confirm before printing it. 

23:00  Training trip to Fort Lauderdale 

This week Gene heads to Fort Lauderdale for a couple of days of training at Derrick and Grace's shop, The Dent Demon. The straps are coming along for heavy pulls. Also on deck: an advanced glue pull training for body men back at the shop with a new junker teaching car. 

23:20  Dentcraft x Jon Yeager x Brandon Schmitz collab tools 

Saved for last: a four-piece set from Jon Yeager, Brandon Schmitz, and Dentcraft. (Mack opened the box and had them on a hail truck before Gene even got in.) Offset handle similar to Hail's Angels / Excaliburs for good drive left or right, shaved down, same feel as the whale tail material — maybe a hair thicker and a little stiffer than the Ultra Thin, but you can still put an arch in them. Built for driving out toward panel edges, like a Dent Slayer butter knife. Rough sizes: orange ~14", yellow ~16–18", blue ~24", and a ~30" that might shoot through taillights up under the sail panel. First impressions only — feedback to come. 

Dentcraft Tools: https://www.dentcrafttools.com 

EDITORIAL FLAG: Name spellings unverified: transcript had "Jon Jaeger" and "Johnny Yeager" for the same person — standardized to "Jon Yeager" throughout. Also confirm "Brandon Schmitz." I could not find a product listing, official name, or price for this collab set on dentcrafttools.com — confirm the product name and link if one exists. 

EDITORIAL FLAG: "Hail's Angels and the Excaliburs" — transcript rendered "Hale's Angels." Confirm the tool names/makers you want referenced. 

28:00  Honorable mention: Anson BLE light stand 

Got it right before the expo, launched at the expo, and Vinnie covered it last week. First full week using it: love it, and there's probably a second one in Gene's future. 

Anson PDR BLE Light Stand: https://ansonpdr.com/products/ble-anson-pdr-x-portable-dent-repair-lighting-stand 

EDITORIAL FLAG: Transcript: "my two main stands instead of that and a DNE maybe" — unclear what "DNE" is. Clarify or cut. 

29:00  PDR Marketing Minute Ep. 8 — review don'ts 

From the archive: don't have customers leave reviews on your device or shop Wi-Fi (same IP = blocked reviews), don't trade reviews with other techs (Gene watched five-star reviews disappear and ratings drop), don't pay or discount for reviews, and don't have family pile on with your last name. 

32:10  Revisiting review advice in 2026 

The review system pitched in that episode no longer exists. But Dan Rechichi, a dent guy out of Rochester, NY, put it into play years ago and is now in the 700–800s of reviews. Gene's updated take: the Wi-Fi/IP point still holds, never pay for reviews (it kills credibility with customers who already doubt that many five-stars), friends and family are fine if spaced out and real, and review trading is still scary. Do good work, be diligent about asking, and let a CRM chase reviews automatically. DRN sits at 350-some Google reviews and roughly 500 across the internet. 

EDITORIAL FLAG: pdrmarketingminute.com is mentioned in the replayed audio, but Gene says the review system no longer exists. Recommend NOT linking it. 

35:15  Tech tip: when to send review requests 

Text review requests right after dinner, when everyone's on the couch with their phone. Email works in the morning; don't text in the morning. 

36:15  Virtual soft-skills seminar — want it? 

Gene loves hearing from listeners — it means a lot. He's been teasing a soft-skills seminar (sales, marketing, AI, business, advertising, CRM), but an in-person event is expensive and logistically heavy for everyone. The idea: a five-day virtual version, live once a day with Q&A, plus replays and notes on the back end. Physical skills can't go fully virtual; soft skills can. Reach out and tell him if you'd sign up. 

40:10  MTE: just go 

MTE is a handful of months out. Wondering how to network better? Go to MTE. That's the answer. 

Mobile Tech Expo: https://www.mobiletechexpo.com 

Episode 89 — PDR Expo 2026 and the Competitions 

Gene recaps PDR Expo 2026 at the Rio in Las Vegas, recorded the day after a red-eye home, and brings back six interviews from the show floor plus a Tool of the Week and the competition results. 

00:00  Intro — Recorded in the basement after the red-eye home. Heads up on audio levels: the on-camera mics were running hot at the show, so some segments may be louder or quieter. 

00:01  PDR Expo 2026 at the Rio — Likely the biggest PDR Expo yet and the first at the Rio. Comparison to the Plaza and Fremont Street. Lunch in Chinatown, the food hall, the lobby bar where everyone gathered, and the rooftop cigar bar. 

⚑ FLAG: "Dave Chalotte" (lunch in Chinatown) — first-time name, spelling unverified. 

00:03  Shout-outs and the small-show advantage — Thanks to Mike Glidewell (Dent Mate) for the cigar and Jon Videen for the drinks. Why smaller shows give more networking and unhurried education. 

⚑ FLAG: Verify "Mike Glidewell" spelling and whether "Dent Mate" is his company (it's also the name of estimating software referenced later). 

00:03  Round table and glue pull talk — Friday round table of about nine techs, led by Keith Cosentino and organized by Kevin Bird. Saturday: Gene's glue pull double session, roughly an hour and 45 minutes with plenty of Q&A. Feels like old-school MTE in the early 2010s at the Caribe Royale. 

⚑ FLAG: "Kevin Bird" — verify spelling. 

00:05  Competitions preview — GOAT competition damage was brutal; beginners damage much harder than last year. PDR Marketing Minute returns next week. 

00:06  New shaved tools from DentCraft — John Yeager and Brandon Schmitz collaborated on a new set of shaved tools through DentCraft. Gene ordered a set after seeing them in the elevator line; expect a future Tool of the Week. 

⚑ FLAG: Verify "John Yeager," "Brandon Schmitz," and "Deacon" (one of Matt Boyette's sons). Also confirm Matt's surname spelling — the transcript uses both "Boyett" and "Boyette." 

00:07  Interview: Žan Vidic — GOAT competition — The GOAT competition is open to top-three finishers from Dent Olympics in Orlando; five competitors. Sixty seconds to view the damage, no lights, no touching, no photos. Two hours of repair split into two one-hour blocks with a 10-minute break. The damage: a hood hit perpendicular to a body line with a tight, sharp crown driven down into the concave and a secondary impact, roughly 8" x 4". No wet sanding. Žan's plan: glue-tab tension on the body line to help the metal flow, with soft pushes, the same approach taught at Level Up. Tension costs setup and cool-down time, but without it push marks are almost guaranteed. 

⚑ FLAG: "Wei Wu" (competitor, won in Canada) — spelling unverified. Žan's "Trying to stay ahead of Jack" joke left as-is — not sure who Jack is. 

00:12  Interview: Vinnie D'Alessandro, Anson PDR — BLE X light stand — Debut of the BLE X light stand, a year-long collaboration with BLE, who flew in from England. Height range roughly 3.5 to 9.5 feet, strong locking joint, push-button height adjustment, integrated battery tray and water ballast bag. Works with X-Factor or Stuckey lights. 

Pricing (from ansonpdr.com): stand only $849. Combos with Elimadent lights and Never Loose run $1,675 to $1,751. Listing specs a 45" minimum and 9.5 ft maximum height; batteries not included. 

⚑ FLAG: Product listing still says "Available Mid September" — confirm it's shipping. Vinnie says 3.5 ft on-air; the listing says 3.75 ft. The blog says "about three and a half feet" per Vinnie; adjust if you want the spec. 

00:14  Battery on board and plug lock — The Elimadent battery on board (previously the Hail Stand Receiver Adapter) is getting a clamp mod to fit the new stand. The plug lock keeps the light's male plug from popping out while you adjust. 

⚑ FLAG: Transcript had "Limidant" / "IllumiDent" — corrected to Elimadent (the brand Anson carries). Confirm "plug lock" isn't the same product Anson sells as "Never Loose." 

00:16  Tequila Compact HUB line — Grew from about two tools to around 130–135 in six to eight months, heading past 200. The Econoline handle locks solid with no play, converts to a mini T-handle, and gives a thumb-push position Gene likes on hand tools. 3/8" shaved tools deliver strong drive on European cars. 

Swoop Compact HUB Interchangeable (link provided): $99 (17"), $109 (21"), $119 (24"), all 3/8" diameter, with a Black Gold morph tip. 

⚑ FLAG: The Swoop link is a 3/8" compact hub tool. Verify: "Econoline" handle name, "Hail's Angels" (Dent Reaper — transcript says "Hales Angels"), and "Craig Dyer." 

00:19  Anson app — Order through the Anson PDR app to get the glue of the month. 

00:20  Interview: Noah Hebert, Dent Ops — Match-O-Matic — Built internally to match insurance approvals against your estimate line by line, even across formats (MobileTechRX or DentMate to CCC or Mitchell). Spot the gaps, generate a supplement, get a documentation checklist of photos and invoices needed, and use Payout Splits to allocate line items to techs, glass, or body shop. Works for PDR and body shops; free trial available. Dent Ops estimating and claim services also have free trials. 

⚑ FLAG: Noah said "match-o-matic.io" on-air, but I couldn't verify that domain. Links above point to dentops.com only, per your list. Add match-o-matic.io if you can confirm it. 

00:23  Interview: James Ricci — Dent Slayer and Dent Repair Jax — On pronunciation: the family says "Ritchie," but Ricci is the spelling. Dent Slayer started when Matt designed a one-off tool with A1 that turned into a product. Friends for 20+ years; Matt got James into PDR. Matt designs the tools; James handles videography, design, web, and podcast production. 

00:26  Color blindness and the gray card — Both James and Gene are color blind. Gene's wedding-photography hack: shoot a gray card at every new venue and set white balance from it in software. 

00:28  Making the Dent Slayer podcast — James refused at first because of the editing load. The fix: hire a production company that sets up, films, and edits. Around 22 episodes so far. Gene's approach: no heavy editing, just sit down and talk. 

00:31  Glass cleaner for cold glue — James picked up a tip in Gene's cold glue class: clean the panel with glass cleaner. Gene learned it from Ryan Campbell out of Cleveland. 

⚑ FLAG: "Ryan Campbell" (Cleveland) — verify spelling. 

00:32  Process over intuition — James on Gene's class: the value is a clear, repeatable process. Gene's veteran philosophy: like a race car driver, you're chasing the tip that gains a hundredth of a second per lap, and it compounds over a career. 

00:34  Dent Repair Jax — James's local PDR company. 50K+ on YouTube and about 96K on Facebook. Future episode planned on his social media strategy. 

00:35  Interview: Mack — beginners competition — Mack felt less nervous but more intimidated than last year. The damage moved from a hood to a trunk lid on a stand: harder light setup, harder positioning, a bigger and wider dent. His advice to future competitors: be ready for anything, and if you did the best you're capable of in 30 minutes, you won. 

00:38  Interview: Keith Cosentino — ClaimConnection — Keith built the company he wanted for his own shop. Scope the car, fill out a simple form, submit photos through the portal. The ClaimConnection team writes the estimate in CCC (catching R&I operations techs miss), submits it, and becomes the adjuster's point of contact, with status visible in the portal. Written PDR or conventional, depending on your preference and state. Working name was Back Office Bulldog. 

Pricing (as stated on-air): $1 card verification to sign up, $199 per estimate written, 6.9% of total claim value for full claim support. 

⚑ FLAG: ClaimConnection's site is a login app, so I couldn't verify pricing on the web — figures are from Keith on-air. Also: the estimator's name "Tammy" is unverified, and the site brands itself "ClaimConnection" (one word) — I used that in written sections. 

00:44  Thad, Dentproof and the Panel Beaters Club — Sticker haul, T-shirt, hat, and a "thaddle" from Thad. The Panel Beaters Club Discord feels like old-school PDR forums: organized by topic, no algorithm feed. Join: https://discord.gg/7DUezhDBS 

⚑ FLAG: "door ding dot com / doording.com" — the old PDR forum Gene references. Verify the name before it goes in any written copy (I left it out of the blog). 

00:46  Coming up — Plans to interview Sheldon (PDR Expo and MTE) and possibly Casey about the shows. Gene will teach glue pulling again at MTE. 

⚑ FLAG: "Sheldon … Convex" — transcript is garbled here. Confirm Sheldon's surname and company, and Casey's full name. 

00:47  Tool of the Week: PDR Original custom tool — Custom hand-built, hand-ground tool from Alex at PDR Original (https://pdr-original.com/, https://www.youtube.com/@pdr-original, and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pdr_original_canada). Arched shape for reaching into braces and panel edges, rolling-style tip, custom-stitched black leather handle, copper ends with a Canadian flag, plus a red tool hanger in Dent Repair Now colors. Alex works with Josh Kidd in Canada; Miroslav used one of Alex's tools in the GOAT competition. 

⚑ FLAG: Verify: "Alexander Yefremenko" (Gene says on-air he's not sure of the pronunciation), "Josh Kid/Kidd," "Bryce," "Miroslav/Miro," and "Ken Clark, the Man of Steel." 

00:52  Competition results — Honorable mention to Seth for an incredible door repair on stretched, smoked damage. Gene encourages him to enter Dent Olympics. 

00:53  Awards announcements — Full results as announced at the show — watch or listen for every placing. 

01:00  Wrap-up — Congrats to Vladimir, the new GOAT. Gene did play-by-play with Lee Roth and judged the GOAT competition; no cleanup was needed on the GOAT hoods. Mack takes 2nd in beginners after 3rd last year, the first tech under a year in to podium. Us old guys better watch out. 

Episode 88 - Gene's Back to the Future joke included. He and the team leave in a couple of days for PDR Expo, which he says feels like old-school MTE: you can slow down, sit and talk with friends, and not feel like you missed everybody.

02:00 - Shout-outs 

03:00 - Topic: mentorship 

A 10-year technician came in for a class this week. Good tech, but like so many of us, he went through training and then spent his career trying to figure it out. He told Gene, "You've got this." Gene's answer: he spent 14 years (2002 to 2016) not having it figured out - and is not claiming to have it all figured out now. These are just dent guy problems and we all have to solve the same stuff.

04:00 - Keith Cosentino and the 12-week program 

06:00 - Elite performers have coaches 

Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan both leaned on coaches. If the elite still rely on coaches to improve and stay sharp, why aren't more of us investing in ourselves? Gene recalls a conversation with a friend, Dave: in PDR you go to school, maybe have a mentor for a while, and then you get kicked out of the nest to figure it out on your own.

07:30 - The student who had never used a shrinky box 

09:00 - Training options at every level 

You do not have to pay for advanced training - but you do need to know you can be better and faster. Gene names a range of places to learn:

12:00 - Discussion: are you investing in yourself? 

Gene thanks everyone who texts about the topic of the week - it is why he does the podcast. The question for the week: are you investing in yourself and learning, and if not, what's holding you back?

14:00 - The rant, and the moral 

Gene calls it a ranty episode, but only because he cares. He wants more people to make the changes he sees in his students and mentees - and is not saying they have to come to him. Some conversations have changed people's outlook on business and life, how they run their shop, brought more money through the door, and gotten rid of their head trash. Moral of the story: find a mentor in business and in life, use them, and let them help you be a better human.

15:45 - Tool of the Week: Elimadent X-Factor Flip Light 

19:15 - Coming up 

21:15 - PDR Marketing Minute #7: ask for the review 

Replayed from the archive (Gene listened to it because he had audio problems). This installment of the review series covers the simplest strategy: just ask.

23:45 - Gene on reviews today 

 28:00 - Sign-off 

Thanks for all the messages. Next week's show is not live from the Expo but interviews shot there - flying with cameras and mics. Until next week, or when Gene sees you at the Expo.

Timestamped notes for episode #87, “We Need More Passion.” Editorial flags call out anything that needs Gene's eyes before this goes out.

[00:00] Welcome back 

Gene kept the once-a-week streak alive despite the show going out a couple of days late. He and MeLissa just got back from a trip to Europe, capped off by both of them getting sick with some kind of bug partway through and Gene running a fever for the first time in 15–20 years.

[00:02] The KLM/Delta travel saga 

A delayed flight out of Venice, a missing bus driver, a plane that “has to kick-start the engines,” and a missed connection in Amsterdam turned a planned Sunday recording into a Thursday one. Gene and MeLissa ended up rerouted through Boston and got home Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday night — and came home to a surprise 25th anniversary party Elena had put together.

[00:06] This week's topic — the PDR reach problem 

Gene's core frustration: most people who walk through the door have never had PDR before and don't know what it costs or what it can do. He believes that if the world understood what PDR could really do, the industry would need far more technicians than it currently has.

[00:08] Story #1 — the Rome butcher shop 

On a Rome food tour, tour guide Giordano brought the group to a third-generation butcher shop and deli open since 1970. The grandson running the tasting — passionate, animated, all-in on describing where the meat and cheese came from — is what stuck with Gene, more than the tour guide himself.

EDITORIAL FLAG: “Giordano” is the tour guide's name as Gene said it on the recording — spelling unverified, please confirm before publishing. 

[00:12] Story #2 — Francesco and the Chianti winery 

On a Tuscany wine tour, the first winery felt rushed and unenthusiastic. The second stop, led by a guide Gene names as Francesco, was the opposite — passionate about the wine, the winery's concrete aging tanks, and the estate's aged balsamic and olive oil. Gene called out how engaging and infectious that passion was for the whole group.

EDITORIAL FLAG: The winery owner is referred to only as “let's call him Michael” — Gene used this as a placeholder name, not a confirmed one. Also confirm the spelling of “Francesco.” 

[00:14] Story #3 — Chef David's pasta class 

In Florence, Gene and MeLissa took a pasta-making class with Chef David, who taught using his nonna's recipes. Gene singled out how contagious Chef David's passion for teaching was — especially his enthusiasm for pappardelle, which Gene says he'll now associate with the class for the rest of his life.

[00:18] The challenge — more passion in PDR content 

Gene ties the three trip stories together: what made each experience memorable wasn't the information, it was the passion behind it. He references a recent content challenge — the Great Yap Challenge, run by a coach he names as Jesse Jean — that taught him hooks and on-camera delivery techniques that improved his video performance. Gene is challenging himself and his audience to bring more of that raw passion into PDR content instead of just before-and-after shots.

EDITORIAL FLAG: Coach's name given as “Jesse Jean” — spelling unverified, please confirm before publishing. 

[00:20] The Maverick story 

Gene shares a recent repair on a customer's newly-purchased Maverick with door damage. When he brought the customer out to see the repair before the door panel went back on, the customer asked for a hug. Gene uses this as the kind of moment he wants PDR content to actually capture.

[00:22] PDR Marketing Minute — reviews (rerun) 

This segment is a rerun of an earlier PDR Marketing Minute episode focused on reviews as modern word-of-mouth. The four places named to focus on: Google (My Business), Yelp, Facebook, and PDR Nation. The host in the rerun clip introduces himself by name.

EDITORIAL FLAG: The rerun clip's host introduction is transcribed as “Gene Fedde” — corrected to Gene Fetty per house style before publishing. 

Fresh commentary after the replay: Gene now says to focus mainly on Google reviews, since Facebook reviews are hard to find, PDR Nation no longer exists, and he's not a fan of Yelp. He also shares a tactic from his outside-sales days — screenshotting reviews, printing them at Walgreens, and handing out physical copies in sales folders — along with his standing advice to reply personally to every Google review.

[00:27] Tool of the Week — Keco K-Power Gen 2 

Gene's pick this week is the Keco K-Power line, with a focus on the Gen 2 full-size lateral tension tool. He prefers the full-size over the mid-size for shop use because it offers more reach, though he notes the mid-size is a better call for mobile techs.

Key upgrades from Gen 1 to Gen 2 that Gene calls out: angled (rather than straight) legs for roughly three extra inches of reach on each side, and a replaceable set-screw pin design that fixes a failure point where Gen 1 units would break at the leg threads.

He also walks through the tab strap attachments — glue-don't-glue markings, long and short straps, double-wide blades — and an adapter (included with the system) that lets the K-Power pull Black Plague straps (Gene refers to these as “Keith's straps”) for jam and return-edge pulls.

EDITORIAL FLAG: Keco K-Power Gen 2 full-size lateral tension tool priced at $944.95 USD on kecotabs.com at time of research — web pricing can go stale, please confirm current price/availability before publishing. Black Plague strap pricing was not independently confirmed for blackplaguepdr.com/deadrattabs.com. 

[00:32] Wrap-up — PDR Expo 2026 preview 

Gene previews next week's PDR Expo 2026 (September 25–26, The Rio, Las Vegas). He'll be on the Friday morning round table and doing a cold glue talk with live car demonstrations on Saturday morning. He also mentions lunch plans in Las Vegas beforehand.

Episode 86 — Part 3 of the Mobile vs. Shop trilogy. Recorded from the Atlanta airport en route to a vacation in Italy. Gene covers the evolution of the shop over six and a half years: which add-on services worked, what the new location and build-out changed, the biggest operational mistakes, and how the approach to scheduling repairs has shifted.

Intro — Live from the Atlanta Airport (00:00) 

[00:00] Gene opens from the Atlanta airport, on the way to Rome with MeLissa. Frames this as Part 3 of the shop-vs.-mobile series — after Part 1 (shop vs. mobile comparison) and Part 2 (opening the shop, pitfalls and wins) — now covering what the shop has evolved into six and a half years in.

⚑ EDITORIAL FLAG: Transcript renders the name as "Melissa" — corrected to "MeLissa" per house style. 

Adding the First Shop Tech (02:00) 

[02:00] The first big evolution after opening the shop: bringing on Dave as a technician, which freed Gene up to work on the business instead of just in it. Gene notes he's bummed to have lost Dave as an employee but glad he's still around in the industry — calls it a catch-22. The shop is currently down a tech and actively looking for apprentices.

Trying to Supplement the Shop (03:00) 

[03:00] No matter the model — mobile or shop — bad weather kills demand. The team tried a few add-on services to diversify revenue during slow stretches, with mixed results.

Add-On #1: Ceramic Coating (03:30) 

[03:30] High margin, short learning curve — but the shop only had two real working bays, and coatings needed roughly 24 hours to cure. In bad Pittsburgh weather that meant tying up a bay for a full day, the opposite of the added production they wanted. Gene also says he never found a coating brand or warranty program he fully believed in. Ceramic coating was a no-go.

Add-On #2: Paint Protection Film (05:00) 

[05:00] Gene first tried PPF in Pittsburgh back in late 2006/early 2007 (around when Mack was a baby). Found a good product and got decent at installs, but struggled to sell it — customers balked at a $2,000–$3,000 full front wrap. Years later, with better patterns and materials, he and techs Dave and Jake gave it another shot: Dave picked it up quickly, but low volume meant the team stayed rusty, and selling it was still a fight. They eventually scrapped it a second time.

[07:00] At an MTE round table, Matt Moore mapped out the numbers and found the runway to get a tech proficient and profitable in PPF was almost identical to the runway to train a new PDR technician — reinforcing the decision to invest in PDR talent instead.

⚑ EDITORIAL FLAG: "MTE" is used without expansion in the transcript — likely an industry round table/event name. Confirm the full name/spelling before publishing. 

Add-On #3: Window Tint (08:00) 

[08:00] An employee who wanted hands-on work rather than office tasks tried PDR first but didn't take to it. The team pivoted to window tint, found a trainer about two hours east, and brought in Dave and a team member for the full class, with Mack sitting in on part of it. Tint turned out to be the easiest add-on by far — short learning curve, cheap materials, low-cost mistakes.

⚑ EDITORIAL FLAG: Transcript names this employee "Dana" — spelling unverified; not previously confirmed in the roster. Please confirm before publishing. 

[09:00] Mack eventually stepped up and took over tint, but once he got fully absorbed into PDR, there wasn't enough tint volume to justify a dedicated employee. The team dropped it as a service and now refers tint work out.

⚑ EDITORIAL FLAG: Transcript consistently spells this technician's name "Mac." Corrected to "Mack" per house style. 

Growing Into the New Shop (10:00) 

[10:00] The move went from roughly 1,500 sq ft total to a shop of about 1,700–1,800 sq ft, plus a customer area and a studio, with better parking and a better location.

Location: Reachability vs. Walk-In Traffic (11:00) 

[11:00] The prior shop had great reachability but poor walk-in visibility — Gene used to believe you could just advertise your way out of a bad location. The new shop sits on a main secondary north–south route in the South Hills, in a higher-income area with strong schools, next to a busy gas station, Sherwin-Williams, and other retail neighbors. Walk-in traffic matched six years' worth of the old shop's growth within the first week.

The Build-Out (14:00) 

[14:00] Unlike the short-term-lease first shop, this location came with a 5-year lease and first right of refusal for another 5 — a real runway to invest in the space. The building had 30 years of embedded mechanic-shop grease that took serious scrubbing (one door frame never fully came clean). The team built a proper customer lounge with bar-height tables, comfortable seating, Wi-Fi, plants, and a picture window looking into the shop floor, plus a dedicated studio space for filming and training separate from repair work.

[18:00] Gene shares a story about a tricky one-inch dent on an Atlas that took roughly 15 passes to get flat, with the customer watching the whole repair through the shop window — and how being able to watch built trust even though the repair took longer than expected.

Go Big If You Can Swing It (20:00) 

[20:00] Gene's take: if the new shop's expense level had been attempted back in 2018, the business likely wouldn't have had the runway to survive while still learning the ropes on repairs and insurance workflow. His advice for anyone shop-shopping today is to go big if the numbers support it.

The Estimates-Only Phone Mistake (21:00) 

[21:00] A previous front-office employee, Jennifer, chose not to continue with the company when the team moved to the new shop. Shannon stepped into the front-office role. Early on, the team tried switching the phone close to a body-shop style — "come in for an estimate" instead of quoting over the phone. Gene calls it the second-biggest mistake in shop history (after a bad Google Ads outsourcing experience), driven by high no-show and cancellation rates on scheduled estimates.

⚑ EDITORIAL FLAG: Confirmed against the team roster: Shannon is front-office and non-technical, consistent with prior notes. 

[23:30] The team re-trained on phone skills through Keith's phone skills course and moved back to quoting over the phone, which is working well now.

Could AI Scheduling Be Next? (24:00) 

[24:00] Gene mentions a peer, Dan ("the dent guy" in New York), who's testing a self-service scheduling window for estimates. Gene is intrigued by the idea of a customer-facing qualification chat/AI flow but isn't sold on it yet, especially after how badly the estimates-only phone experiment went.

Holding Cars Longer (24:30) 

[24:30] Over the last 18–20 months, the shop has shifted from trying to complete every car in a single day to holding bigger or more difficult repairs across multiple days. Benefits: a no-show doesn't wipe out a full day of revenue since the job is spread across days, and repair quality has improved because Gene isn't grinding through smashes while exhausted. He notes body shops rarely turn cars in a single day either.

Wrap-Up (27:00) 

[27:00] Gene signs off ahead of a vacation trip to Italy, noting the episode may get uploaded from Rome depending on Wi-Fi.

Tool of the Week: DJI Mic Mini (27:30) 

[27:30] Gene's pick this week is his own gear: the DJI Mic Mini and receiver. He keeps it on the workbench for quick run-and-gun videos where a phone mic alone isn't good enough, especially outdoors or in a noisy shop. The kit includes a charging case, chargers, magnets, and windscreens ("dead cats").

⚠ EDITORIAL FLAG: This episode's Tool of the Week and Marketing Minute segments were intentionally skipped for episodes 85 and 86 per Gene's note in the recording — confirm this should carry through to show notes formatting/template, since those sections are usually standard. 00:00 Cold open — the muted mic blooper Gene opens by revealing that his mic was muted for the entire previous recording session (referenced as the "other episode" — presumably Part 1 of this trilogy or a separate recording). Recording from the basement studio with about 45 minutes before leaving for a trip to Italy. 02:00 Setting up Part 2: the shop move-in Gene frames the episode: Part 1 covered mobile vs. shop pros/cons. Part 2 covers what it actually looked like transitioning into the shop and the hiccups to watch for. Tool of the Week and Marketing Minute are being skipped for this episode and the next due to time constraints. 02:30 The lease problem nobody plans for The shop signed a short-term (one-year) lease and hadn't budgeted mentally or financially for a full build-out. The previous tenant served motorcycles, not cars, so the space (split showroom/small service bay) didn't fit their needs. 03:00 DIY demo on a shoestring budget Wanting to avoid sinking tens of thousands into a one-year lease, the team did the build-out themselves — tearing down walls and scraping grease off the floor left by the previous tenant. 05:00 The occupancy permit curveball An insurance requirement for an occupancy permit revealed a township inspection process neither Gene nor MeLissa knew about. The inspection required an ADA-compliant bathroom (not applicable since it's employee-only), fire extinguishers, and an emergency light. 06:00 Cutting down the custom counter for ADA compliance The newly built custom front counter didn't meet ADA height requirements. The team used a circular saw and Sawzall to cut the countertop down and create a lower ADA-compliant section. 07:00 Opening day: a ghost town Despite finishing the build-out and getting the permit, the grand opening drew almost no traffic. The root cause: Google couldn't convert their existing service-area-business listing (which covered roughly a 30-mile radius and had about 42 reviews) into a fixed-location listing. They had to start a brand-new Google listing from scratch and could not transfer the existing reviews — shrinking their effective organic search radius from roughly 30 miles down to about 5 miles around the new fixed address. 09:00 The Texas hail trip that fell apart mid-flight With business slow after the move, Gene broke his own rule and flew to Texas to help a friend with hail work. The deal changed while he was in the air and mid-flight with no signal; the trip ended up roughly breaking even rather than being the cash injection he'd hoped for. 10:00 First shop wins start to show A small hailstorm about 25 minutes from the shop marked a turning point — instead of renting space or splitting revenue with a partner body shop, the team could keep the full repair margin by handling jobs in-house. As the season progressed and Google's indexing improved, they began landing bigger insurance jobs previously out of reach on a mobile-only basis (multi-day jobs, door removal, etc.). Having a physical shop also changed how insurance adjusters treated the business — described as gaining "street credibility" and receiving less pushback and more referred work over time. 12:00 Traffic purgatory: high visibility, low walk-ins The shop sat in a high-traffic location — right off a major east-west parkway ramp with multiple office parks nearby — but this did not translate into walk-in business. It took roughly three years before walk-in traffic became meaningful. Commuters were described as "tunnel-visioned," with several long-time nearby office workers saying they never noticed the shop despite driving past it daily. 14:00 Why customers didn't want to come to the shop ⚠ EDITORIAL FLAG: Speaker name "Jennifer" (remote scheduler/phone sales) is not in the confirmed team roster — please verify spelling and whether she should be named in published notes, since she is described as a past team member handling phone scheduling at the time of the shop opening. A scheduling hiccup emerged: customers logically asked why they should drive to the shop when mobile service cost the same and was more convenient for them. This forced the team to rethink pricing to incentivize shop visits. 14:30 Building in a mobile service fee To create a meaningful incentive for shop visits without appearing to gouge customers, a mobile service fee was introduced and increased over time: starting at $69.95, then roughly a year later to $89.95, and eventually to $99.95 — a level described as a "pretty good deterrent." 16:00 The company policy that ended the arguments Even with the fee in place, some jobs still got booked mobile when they shouldn't have. The fix was a formal company policy: any repair requiring significant removal-and-install (R&I) work, or any job over $500, is not eligible for mobile service and must come to the shop. Framing it as company policy (rather than a personal decision) removed the friction — customers don't argue with a stated business policy the way they argue with an individual's judgment call. ⚠ EDITORIAL FLAG: Names "Jake" and "Dave" are referenced as former technicians whose departure effectively ended mobile service capacity — not in the current confirmed team roster (which includes Mack and Louie). Please confirm these are accurate historical names before publishing, since they may be misheard in the transcript. 17:00 The double hailstorm and the month-long shutdown In 2022, two hailstorms hit simultaneously — a major storm about an hour south and a smaller one about an hour and a half north. With the team split between locations and MeLissa and staff filling in on multiple fronts, the shop itself had to close for close to a month at the peak of the storm response, with a sign posted explaining the closure. 19:00 The cost of looking closed The extended closure created the appearance that the business wasn't operating, which caused a noticeable lull in bookings even after reopening — customers assumed things weren't busy and looked elsewhere. 19:30 Year one: financially brutal Gene is candid that the first year in the shop was a significant financial setback. His advice to anyone considering a shop move: prepare financially to "take it on the chin" for a stretch, and research in advance whether your existing Google listing can transfer to the new address, or whether you'll need to start over. 20:00 Shop life trade-offs: bigger jobs, less freedom A fixed shop location enables bigger and more insurance-driven jobs, longer hold times on vehicles, and more capacity overall — but it comes at the cost of the flexibility mobile work offered, like being able to travel for hail work on short notice. 20:30 Advice: go all in, or stay off the beaten path Gene's recommendation for anyone easing into shop life: don't half-commit to a retail location on a main road. If you want to test the waters, choose an appointment-only, low-visibility space without a public Google listing rather than a full storefront. 21:00 Wrap-up and what's next Gene teases Part 3, likely to be recorded during a layover in Atlanta, covering the evolution of the business into its current form — including changes to estimating, hiring, and how the current shop's Google listing transition (mentioned as smoother this time) played out.

Gene Fetty kicks off a three-part series on mobile PDR work vs. running a shop, recorded ahead of a two-week anniversary trip to Italy, Croatia, and Montenegro with MeLissa (25 years married).

[00:00] Intro 

Gene announces this will be the first of a three-part series on mobile vs. shop, recorded in advance because he's heading out on a two-week anniversary trip with MeLissa - 25 years married. Episodes 2 and 3 will be scheduled to publish automatically while he's away.

[02:00] Gene's PDR Journey 

Gene started PDR in 2002. Around 2013, as PDR College, PDR Facebook groups, and industry discussion picked up, retail work started to become viable. His company, Total Reconditioning Services, was originally meant to be a one-stop wholesale recon shop (wheels, bumpers, dents, glass, interior, paint). He gradually shifted into 100% mobile retail.

[04:00] The Case for Mobile - Freedom 

Gene's favorite part of mobile work was total schedule control - stopping early, hitting the driving range between jobs, or taking a day off just by not booking cars. He mentions going out to do hail work for six weeks straight in 2016 while Louie ran the shop side, something much harder to do once tied to a physical location.

He notes that even eight and a half years into shop ownership, he still misses that mobile freedom more than he minds the overhead of a shop.

EDITORIAL FLAG: Transcript reference to "Jennifer" (answering phones circa 2016) is a former team member, not a current name on file. Confirm before publishing if any current-team framing is implied. 

[07:00] The Turning Point - Weather 

Gene explains Pittsburgh's brutal weather (comparable rain totals to Seattle, plus snow and sub-zero wind chills) as the underlying driver behind wanting a shop, even before the specific incident that pushed him to pull the trigger.

[11:00] The Snowy Driveway Story 

On a snowy, icy retail call at a customer's home, Gene's rolling tool cart tipped and spilled his entire kit down a steep driveway. Digging tools out of the snow was the final straw - right then, he decided he needed a shop.

[14:00] Finding the Shop 

Days later, driving past a hand-written "Short-term lease available" sign on Campbell's Run, Gene called the number on the spot and connected with the landlord, Don.

[16:00] Locking Down the Lease 

Don offered a one-year lease with month-to-month renewal after that, at $1,100/month, with the county eventually planning to take the building for a project. MeLissa closed the deal on-site with a checkbook while another interested renter was calling in. First shop opened February/March; the county ultimately took about six years (delayed by funding issues and COVID) to actually reclaim the building.

[18:00] Insurance Advantage 

With a shop, Gene can bring adjusters in, let cars sit for supplements, and take on more insurance-driven repairs - something nearly impossible to coordinate reliably as a mobile operation.

[19:00] Capacity 

A shop removes drive time and pack-up/unpack time between stops, letting Gene run bigger jobs (citing a $5,000-$6,000 hail repair) alongside smaller door-ding work, and leave cars partially disassembled between sessions - not practical in a customer's driveway.

[21:00] The Overhead Trade-off 

Rent, additional insurance, and staffing all increase with a shop. Gene is direct that this is a real trade-off against the capacity and legitimacy gains.

[22:00] Legitimacy 

Gene frames the shop as a sales advantage against mobile-only competitors ("Chuck in a truck"), while acknowledging a mobile operator can sell against a shop on lower overhead and lower pricing.

[23:00] Nearly Building a Mobile Rig Instead 

When Gene thought he'd lose his first shop early, he seriously considered a ~$100K tricked-out Sprinter van build (Custom Upfits awning, roll-out generator, infrared heaters, rooftop A/C) as an alternative to leasing a new space, noting even a maxed-out mobile rig costs less than the cheapest shop.

EDITORIAL FLAG: "Custom Upfits" / "Custom Outfits" is referenced twice with slightly different spelling in the transcript - confirm the correct company name before publishing. 

[26:00] How Do You Know What's Right for You? 

Gene's framework: assess your local overhead and market, and consider an off-the-beaten-path garage as a lower-risk stepping stone rather than a highly visible retail storefront.

[29:00] Hail Markets & Population 

For hail-prone markets, Gene calls a shop close to a no-brainer, since it lets a tech build a year-round retail customer base and CRM ahead of storm season. He also flags population size as a factor, referencing his own 1.4 million-person metro region when he started mobile retail around 2013-14.

EDITORIAL FLAG: Speaker references a conversation with someone in a ~20,000-population market discussing hail-focused mobile work - no name given in the transcript, left unattributed. 

[30:00] Coming Up in Episode 2 

Gene previews next episode's focus: the actual mobile-to-shop transition, hurdles, wins, and surprises. He references a recurring roundtable he's co-hosted the last few MTEs with a co-host named in the transcript.

EDITORIAL FLAG: Co-host name given in the transcript as "Matt Moore" for the MTE roundtable - not a name on file for Dent Repair Now's recurring contacts. Please confirm spelling/identity before publishing. 

[33:00] PDR Marketing Minute - Episode 4 

Topic: setting up a Facebook Business Page. Key points - use a dedicated business/fan page (not a personal profile), match your Name/Address/Phone (NAP) exactly to your Google Business listing, and post 3-5 times per week. Gene revisits the old advice on-air: he now says to get as many followers/likes as possible (reversing the original "don't ask other techs to like your page" guidance), since follower counts function as social proof today.

[37:00] Tool of the Week - Fast PDR Shotgun Auto Loading Slide Hammer 

Gene reviews the Shotgun Auto Loading Slide Hammer by Fast PDR Tools, purchased through Anson PDR as a kit with PDR Outlet cold glue tabs and Glexo Diablo preloaded dots. Highlights:

EDITORIAL FLAG: Transcript references "Tool Porn Thursday" from a contact named "Craig," and a separate mention of a group text from "John Yeager." Neither name is on file for Dent Repair Now's recurring contacts - confirm spelling/attribution before publishing. 

Product/pricing note: the Shotgun kit is listed starting at $299.99 USD on Anson PDR's site (kit includes case, 3 PDR Outlet cold glue tabs, and a Glexo Diablo cold glue 6-pack).

https://ansonpdr.com/products/fast-pdr-shotgun-auto-hammer

[44:00] Wrap-Up 

Come back next week for Episode 85 - Part 2 of the Mobile vs. Shop series, covering the actual transition from mobile to shop.

Gene opens live from the newly set-up studio. Mack threw himself a birthday picnic over the weekend, and a wicked rainstorm rolled through the night of recording — the studio stayed dry this time, no squeegee duty required. [02:00] This Week's Topic: Pricing A follow-on from last week's episode. Gene notes he could teach a full day on pricing alone, but tonight is a touch-and-go on pricing strategy, pricing techniques, and — most importantly — justifying the price you land on. [03:00] The Problem With Just Running the Numbers Many techs plug damage into a price guide (Mobile Tech RX, PK/Precedence, custom guides, etc.) and hand the customer a single lump number without walking them through it. Gene's point: doing that loses the job almost every time — unless it's a supercar. [04:00] Case Study: '23 Chevy Equinox, Deer Hit Big fender dent, mirror shattered and cap blown off, belt molding dented, glass scratched, and the rear door buckled top to bottom from the impact. Gene wrote the repair for the mid-$5,000s — itemized, with roughly $1,000 in parts (mirror, molding, glass) — and educated the customer on why a full, proper repair made sense on a low-mileage '23, rather than a quick pop-out. [07:00] The Insurance Company Fight The insurer's independent adjuster wrote the estimate low — no blend time on the hood, a partial bumper drop, and only about five hours of repair time on a door that needed a skin or replacement. Gene's stance: insurers aren't obligated to pay more than a conventional repair costs, but a poorly written estimate that ignores real damage is a different problem entirely. ⚑ EDITORIAL FLAG: Gene refers to the adjuster as "Billy Bob" in the story — confirm whether this is a real name, a placeholder, or a joke before publishing if used verbatim anywhere outside the transcript-based content. After additional photos and video documentation were submitted, the estimate came up to a workable number and the job moved forward. [10:00] Why the Big Number Was the Sticking Point Gene priced the fender at roughly $1,972 using his price guide. The adjuster's own numbers landed closer to $1,000. Gene's takeaway: the gap wasn't really about the dollar figure — it was that the adjuster didn't understand how Gene arrived at the number, and was also pricing in cheap aftermarket parts. ⚑ EDITORIAL FLAG: The transcript lists the fender figure as both "$1,972.62" (first mention) and "$1,972.83" (second mention) — likely a transcription inconsistency rather than two different numbers. Verify the correct figure before publishing if it needs to appear precisely. [12:00] The Price Guide Is a Guide Running the price guide's number up as high as it will go does no good if it costs you the sale. Overpricing without a sales foundation makes PDR look more expensive than body shop work — even where the value is genuinely there. Third-party services like Claim Connection and Dent Ops can help write and negotiate more thorough conventional estimates when a job calls for it. [13:00] The Steakhouse Method: Selling Price A La Carte Gene's core sales lesson of the episode: never open with the total number. Walk the customer through the repair piece by piece — like a server describing courses at a steakhouse — so each item builds naturally toward the total instead of landing as one shock number. He even holds sales tax until the very end, presented as its own separate line. The same approach applies to hail work: break the hood, roof, roof rail, glue-pull setup, pre-scan/post-scan, and corrosion protection into individual, explained line items rather than one big total. [18:00] Coaching Availability Gene has openings for coaching — single sessions, multi-session packages, in-person, and in-person on-location. Reach out via [email protected]. [19:00] Recommended Sales Books Zig Ziglar — sales books/audiobooks Dale Carnegie — How to Win Friends and Influence People Nicholas Boothman — Convince Them in 90 Seconds [20:00] Tool of the Week: Stuckey 18" Portable Light Gene's go-to portable/mini light, from Stuckey Tools (Carl Stuckey). Five-strip configuration (cool/warm/cool/warm/cool), push-button controls, dimmer (Gene runs it full bright), and a proprietary rechargeable battery shared with Stuckey's glue guns. Can hang from the end of the panel or reposition to center. Gene uses it for door dings, cross-checking, and outdoor work in direct sun. He recently upgraded to Stuckey's power suction cup, which he charges roughly every week and a half. ⚑ EDITORIAL FLAG: Gene mentions the Stuckey website currently lists him under an old "Kiko trainer" title and asks Carl to update it — this is a note to Stuckey Tools, not something to include as a fact about Gene in published content. [25:00] New PDR Community: Panel Beaters Club Discord Thad Treece (Dentproof) launched a private Discord server for PDR techs called the Panel Beaters Club — a space for experienced and newer techs to swap ideas and talk shop away from customer and insurance-company eyes. Gene cleared sharing the link with Thad before recording. [27:00] PDR Expo 2026 About five and a half weeks out at recording time. Gene encourages listeners to attend, check out the competitions, and cheer on Mack, who is entering the beginner's competition still under his two-year mark in the trade. [28:00] Now Hiring: Apprenticeships Dent Repair Now is still looking for a couple of apprentices. Interested listeners can reach out to [email protected]. [29:00] Studio Background Updates A PDR Cigars sign from Dave Fisher joins the background (Dave had to PDR it himself after it arrived dented), along with Keith Cosentino's "Black Plague — Make Metal Flat Again" hat. [30:00] PDR Universe Shoutout Gene recently appeared on the PDR Universe podcast, discussing learning PDR through glue pull first and related theory. ⚑ EDITORIAL FLAG: Co-host names for PDR Universe are given here as "John" and "Zeeshan." Per prior episodes, these names have appeared inconsistently across transcripts — verify correct spelling before publishing. [31:00] PDR Marketing Minute, Episode 3: Google Business Listing Free to set up at business.google.com. Add full business info (name, address for verification purposes even for mobile-only operations, phone, website), hours, service-area settings for mobile businesses, and photos. Claim the listing once verification is complete to unlock Google Reviews. Gene's live updates to the segment: the correct current domain is business.google.com; mobile management now happens through the Google Maps app; write full URLs as https:// rather than http://; and Google has shifted from postcard verification to video verification for many businesses, which he found to be a more involved process.

Cold Open — A Brutal Week and the Toughest Dent Yet Gene opens with a rundown of a genuinely rough week at the shop — Mack was out on vacation, hard cars kept coming in, and dealers kept dropping off extras. Good problems, he says, but problems nonetheless. The highlight (and lowlight) of the week: what Gene calls the deepest, sharpest dent he's ever fixed — a brand-new Ford Explorer with a two-to-two-and-a-half-inch gash at the bottom body line of the door. He started filming it, the repair started going sideways, and he stopped recording and just powered through over a couple of evenings of work-till-frustration, walk away, come back. He's planning a green-screen breakdown video of the before/during/after footage he did manage to capture. He floats a theory that this might be a "summer of hard dents" tied to a softer economy — pointing back to 2008, when Dent Repair Now stayed busy and grew through the recession by picking up more of what he calls "recession dents." PDR Universe Podcast Shoutout Note for Gene: the transcript is inconsistent on the co-host's name — rendered as both "John" and "Jean" in different spots, and the second host as both "Zeeshan" and "Zsan." Please confirm correct spellings before this goes out. Gene gives a shoutout to the PDR Universe podcast, hosted by John (or Jean) and Zeeshan, available on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube via bestpdrtraining.com. He's recording an episode on their show right after this one. Gene mentions he enjoys the non-US perspective the show brings, including past conversations about how hail repair differs between Europe and the co-host's home country of Slovenia. Gene mentions first meeting the co-host at the original GPR PDR competition, and having him on for play-by-play coverage with Danny during that event. This Week's Marketing Minute Setup Based on listener feedback from last week, Gene is bringing back old PDR Marketing Minute episodes rather than retiring the segment. Today's replay is Episode 2, which Gene hadn't listened to in about ten years going into this recording — he and the audience hear it together. Listener Question: Should You Put Pricing on Your Website? Note for Gene: the listener who prompted this topic isn't named on air (referred to only as "Mr. Listener"). No name has been added to any of the content below — flag if you'd like him credited. A listener messaged Gene this week asking his thoughts on posting a price guide directly on a PDR website. Gene admits his thinking has shifted over the years — he used to resist customer texting entirely and now finds it's often the easiest way to interact with a business himself. The listener's approach: a straightforward price guide on his site — starting price per inch, plus factors. Gene contrasts a few different models he's seen in the industry, including the Mobile Tech RX pricing matrix, Dent Repair Now's own custom-built matrix, and a pricing calculator Gene believes lives on dentreaper.com. Note for Gene: you say "I think, I think John Vianden" built the dentreaper.com pricing calculator — please confirm that attribution before publishing. Why a Raw Price Guide Falls Short Gene's first objection: retail customers don't speak PDR. Terms like body line, aluminum, HSS, laminated window, sound deadener, and obstructed damage mean nothing to most people — they might call a body line a "crease" and have no framework for sizing damage the way a technician does. Posting a bare price guide assumes a shared vocabulary that doesn't exist. He also references a pricing calculator he recalls from years back that started at $199 rather than a lower number, on the theory that if a customer wasn't willing to accept at least that entry point, the shop didn't want the call in the first place. Gene connects this to the reality of bad leads eating up front-desk time — Shannon or Gene fielding long, meandering calls that end up going nowhere. His conclusion: the right answer is somewhere between full transparency and full opacity, using price information to filter without oversimplifying. Don't Let Pricing Turn PDR Into a Commodity Gene's second concern with just posting a price list: it risks commoditizing a service that isn't one. He draws a distinction between true commodities — goods like gas or food that move on supply and demand — and PDR, which he frames as a high-skill, high-value trade. It's not cheap because it's costly to deliver real value, not because it should be priced like a shelf item. Checking What the AI Search Engines Say PDR Costs Gene walks through what a customer would currently find by asking Google, Claude, and ChatGPT what PDR costs — revisiting the days when a plain search would return unrealistically low numbers. Google (Gemini) Single-panel fixes: roughly $75–$500 per dent Multi-panel hail damage: roughly $1,200–$4,000+ Small dent (quarter-sized parking lot ding): $75–$200 Medium dent: $200–$500 Large dent or crease: $400–$1,000 Hail damage: $1,200–$4,000+ Notes a 25–50% premium for aluminum panels due to the metal being stiffer and harder Compares favorably to body shops, which it lists at roughly $600–$2,000 for a single panel repair ChatGPT Single small dent: $75–$150 Medium dent: $150–$350 Large dent or multiple dents: $350–$800 Hail damage: $500–$4,500+ Cites factors like size, depth, location, panel type, number of dents, and shop labor rates Gene had also checked Claude in advance of recording and shares those figures too: small door ding (dime to nickel-sized) around $125–$250, medium dent $250–$500, large dent $500–$1,500, plus separate ranges for creases, body-line dents, and hail damage. He notes he told each AI to answer as if it didn't know him personally, though he can't say the results weren't influenced by his prior activity. His takeaway: the AI-generated answers have gotten noticeably better and more specific over time, but they still miss real-world variables — he points to a $5,000 deer-hit insurance job the shop has coming in that week as an example of complexity no generic pricing answer captures. Marcus Sheridan's "They Ask, You Answer" Gene brings in a concept from Marcus Sheridan's book They Ask, You Answer, which argues that businesses build trust and credibility — and drive sales — by directly and thoroughly answering the questions their customers are actually asking, rather than dodging them. Gene relates this to a story from the book about Sheridan's fiberglass pool company, where prospective buyers wanted a ballpark cost early in the conversation and the business had historically avoided giving one. Gene frames this as a version of SEO for the AI era — informally, "AI SEO" — where the same content that helps a human trust you also helps AI models learn to answer pricing questions about PDR more accurately. Gene's Conclusion: Educate, Don't Just Publish a Number Gene lands on an educational approach rather than either extreme. Rather than posting a bare price guide, he wants to build content — videos in particular — that walks a customer through how pricing actually gets determined: starting price, per-inch factors, and complicating conditions like an inaccessible repair area behind a brace, using the same explanation a tech would give in person while inspecting a car. His challenge to listeners: don't just rely on AI and search engines getting smarter about PDR pricing — be the source that teaches both customers and the AIs training on the web. He closes the segment by asking the audience to share their own thoughts on posting pricing publicly. PDR Marketing Minute Throwback — Episode 2: Website 101 This week's replayed Marketing Minute covers the fundamentals of a PDR business website: Get a .com domain if at all possible — customers get confused by .net, .org, or newer extensions If your exact company name isn't available, consider a descriptive alternative (Gene's own dentrepairnow.com came out of this approach and later became his official DBA and company name) Use quality, fast-loading hosting — slow sites lose impatient visitors to competitors Build a mobile-responsive site rather than a separate mobile subdomain — Gene lost search ranking after a Google algorithm update penalized his old mobile-only setup Put your phone number and a clear call to action (Gene uses "Schedule a Repair") prominently at the top of the page Feature strong before-and-after photos shot from a consistent angle, ideally with a tripod, so there's no question it's the same vehicle Include a contact form for leads who'd rather not call or text Build a reviews page that pulls in reviews from Yelp, Facebook, Google, and PDR Nation while keeping visitors on your own site Write original content — never copy from another site, which search engines penalize Listening back, Gene notes the advice held up well overall, aside from the now-outdated mobile-subdomain approach. Tool of the Week: Glexo Blending Hammer Gene's pick this week is his well-worn 4 oz Glexo Blending Hammer from Anson PDR — a tool he calls possibly the perfect blending hammer. He highlights the handle design (a rear grip zone for control and a second bulge for a shorter grip), and the ability to flip to the side of the head for hard, sharp metal-to-metal contact on sharp-tip or VIP work. He and his technician Louie are both repeat buyers — Louie is reportedly on his fifth one, a running joke about how easily he loses tools. The Glexo Blending Hammer is available in 4 oz, 6 oz, and 8 oz versions, with a 15-inch handle across all sizes, from Anson PDR. Wrap-Up: PDR Expo 2026 Gene closes with a reminder that PDR Expo is coming up September 25–26 at The Rio in Las Vegas. He's part of a roundtable discussion on Friday and is doing a hands-on cold glue talk on Saturday, which he's especially excited about. Blog Post Should You Put Your Pricing on Your PDR Website? Man, it's been a week. Mack was out on vacation, the cars coming in were hard, and dealers kept dropping off extras on top of it. Good problems to have, but problems nonetheless. In the middle of all that I fixed the deepest, sharpest dent I think I've ever done — a brand-new Explorer with a nasty two-to-two-and-a-half-inch gash right at the bottom body line of the door. I actually started recording it and had to stop when it started going sideways on me. Took a couple of evenings of work-till-frustration, walk away, come back and do it again, but I got it. I've got some before, during, and after footage, so I'm probably going to do a green-screen breakdown of that one soon. Kind of makes me wonder if this is the summer of hard dents. Or maybe it's a little recession-ish out there — not trying to get political, just an observation. I remember back in the '08 crash, when the whole car market fell apart, we actually stayed busy and kept growing. We just ended up fixing a lot more "recession dents." Maybe that's what's going on again. Before I get into the main topic, I want to give a shoutout to the PDR Universe podcast — I'm actually hopping on their show right after I finish recording this one. They're bringing good info and good perspective every week, including a non-US point of view that I think is genuinely valuable. We've talked before about how different hail repair looks in Europe versus back home. Go check them out on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube. The Question That Started This Episode A listener messaged me this week about pricing — specifically, putting your price guide right on your website. And I've got thoughts. I'll admit my thinking on stuff like this has shifted over time. I used to be dead set against texting customers, and now I find myself preferring it when I'm the one dealing with a business — it's just easier than getting stuck on a phone call. But pricing is different. His approach was to put a straightforward price guide on his site: starting price per inch, plus the usual factors. I've seen a handful of variations on this across the industry — the Mobile Tech RX pricing matrix, a custom matrix like the one we built for our own shop, and pricing calculators like the one I believe lives on dentreaper.com. Why I Don't Think a Bare Price Guide Works Here's my first problem with just throwing a price guide up with no explanation: our customers don't speak our language. We talk about body lines, aluminum, HSS, laminated windows, sound deadener, obstructed damage — and the average retail customer has no idea what any of that means. They might call a body line a crease. They think dent "size" works differently than we do. Handing someone a price guide with zero context just creates confusion, not clarity. There's also the lead-filtering angle. I remember an old pricing calculator that started around $199 instead of some lower number, specifically so that if someone wasn't willing to accept at least that starting point, they weren't the right customer to spend time on. And that matters — our front desk can burn twenty, thirty, forty minutes in a day on calls that go absolutely nowhere. There's a part of me that wants everybody to call, and a part of me that knows a bad lead costs real time. I think the right answer sits somewhere in between: use pricing information to filter, without oversimplifying the whole thing into one number. The other issue is what a bare price guide does to how customers perceive us. If everybody just posts a flat price list, we start looking like a commodity — like gas or food, something that moves purely on supply and demand. PDR isn't that. It's a highly skilled trade. We're not solving world hunger, sure, but what we do is genuinely costly to deliver well, and that cost reflects real value, not just a number on a page. What Google, Claude, and ChatGPT Say PDR Costs I wanted to check where the AI search engines currently land on this, since more and more people are using AI instead of a traditional search bar. Google (through Gemini) puts single-panel fixes at roughly $75 to $500, and multi-panel hail damage at $1,200 to $4,000-plus, with a 25 to 50 percent premium noted for aluminum panels because the metal is stiffer and harder to work. It even compares that favorably against traditional body shops, which it pegs at $600 to $2,000 for a single panel repair. ChatGPT gave similar shape, if slightly different numbers: $75 to $150 for a small dent, $150 to $350 for a medium dent, $350 to $800 for a large dent or multiple dents, and $500 to $4,500-plus for hail. And when I checked Claude ahead of time, I got small door ding around $125 to $250, medium dent $250 to $500, large dent $500 to $1,500, with its own separate ranges for creases, body-line dents, and hail. Compared to the old days — when a plain Google search would spit out some unrealistically low number — that's real progress. But it still misses things. We've got a $5,000 deer-hit job with an insurance claim coming in this week, and no generic pricing answer online is going to account for that kind of complexity. The Real Fix: Education, Not Just Numbers This is where Marcus Sheridan's book They Ask, You Answer comes in. His core idea is simple: if you directly and honestly answer the questions your customers are actually asking, you build trust and it leads to sales. He tells a story about his own fiberglass pool company, where buyers wanted a ballpark price early on and the business kept avoiding giving one — to its own detriment. I think a lot of us in PDR are in that same spot, myself included. So here's where I've landed: we need to be educational about pricing, not just transparent or just secretive. That means building content — videos especially — that walks a customer through how a price actually gets determined. Not just "here's the number," but the same explanation we'd give standing next to their car: here's the starting price, here's what an extra inch adds, and here — see this brace down in your door? I can't get a big tool in there, so I have to sneak in gently, and that changes things. Feed the customer that kind of explanation and the price stops feeling arbitrary. It's also worth thinking of this as a modern version of SEO — call it AI SEO if you want a label for it. The same content that builds trust with a human reading your site is the content that trains the AI models answering "what does PDR cost" for the next person who asks. So that's where I'm at: somewhere between throwing a raw price guide out there and giving nothing at all. Educate first. I'd genuinely like to hear how you all are handling pricing on your own websites — come find me and let me know. Tool of the Week: Glexo Blending Hammer My pick this week is my well-worn 4 oz Glexo Blending Hammer from Anson PDR. This thing has been through it — the head is actually hot glued on at this point — but it might be the perfect blending hammer. I love the handle, the rear grip for control, the second bulge for choking up shorter. Flip it to the side of the head and you get a hard, sharp metal-to-metal impact that's great for sharp-tip or VIP work. My guy Louie is on his fifth one — he's just really good at losing tools, apparently. It comes in 4 oz, 6 oz, and 8 oz versions, all with a 15-inch handle, and I'd call it close to a required purchase if you're doing PDR. Before I Go Don't forget — PDR Expo is September 25th and 26th at the Rio in Las Vegas. I'm on a roundtable Friday and doing a hands-on cold glue talk Saturday that I'm genuinely excited about. Hit me up and let me know what you think about pricing on your site — and about this episode.

Gene celebrates cracking 5,000 Facebook followers, then digs into this week's core theme: put the reps in. Whether it's content creation, repair skills, or estimating, Gene argues the only way through is to keep grinding — even when it sucks.

Timestamped Notes 

[00:00]  Cold open and welcome back to episode 81.

[00:00–04:00]  Gene announces he broke 5,000 followers on Facebook, reflects on the climb from 2,000 to 5,000, and sets 10,000 as the next goal. He credits focusing everything under one brand (retiring AAI) as the turning point.

[04:00]  Today's theme: put the reps in — lessons learned from content, repairs, and business.

[04:24–05:52]  Gene looks back at his earliest videos — time-lapses set to music, no education, no personality.

[05:52–08:00]  Coaching from Keith Cosentino pushed Gene to get on camera. The early "model walk-around" videos at his old Volkswagen store were awkward, but they were reps.

[08:00–10:00]  Gene's advice: stop overthinking gear and production value. Raw, phone-shot videos consistently outperform his high-production studio content. He references a tip from Stefan Eschy (UBreakIFix / MyDentShop LLC) about ditching the gear obsession and just posting. Editing apps mentioned: Edits (free, from Meta/Instagram) and CapCut.

[10:30–14:00]  PDR Expo 2026 preview: September 25–26 at The Rio in Las Vegas. Friday morning roundtable, Mac competing in the beginners' competition Friday afternoon (dent trials), a possible masters competition, and Gene's cold glue classroom + hands-on session Saturday.

[14:00–20:00]  Repair story #1: a brand-new 2026 11th-gen Civic Type R with an 8–11" crease in the quarter panel. The customer didn't want the car painted. Gene pulled the bumper expecting easy reach through the vent — it wasn't. Had to work blind with ultra-thin whale tails and Dent Craft's shaved red-and-yellow set to sneak past a tight brace.

[20:00–26:00]  Repair story #2: a BMW X5 with 20+ 10mm bolts holding the wheel liner, a leaking washer fluid bottle routed through the fender, and three separate electrical/liquid connections buried against the frame rail. Gene phones a friend (body shop buddy Jeremy) for tech support mid-teardown.

[26:00–29:00]  Repair story #3: an aluminum fender dented by a kid on a bike. Gene missed that the panel was aluminum before starting — a rare miss he owns on air. MeLissa stops by mid-repair to check in.

[29:00–30:00]  Takeaway: putting the reps in on hard, locked-up, aluminum panels builds the ability to shift gears and push through tough jobs.

[30:00–32:00]  Tech tip: even when a repair isn't perfect by your own standard, don't undersell it to the customer. Let them judge the result rather than setting a negative expectation going in — a lesson Gene picked up from Keith Cosentino.

[32:00–34:00]  Update: Keith Cosentino and Shane's AI session with the 20 Group was recorded and will run as a PDR College episode (not on the All Access feed) — keep an eye on that feed for release.

[34:00–39:00]  Special segment: Gene found and replays the very first episode of the PDR Marketing Minute from his archive (circa 2016/17) — a retail marketing checklist covering website, Google Business listing, Facebook business page, Yelp, and asking for reviews.

[39:00–42:00]  Gene reflects on the archival episode — most of the advice still holds up, though he'd now emphasize engagement over raw follower counts. He asks listeners whether they want more archival Marketing Minute content or a revived series.

[42:00–48:00]  Tool of the Week: Anson PDR's new Tequila Econoline T-Handle (locking, zero-play compact hub handle) and the new 9/32" Compact Hub 5-piece hand tool set (8", 11", 14", 17", 20") — stainless steel, sharp precision tips built for aluminum and high-strength steel.

[48:00–51:00]  Wrap-up: put the reps in, recap of PDR Expo, and PDR College coaching availability — one-on-one, in-person, and multi-session options open.

[51:00–53:00]  Dent Repair Now is hiring: looking for at least two apprentices to join the team in Canonsburg, PA (just south of Pittsburgh). Mack and Louie are both praised as strong technicians on the current team.

Links Mentioned 

PDR Expo 2026 — Sept 25–26, The Rio, Las Vegas: https://pdrexpo.com

Anson PDR — Tequila Econoline Compact Handle: https://ansonpdr.com/products/tequila-econoline-compact-handle-indexing

Anson PDR — Compact Hub Tequila Indexing Hand Tools 9/32": https://ansonpdr.com/products/compact-hub-tequila-indexing-hand-tools-9-32

Finesse PDR Tools: https://pdrfinessetools.com/