The Best of Car Talk - #2499: The Dent Doctors

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

Linzee was watching in disbelief as the last hailstones bounced off her now-dimpled new car when a second plague of low-cost, mobile Dent Doctors swarmed into town promising a quick fix. Should she or shouldn't she? Find out on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Get access to hundreds of episodes in the Car Talk archive when you sign up for Car Talk+ at plus.npr.org/cartalkLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

What are the best albums of 2024? Find out on the latest episode of NPR's All Songs Considered. There's a lot of people who could sing that exact line and I would be like, you're under arrest. But she pulls it off. Download new episodes of All Songs Considered every Tuesday, wherever you get podcasts. Hi there, it's Ray. Well, the end of another year is here and our team is looking back at all the fun we've

been able to bring you in 2024 because of your support. That's right, we're still making this show because listeners like you step up and support our work, either by giving to your local station or by joining NPR+. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, NPR plus is a sweet way to support the independent public media that you rely on from NPR Plus is a sweet way to support the independent public media that you rely on from NPR. When you sign up for NPR Plus, you support our mission of creating a more informed public and you get special perks from more than 25 NPR podcasts like sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, access to the Car Talk archives, and even exclusive and discounted items from

the NPR Shop and the NPR wine club. Donate right now and join us on the plus side at plus dot NPR dot org and thanks. Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tapper Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the Do It To Yourself division here at Car Talk Plaza. Well, you know, summer has finally arrived. Spring never really showed up here in New England, did it? I mean, it's- You don't ever get spring.

Boom, just all of a sudden it's summer. But anyway, that means that many of you will be taking your annual stab at doing it yourself. That is repairing something on your car. Now, maybe you need to change the plugs or replace a belt or if you drive a real beast like my brother, you'll be taking a hammer and chisel to that pile of crud that's built up

on the floor of your trunk. Floor, it's on the front seat. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. In ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha personal experience that there's nothing quite like that moment when you realize that a 200-pound hunk of steel is slipping through your fingers and heading right for your noggin as you're lying on that creeper. Now that's doing it to yourself! It really is. I can remember the very time that it happened to me and that was the beginning of the end. It was. Yeah. It was indeed the beginning. By the way, I should mention the reason... Does it say FOMOCO on my head?

I think so. I should mention that we don't get enough calls from people out in their driveways screwing up their own cars. We used to. In the old days, we would get calls just exactly like that. Some guy would call and say, hey, I got my transmission out, and it's on my driveway, and I'm trying to figure out something. And we would tell him exactly what to do, right down to the size of the wrench that he should be using. Yeah, maybe they don't call because what we told them to do was wrong.

We don't know the answer. That's why they don't call anymore. Anyway, speaking of things that you shouldn't do, yeah, you plan on reading any mail, or can we just hit the phone? Oh, have I got mail? Okay, go for it. A lady named Linda went to Arkansas last week to visit her in-laws. And while she was there, she went to a store. She parked next to a car with a woman sitting in it.

Her eyes were closed and her hands were behind her head, apparently sleeping. She was apparently sleeping. When Linda came out a while later, she again saw the woman, her hands still behind her head, but with her eyes open. The woman looked very strange, so Linda tapped on the window and said, Are you okay? The woman said, I've been shot in the head and I'm holding my brains in. That'll shock you, won't it? Linda didn't know what to do, so she ran into the store where store officials called the

paramedics. When they opened the car, they found a woman had bread dough on the back of her head and in her hands. A Pillsbury biscuit canister had exploded, apparently from the heat in the car, making a loud explosion like that of a gunshot, and it hit her in the back of the head. When she reached back to find out what it was, she felt the dough and thought it was her brains leaking out. She passed out from fright,

and then attempted to hold in her brains. That could scare the living daylights out of you. It sure could. Boom! You reach back and you feel this gooey mass. What else can you imagine? Well, if it were your case, you wouldn't have to worry about your brains being shut out. If you'd like to call us with a question about your car, our phone number is 1-800-332-9287.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Christy from Albuquerque. Christy, what's up? Well, I have a car that has its own little theme song. Uh-huh. It's a hippie hippie shake What it does is um, if you're not pushing on the accelerator It just shakes so much the keys rattle in the ignition Oh, and then when you come to stoplight if you put it neutral it slows the shake down, but it still shakes So what we did was I took it to a car shop, and they said that they replaced a computer

chip that mixes the oxygen and the fuel, and they changed my oil. What kind of a GM? What kind of a car is this? How'd you know? It's a Chevy Cavalier, 1990. It's got a little bit over 100,000 on it. And what happened was is when they did that, it helped with the shaking some, but still when I'd pull up the stoplightlight i'd still have to drop it neutral

because the key to take the check not much but what would be interesting whether after on they had done that if you're pointed down hill with the car it and i think i'm gonna be interesting i can tell already tries to watch it had to cut out now and it never used to do that before but i don't think uphill it doesn't uh... yeah it doesn't become a much push on the accelerator up hill i'd go back

with so you really really haven't solved this problem originally you originally went in because you had this problem with the chaking and installing a traffic lights so it never tried to thought this should have added to show your teeth rattled even okay and then they went ahead and they changed the PROM in the computer, which is the chip. And that chip tells the computer certain things about your car. It tells it that it's a 90 Cavalier, it tells it it's a four cylinder,

it tells it you have an automatic transmission, etc. etc. And that's how the computer assimilates all the information it gets from the various sensors to send the right amount of fuel to the injectors or rather from the injectors into the engine and to have the right spark advance, et cetera, et cetera. Oh, okay. So they may have done the right thing and they probably determined that by scanning the computer.

They put a scanner on it. Okay, and they did check the vacuum hoses and they checked the EGR valve. Good, good. Well, I think they were on the right track checking the vacuum hoses and the EGR valve because I think what's making it run rough is that you have a vacuum leak somewhere. I do, then. I believe so. Well, I mean, it sounds to me like they they really despite the fact that it sounds very technical and high-tech here

They didn't do diddly By replacing this chip. Okay, because it sounds to me that it's doing almost exactly what it was doing when you brought it in Well, the jump is a little better. It really is. It's like it at half of the rate that used to jump So the keys don't jingle places as much as they used to? That's right, my teeth aren't rattling as much. Well, they probably figured out how to turn up your idle, and maybe that's how they've diminished. I don't think, yeah.

But I would have to guess, as is often the case when a car comes into a shop with a problem of any kind, if that car has a computer and fuel injection, the mechanics almost always assume the worst that it is a problem with the computer or one of the computer controls and they go and they take the scanner out first. And in nine cases out of ten, what's wrong with most cars is something pretty basic. A bad spark plug wire, a cylinder that has low compression, a cracked vacuum hose, a leaking intake manifold gasket. In your case, it could be any one or some combination of these things. And modern day, modern train mechanics mostly don't even look for these things.

But all those things are the same as they always were. But they got the computer to blame now. I would go back to these guys and suggest to them, or maybe go someplace else, and suggest that maybe they ought to look at Some some more basic stuff I would hope that these guys had done a compression test and a vacuum test and check the obvious things before they went ahead and Put a prom and it may be that you needed an upgraded prom for this car anyway And it may that minute maybe that wasn't a bad thing that they did

But I think they're overlooking a very simple basic problem when they find it they're gonna say oh how did we miss that in addition to which they should have noticed that what they did didn't really fix the problem I mean what does it take to realize that the car is shaking like crazy do they think that all cars made by General Motors shake at idle no and these four cylinders don't shake much at all it's those six cylinders that shake well I wondering I figured at a hundred thousand miles. I'll be lucky the wheels didn't fall off You know you may need a valve job. You know I need a valve job that would do it Okay, so Tom to check the basics and now tell me what's the expected life on this poor little thing Time is it now?

this poor little thing. What time is it now? Well it's T minus one and counting to December. That's when I graduate. I've got to have this little car. Oh you'll make it to December. Okay. You're not planning any long trips this summer are you? No I hope not. Good stay close to home. Stay in Albuquerque. Oh okay and keep AAA is that it? Yes and AAA. See you Christy. Thanks so much. All righty. Bye-bye. More calls are coming up after the break, so stick around. This message comes from WISE,

the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com, T's and C's apply. The Indicator is a podcast where daily economic news is about what matters to you. Workers have been feeling the sting of inflation. So as a new administration promises action on the cost of living, taxes and home prices,

The S&P 500 biggest post-election day spike ever. Follow all the big changes and what they mean for you. Make America affordable again. Listen to The Indicator, the daily economics podcast from NPR. This message comes from Wondery. Kill List is a true story of how one journalist ended up in a race against time

to warn those on the list whose lives were in danger. Follow Kill List wherever you get your podcasts. All right. Now, this is normally the time in the show when we give the answer to last week's puzzler, but surprise, there was no puzzler last week. The puzzler is officially on vacation in Bimini, I think, with Gary Hart. But if you're having trouble coming up with a suitable time-wasting activity while the puzzler is on vacation, and you're dying for a Car Talk puzzler, you can go to cartalk.msn.com and try your hand at one of the classic puzzlers from the Car Talk Puzzler Archives.

Just go to the radio section of cartalk.msn.com and look for the Puzzler link. I should also mention that if you have a puzzler that you wouldn't mind letting us steal and claim as our own you can also send that to us by clicking on the talk to car talk section of car talk dot msn.com or you can write to us if anyone still does that at the following address puzzler tower attention good new puzzler suggestion enclosed post office box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Our fair city. Math 02238. Now if you wanna call us with a question about your car or God knows anything else, our number is 1-800-332-9287.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. Well hello guys, I'm Bear from Romulus, Michigan. What's your name? Bear. Bear, not B-A-R-E. B-A-A-R. Like the animal. Yep. From Romulus, Michigan. That's correct. How appropriate. Romulus? No, that name should be Wolf. Oh, no it's Romulus.

In the animal kingdom. It is. Okay. Bear. That can't be your real name. Should we ask you about this or is it a personal matter? Oh, it's just the nickname I've gone by for years. Bear, and do you have a physical resemblance to the creature? I mean, big hairy guy? Pretty much, yeah. Mean? Oh, no.

No. Grab fish out of a rushing stream? If I had to, yeah. Sleep all winter? Ha ha ha! OK, Bear, what's up, man? Well, I got this interesting problem. I have an 88 LeBaron GTC.

An 88 LeBaron? Yeah. I was driving it home one night and it just gave up. So with the help of my friend, Mechanic, we found out it wasn't getting any juice to the coil. Okay. We checked all the wires and everything. We got continuity everywhere we're supposed to.

He got his little black box magic computer out and it didn't find any fault. And we eventually got it to run by hot wiring directly from the battery to the coil. Good. Uh huh. And well, I was looking through everything and I think I might've found the part

that's causing the problem. Really? Yeah. I was looking through Chilton's and they had this wonderful little thing in the, in the fuse box picture pointing saying ignition time delay relay. And well, ignition say that's part, of my starting that's good that relay means

it's a switch could I could go out that could that's good yeah the problem is I called around to find doesn't has what it is and most people I called thought I was making it up I even called like two different dealerships and they thought I spunkers yeah I do too and ignition time dealerships and they thought I was bonkers. Yeah, I do too. An ignition time delay relay? That's it. I don't know what that is. And I also called, I finally got a hold of a parts guy at a dealership.

And he said, yes, I have several of them here. I said, great, what are they? He goes, I don't know. So I was wondering if you guys could help me find out what this is and if that's my problem. Uh, yeah, that's your problem. I would try it. I would go for it. All right. Ignition time delay relay, huh?

And where is it? It's on a fuse panel. I mean, it can only cost 10 bucks, right? No, it's in the $50 range. It's why I'm a little hesitant to just go plug away at it. Well, I mean, one thing you could do. I mean mean how many connectors on this thing? I don't know, I've been afraid to pull it out. Afraid it might be like a pin on a grenade or something. The car might explode. Well, I mean here's one thing you could try. Disconnect the hot wire. Okay. Pull out this ignition time delay relay and short it.

Now you're sure to set the car on fire. Run a laugh, I mean if it's just a relay. Well it may have seven pins on it. You've got to figure out which of these pins go, you can do a continuity test and figure out which one of these pins on this thing leads to the coil. And if you find out that there is a connection between that pin on the relay to the coil. All right. And if you find out that there is a connection between that pin on the relay to the coil, then you can run juice right from the relay. Okay. Okay, right from where it plugs in. You can jump from the hot side

of the relay to that pin which energizes the coil. And then turn the key and see if it starts. All right. And if it does start, then you've determined that in fact the relay is responsible for supplying current to the coil but you haven't determined what energizes the relay. The relay may be okay, maybe it's not getting energized. Okay. And I don't know what energizes the relay, you're gonna have to go and get the wiring diagram out. I don't happen to have it on me. I've got everyone but that one. What do you know? All right. And then it's worth a shot. It is worth a shot in the meantime Just I would just buy the relay

I would just buy the really because if you do buy it you may be the only person in the country that actually owns one And if someone needs one you can get any price you want Good luck bear all right good luck. See you bye. Hey, you know what it is? Time to ask mom to buy us some more cigars? No, no! It's time to play Stump the Chumps! Now, before we introduce this week's contestant, I'm curious. You know, we've been doing this for a while now. What, Stump the Chumps?

Yeah, what's our record so far playing Stump the Chumps? Well, it's five, two, and three. Really? Five, two, and three? That's five times we were correct, twice we were incorrect, and... And three times that the injuries sustained in following our advice made it impossible for the contestant to use a telephone, so they don't count. Okay, well who's this week's chump stumper?

Well, you may remember John from Center Hall, Pennsylvania. He called us a while back with a vexing Volkswagen problem. Whenever he drove his wife's golf, the horn would go off at odd times, unpredictably, but this never happened when his wife was driving. Gee, did she hear a harp playing when she was driving? predictably but this never happened when his wife was dry uh... she that's that re-selected

the last time it happened i sat in it without touching the wheel because i am right figure that that might have something to do with it put the key in turn the key and there goes the horn now in it happens uh... it'll blow anywhere from just a quick little people put the key in turn the key and there goes the horn now in it happens uh... it'll blow anywhere from just a quick little people to uh... well one time we were both in the car and i was driving and it went on

for about five minutes though uh... she's where there's a large but indicator uh... and a large but the sector i thought it was only available in like, Buicks and Caddies. Me too. I mean, what did we tell John? Do you remember?

Well, we told him that there was probably a loose wire and somehow he was completing the horn circuit when he drove it. How? We had no idea. That's right. And we found it hard to believe that the wire was running anywhere under the seat. Nah, of course not. That eliminates the theory that it has to do with the fact that John is a sort of a porker. I guess, I don't know.

So anyway, let's find out. John, are you there? Yes, I'm here. Now, before you let us know if that cheesecake and beard diet solved your horn problem, we have to common-morandize you. Yeah. Do you swear that the statements that you're about to give here on Stump the Chumps are true and at the very least not influenced by anyone at national public radio or the richard simmons show all the hundred dollar check you got in the mail yeah and it was a mere petting hardly worth mentioning it was worth more but that's all we could afford we have no chance of being

right on this because we gave you no answer we gave you no real answer well it was kind of um it might be a chafed wire in the steering column kind of deal but you guys are restored responsible for the fix uh... someone call me from car talk up to several days later and uh... said that they've been getting from calls of uh... people from people who thought they might know the solution really all and uh... the question was are you using the key to came with the car or are using a key that you had cut at a hardware store? And of course I was using a key that was cut at a hardware store and the fix was either

grind the tip of that key off or go back to using the Volkswagen supplied key. So I found another Volkswagen supplied key, the kind my wife had been using the whole time and put it on my ring and it hasn't happened since. No kidding. My wife had been using the whole time and put it on my ring and it hasn't happened since no kidding Yeah, but now but my wife when she gets in the car. She blows the horn on purpose just to drive Well, I would I Don't understand how that happens well somebody the

fellow who called me back or the woman who called me back said that There you some of your callers had said that the key was too long and it was actually completing the horn circuit. I've never heard of that happening. But I would have to say that we were wrong then. Oh, absolutely. I would have to say so too. Well, we'll be calling you again, John. Well, that means I reckon right now it stands at 5-3-3, but with another phone call we can make it five two and four thanks for playing stuff the trumps just to hedge my bet I've been losing weight there's a lot more stuff coming up right after the

following messages so stick around. Hi, we're back listening to Car Talk on National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappan Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and re-education. I should mention before my brother reads this that I was throwing an old desk away, and you know, as you will do when you're throwing an old desk away. You're always looking at the drawers. Well, you pull out the drawers because you want to move it without the drawers in it. It's lighter and there's a smaller chance that one will fall on your foot. Right.

And this letter fell out? In the back. It was this letter that had obviously been there for a while, but here it is. Here it is. I am an American expatriate and was living in Batu, Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. I was the manager of a USA-UK-China joint venture which builds off-highway trucks and lived here for seven years. Although life here was

reasonably comfortable, I was not fulfilled. Aha. And was to some degree bored. Then about a year ago my son Biff, who lives in Stafford, Virginia, mailed me 10 audio tapes of your weekly radio program. As I started to listen to them, my entire outlook on life and my morale as well as attitude began to change. For the better, I should add. After a hard day's work, the first thing I would do after walking into my foreign house would be to turn on one of your tapes. Well, one day one of my Chinese friends came over while your tape was playing and he became

captivated and thrilled by the tape. This is somewhat unusual because he doesn't speak or understand a word of English. To his advantage, I might add. Well, sir, he must have told all of his friends because two days later about a dozen Chinese arrived at my house and demanded that I play your tapes. The word spread that Lao Ke, that is my name in Chinese, has tapes of Ka-Tok, which they pronounce Ka-Tok. More and more people came to visit me night and day and weekends just to hear your tapes. Well the Chinese partner in our joint venture is a very large company which employs 28,000 people and they're so large they have their own radio and TV stations and they also have

loudspeakers to provide news coverage to the employees as they're riding their bicycles to work in the morning and after lunch. Well, sir, about three months ago, one of your tapes got played on the loudspeaker system. Another one got played on the radio station that night. The whole town suddenly changed. Many of the men listening to your tapes became car talkies. They wanted to fix, repair cars, but this being one of the poorest sections of China, none of the car talkies owned cars.

So they went out and started to repair other people's cars without the owner's permission. They had become fanatics. That did it. The Gong An, the local Chinese police, had had enough. They came to my house, confiscated the tapes and my tape recorder, and confined me to the Happy Valley Re-education Center until my attitude had been corrected, however long that might take. The head commandant's name is Colonel Wang Hong Krink. He claims there has never been a successful escape from Camp Number 13. Discipline is very harsh but fair. We wake at 4 a.m. and we fall out at 4 30.

We spend the first hour repeating over and over, I will not fix cars. The next hour we must spend repeating no more car talk, car talk bad. If we repeat all of these sayings with enthusiasm we are rewarded with a good dinner. Fish heads. If we did very good at repeating we get fish heads with happy smiles on their faces. If we lacked enthusiasm, the fish heads have a sad look and that leaves the talkies in a depressed mood. If we did a poor job, we get rice. There are strict rules against listening to the talkies' tapes. We have our tape player hidden in a coffee pot. If they find us listening to the tapes, our punishment is that we are

issued only one chopstick with which to eat our rice. My morale is still quite high, but some of the other talkies are starting to crack. Can you send us a care package with frozen fish heads, ones with smiles permanently on their faces? Would you also please send each of us an additional chopstick? Thank you in advance for your kind help. If necessary, you can reach me through my son Biff in Stafford. Happy Valley Re-education Camp. George Katus. How I love it.

Batu Re-education Center, People's Republic of China. He's probably still there. He may be for some time to come. He may be for some time. We'll have to see about getting him some taste. He may never get out. All right, now, this is normally the time when I give out the new puzzler, but since the puzzler gave out

and went on vacation last week, I've got what? I don't know. Squat! But if you're really hard up for some Class A time-wasting material, try one of our time-tested puzzlers from the archives at cartalk.msn.com. Just visit the radio section

and look for the link to the puzzler. Now, you can listen to a past puzzler, or if you work too close to the boss to get away with that, you can read it instead. I should also mention that we're interested. No, very interested. No, that's not it either. What are we? We're desperate. That's what we are.

We're desperate for new puzzler suggestions. So if you have any of those, please send them to us by clicking on the Talk to Car Talk section at cartalk.msn.com or you can send them to the following address. Puzzler Tower, Division of Better Puzzlers, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, our fair city, MA 02238. Now if you want to call us with a question about your car or a complaint, not a complaint, no, just a question about your car or a complaint not a complaint no just a question about your car or almost anything else our number is 1-800-332-9287 hello you're on car talk this is Lindsay from Iowa City Lindsay yes with a D with a D no L I N S E Y no oh L I N S E E that's very close

S E A L I N Z as in zebra EE And you're from where? Well I am right now from Iowa City but... You didn't get that name in any Iowa City. You got that name in California. Well I did grow up in California. But no, it was my great grandmother's maiden name. Oh really? Yeah, really. Isn't that kind of a total... But it's only wacko California parents that would give someone... That would give the kid a name like that. Anyway, Lindsay. Yes. Lindsay.

What's wrong with your Hyundai? Well, no, I have a 97 Subaru Outback. Oh, things good in Iowa City. And a couple of weeks ago, we had a horrendous hailstorm. Hail the size of golf balls to baseballs. Yeah, yeah. And my car, of course, was out in it. Now it looks like a golf ball with all the little dimples, right? Right. Within days, the insurance companies had all come in and set up disaster sites,

and they were writing out checks. It was quite amazing, writing out checks right on the spot for your hail damaged car. At the same time that all the insurance companies came in the all of a sudden all around town we started seeing the dent doctor the death doctor and all kinds of people who showed up and set up shop in empty buildings and are here repairing body to do and that's why we haven't been able to get the death of body work right here the guys like travel around the country following the hailstorms?

They do. I have a friend that owns one of these buildings and he said 10 o'clock the night of the storm he started getting calls. Right. They travel around listening to the National Weather Service. No, they're not listening. They're creating the storms. I mean they're more tuned in than that.

No kidding. I think so. Rainmakers. So now they're out there. They're. No kidding. I think so. Rainmakers. So now they're out there. They're out here. They're out here. And they want to fix it up. And my question is this.

We intended to fix the car because it is brand new. And we thought we'd take it to a reputable body shop in town. But we've been hearing a lot of mixed reports because these dent doctors are doing the work for a lot less money. And they are using a different technique. Does the technique involve a toilet plunger? I don't think so. No. You know what the technique is. Does it involve the laying on of hands in any way? I don't think, Erie Geller will move this. Let's get down to the important stuff. How much money did they give you? They gave us $2,100

Wow, and the dent doctors say they can do it for about $1,100 But what they do and this is sort of a marital thing too Because of course my husband wants to go the cheap route and I was always want to go the cheap That's right. Because money is more valuable than anything you could possibly buy with it. That's the theory. Okay, I'm glad to know that finally. Yeah. Yeah. Well anyway, he went down and he watched these guys work and what they do is they have some sort of special tools that they essentially massage the dent out and it doesn't crack the paint or it doesn't, you know, damage the're claimed... He actually saw them do this, huh? He did.

I tell you, I would be tempted. There's nothing that they can do that can actually benefit the paint in any way. The damage of the paint has been done. Okay. Anything they do, is it best going to be the same or worse than you currently have? Sure. I mean, there's no way out of that. Okay.

So pushing the dent back out isn't gonna make it worse. Well, it's not gonna make it better. It could make it worse. It could make it worse. And you spend $1,100 and then a year from now you have rust spots. I would love to, they massage, massage out the dent. Massage it. Right, with some sort of specialized tool. I think those specialized tool is a plunger. I think it is. And an oscillating sander.

So, well. I mean, if you took it into a body shop, I honestly don't know how they would get it out. Oh, you know, they would pull them out with a dent puller and they would fill them and they would paint the whole thing and that's why it cost 2100 bucks. If they were on your hood, they would just it out. Oh, you know, they would pull them out with a dent puller, and they would fill them, and they would paint the whole thing, and that's why it cost $2100. If they were on your hood, they would just replace the hood. Mm-hmm.

And they want to keep the car for a whole week. We can't even get into a body shop until July, and these dent guys can do it in two days. They can do it in an hour and a half. You sound a little skeptical. Lindsay, I'd go for it. OK, well, that's great. You've seen their work.

It looks good. Yeah, and you'll make my husband so happy Yeah And then you'll have another thousand bucks left over to do the painting if it needs to be painted a year from now When it starts to rust, okay? Well, that's a good idea and they'll be back in town. They'll do the painting for a reduced price, too See ya Lindsay Fascinating close-ups. We need close-ups.

Close-ups of the tools. I want the tools that they use. We need everything. We need the before picture, the after picture, the tools, and we'll put all this stuff up on the website for all of America to see. Great. Okay. See you later.

All righty. Bye-bye. The Dent Doctors. Isn't it great? It is indeed. Well, I can visualize these guys following the hailstorms around. I'm telling you, they're making the hailstorms. They ain't following.

So they know where it's going to be. The hailstorms are following them. Iowa City Thursday. Well, you've squandered another hour of your precious youth listening to car talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway fugitive, not a slave to fashion, punkin lips, yes dear, Berman. Where is he anyway?

I don't know. Our associate producer and dean of the college of auto music, colleges, Ken babyface Rogers, our assistant producer is Catherine Cathode-Ray, our engineer is Kevin I've already given, our technical, spiritual and menu advisor is John Bugsy free lunch Lawler, who was supposed to be

here today, but is what? Having a free lunch someplace. Somewhere, right. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician Margin O'Vara. Our director of new product repair is Warranty My Foot. Our staff butler from the Car Talk Mumbai division is Mahatma Kot. Our document security expert from the island of Jamaica is you Rupertipides Uppman. Our director of upward mobility in Eastern Europe is Zbigniew Kreisler.

Our director of Turkish Intergestion is Mustafa Maylaks. Our director of celebrity timepiece endorsements is Ubutu Sezasekol. Our evasive driving instructor is Vera Bruple. Our marriage counselor is Marion Haste. Our head of used car purchasing is Yulby Hoofnit. Our behavior consultant is Wyatt B. Hoofziaier, the chairman of the Federal Rehabilitation Board is Alan Griespan. The manager of our weekly shrimp buffet is Sheldon Devane, the curator of Tom's Car Collection is Rex Galore. And our chief counsel from the law firm of

Dewey, Cheatham and Howes, you're Louis Dewey, known around Harvard Square as Youy Louie Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're Click and Clack for Tablet Brothers. And remember, don't drive like my brother. Remember, don't drive like my brother. And remember, don't drive like my brother. We'll be back next week. Bye bye. And now with an important announcement, here is Card Talk Plaza's Chief Mechanic, Vinny Gumbatz. Thank you very much.

Now if you want to taper this show, it's number 26. And here's what you've got to do. You click on the Seamus Commons division of CardTalk.msn.com or you can call 303-823-8000. Now you can get the best of Card Talk and other Car Talk junk the same way through cartalk.msn.com or by calling 303-8238000. You guys hungry? I'm starving. Car Talk is a production of Dewey, Cheetah, and Howe and WBUR in Boston. And even though it just breaks Anne Taylor up when we say it, this is NPR National Public Radio.