Backed into a pole? Someone open their door into your car in the parking lot? Errant football throw bang your hood during a tailgate party? Now you have a dent in your brand new car. Pricey to fix, ugly to see. But before you hire an expert, try this fast and cheap solution.

You need:

– a hair dryer

– a can of compressed air

– about 5 minutes of time

Step 1. Heat the dent with the hairdryer for 3 or 4 minutes.

Step 2. Hold the can of compressed air upside down. Spray the propellant on the heated dent area.

POP, the dent snaps back into place.

As the metal heats up it expands, and when it cools down it rapidly contracts — which helps force it into the original shape.

That’s it!

Note: For this to work, the dent has to be an indentation – if the metal is creased, it won’t be able to pop out.

An interesting thing I discovered while researching this for myself — it’s hard to find compressed air sold and fulfilled directly by Amazon (aka, “Prime eligible”) — perhaps due to the laws regarding propellants. But of the ones sold via Amazon, this one was the cheapest I found, if you’re looking to try this yourself.

Here are a few videos of people using this technique successfully. Good luck.