Ken Stokes Smash Repairs

DingGo has a trusted network of panel beaters and repairers. In order to become a DingGo panel beater all of our smash repairers have to go through a six step verification process.

DingGo’s first step is to check repairers have the required licences and qualifications. The required certification varies from state to state. For example, in NSW, panel beaters must be certified by the Motor Vehicle Repair Industry Authority (MVRIA).

We review their Motor Vehicle Repairers Licence number (MVRL), which will include a list of any previous claims or conditions put against their licence, their recognised industry qualifications, their registered place of business and their ABN. We include the repairer’s MVRL in their panel beater profile page, which you can see here.

In addition to the mandatory repairers licence, we ask if any of our repairers staff have NSW Fair Trading Qualifications such as Motor Vehicle Tradesperson Certificates (MVTCs).

Panel beaters and smash repairers with good reputations have built these up over time through hard work, high-quality service and treating their customers well. We check their reputation by looking at existing customer reviews and also checking with other professionals we trust within our network or in the industry. We also check if the repairers have won any industry awards for service excellence. These are offered by reputable industry bodies like Paint and Panel magazine which runs the Paint and Panel Bodyshop Awards. You can see if a panel beater near you has won an award here. Lastly there are industry bodies that issue certifications like the internationally recognised I-Car Training program or state based body’s with membership standards like the Motor Trades Association in NSW. Pictured below is the badge repairers on DingGo get if they have a 4.5 star customer rating or higher.

All repairers in the DingGo network are required to offer some form of warranty or guarantee on their repair work. Fixed workshop auto repairers have a lot more equipment to provide a more comprehensive repair than mobile repairers. As such they often provide better warranties or guarantees on their repairs. It’s important our repairers offer warranties as this is a sign that the business is keen to back its quality of work and protect its reputation. Our best repairers offer a lifetime warranty or guarantee on their repairs, whilst others offer a number of years warranty instead. All of our quotes require our panel beaters to include their respective warranties offered.

Every single panel beater, smash repairer, auto repair workshop, paintless dent removal specialist and mobile repairer is interviewed by DingGo either in person or over the phone. We know every repairer by name. This is one of the most important parts of our review and verification process. We investigate their capabilities and service offerings and also get to know the owners and how they treat their customers and staff. We want to ensure every DingGo customer has a safe, quality, trustworthy and reliable service experience, so we need to ensure our panel beaters can uphold that. We always ensure they are approachable and friendly so customers feel comfortable working with them, in particular women, or people who may have been treated unfairly or had poor experiences in the past.

Once they have passed all our initial verification steps we then sign them up to the network and give them their first job. This is an important quality assurance test, and we monitor these jobs closely to ensure the customer is happy and they have a high-quality repair experience.

With their first test job a success, repairers are officially verified and now part of the DingGo trusted repairer network. We now let customer reviews regulate our repair standards ensuring they complete jobs to a high customer rating standard. Those who are rated poorly will be taken off the network.

Pictured below is the badge repairers on DingGo get if they have been verified by DingGo and therefore made it into our trusted network of repairers.

NSW Fair Trading Badge: All NSW repairers should have this as it is mandatory to have as a panel beater operating in NSW. NSW Fair Trading Qualifications include Motor Vehicle Repair License (MVRL) for each business and a Motor Vehicle Tradesperson Certificates (MVTCs) for the individual worker

Foundation Member Badge: This means that they are a panel beater who joined DingGo in the first 12 months of our operations and has personally worked with the DingGo team to help make the customers experience and panel beater experience as good as it is today.

Motor Trades Association Badge: This means that they are a member of the Motor Trades Association. Founded in 1910, the Motor Traders' Association of New South Wales (MTA NSW) is an employers Association dedicated to representing owners and business principles in the NSW automotive industry.

Environmental Accreditation Badge: This means they use the Green Stamp Environmental Management System. Green Stamp is a motor industry specific program that provides accreditation for businesses that not only comply with the law, but have gone beyond meeting their environmental responsibilities to operate in a way that is environmentally friendly. To find out more about Green Stamp, please visit the Green Stamp website.

I-Car Gold Class Repairer Badge:The I-CAR® Gold Class™ designation is the highest role-relevant training accreditation recognised by the collision repair industry in Australia. The I-CAR Professional Development Program provides collision repair and insurance businesses with a reliable training framework for acquiring Gold Class status and maintaining the up-to-date knowledge and skills that contribute to compliant repairs, improved business performance and risk reduction. Find out more on the i-car website.

A repair facility must identify a technician in each of these roles who has achieved I-CAR® Platinum Individual™ recognition, earned through I-CAR and Industry Training Alliance accreditation. All other employees directly involved in the repair of vehicles must complete four training points.

To earn the Gold Class recognition, businesses must achieve and maintain a high level of role-specific training across each of the major collision repair roles.

Lifetime Warranty On All Work Badge: This badge is for all DingGo’s trusted panel beaters and smash repairers who offer a lifetime warranty on all their workmanship. It means they have repaired the vehicle to the same quality as the surrounding vehicle and no quality issues will arise before they naturally occur with the age of the car.

Verified By DingGo Badge: This means that the panel beater has passed the six step verification process to become a trusted DingGo panel beater. All smash repairers in the DingGo network have to have this badge (unless they are brand new and they are doing their first test repair as part of the verification process).

10+ Repairs Badge:This is a badge given to our highly active repairers who have provided panel beating repairs to over ten happy customers.

All Stars Achievers Badge: This a badge for when our repairers have completed a large number of jobs with a 4.5star or higher rating.

Certified Repairer Badge (for a certain car make eg. Subaru): There is a badge for every make and model of car from Subaru to BMW. When our repairers have a specific specialisation in smash repairing a certain make they get this badge. In order to be a specialist repairer the panel beater must be endorsed by the car manufacturer’s local office. To get this accreditation they usually must be equipped with specialised tools and equipment direct from the manufacturer and have the specified training standards for their staff. While a repair shop can be certified or preferred by a manufacturer, any licensed panel beater that performs a repair to a manufacturers specification will not void any new car warranty as per Australian law.

Highly Customer Reviewed Badge: This badge is awarded to DingGo trusted panel beaters and smash repairers who have an average customer rating of 4.5 stars or more. All of our panel beaters are quality assessed by customers to ensure they are the highest quality but these stand out repairers consistently provide exceptional service and smash repair work.



Choosing a panel beater you can trust can be hard. If you don’t know someone who has used a good one, it can be a time consuming and stressful process. The easiest option is to use DingGo. We hand pick and verify all auto repairers on our trusted network. Using DingGo will also make it easier for you to get your car repaired too. You just have to upload 3 photos of your damaged car and give a brief description of the damage you want repaired - it takes 3 minutes tops! With that we will send it out to our network of trusted workshops and mobile panel beaters local to you. You’ll receive 3 quotes back in less than 48 hours and can choose the right repairer, time and price for you. Want to find out how much your repair will cost? Try our online quick quote process.