# How Much Does Tailgate Repair Cost? | DG Collision > Hail dents run $50–$150 each with PDR; replacement is quoted per vehicle — aluminum and multifunction tailgates decide. The honest repair-or-replace call. - Canonical page: https://dgcollision.com/answers/how-much-does-tailgate-repair-cost/ - This file: Markdown twin of the page above (clean text for AI assistants and crawlers) - Business: DG Collision Center, 693 Metro Park Cir #20, Lewisville, TX 75057 — (972) 219-0864 (text: 817-907-2822) — since 1978 - Hours: Mon–Fri 8:30am–5:30pm, Sat 10am–1pm, closed Sunday · 24/7 towing · 4.9/5 on 500+ Google reviews - Full site index for assistants: https://dgcollision.com/llms.txt - Last generated: 2026-08-14 --- # HOW MUCH DOES TAILGATE REPAIR COST? Quick Answer Depends which of the tailgate’s three problems you have. Hail dents with intact paint run the published $50–$150 per dent with PDR — the tailgate’s top edge is a classic hail catch. Crash damage is a repair-or-replace call the metal makes: shallow dents work out; creased or folded gates usually replace, quoted per vehicle, because a modern tailgate is somewhere between a panel and a machine — cameras, sensors, power latches, and on newer trucks multifunction mechanisms and aluminum skins that change both the price and who should touch it. And if the latch or hinges bind after a rear hit, that’s the opening telling you it moved — a structure question, not a tailgate question. Get a Free Written Estimate By [Shah Jiwani](https://dgcollision.com/about/shah-jiwani/) · Owner, DG Collision Center Updated October 5, 2026 4 min read I-CAR Gold Class · PPG Certified The Longer Answer ## A PANEL THAT BECAME A MACHINE — PRICED HONESTLY, PROBLEM BY PROBLEM Problem one: hail. A dropped tailgate is a horizontal shelf, and its top edge takes storm hits at the worst angle — which is why it’s a standing line on our truck hail checklists. The good news: tailgate hail with intact paint is prime PDR territory at the published $50–$150 per dent (plus R&I where trim or the inner panel must come off for access), and on a claim it rides the same comprehensive math as the rest of the truck — [the full truck-hail tiers](https://dgcollision.com/answers/how-much-does-hail-repair-cost-on-a-truck/) run $750–$1,500 light to $8,000–$15,000+ severe. The honest wrinkle is metal: 2019+ Silverado and Sierra tailgates are aluminum, as is everything on a 2015+ F-150 and the gate on current Ram 1500s — aluminum work-hardens under repair, wants slow, warm technique, and prices toward the upper half of any range. A tent that doesn’t know your tailgate’s metal is a tent to walk away from. Problem two: the hit. Backing into a pole, catching a trailer tongue, the parking-lot rear-ender — tailgate crash damage is a repair-or-replace call the metal makes for you. A shallow dome on flat steel works out; a crease or fold breaks the metal’s memory and usually means replacement, quoted per vehicle because the spread is real: a plain steel gate for an older work truck and a power-latching, camera-carrying, multifunction gate — the six-way GMC design, Ram’s 60/40 swing — are different purchases entirely. Replacement done right includes what’s inside: camera verified (most backup cameras live in the handle), sensors reconnected, latches cycled, and on multifunction gates every mode function-tested before delivery — a gate that latches but won’t swing is half a repair. Parts run the standard ladder: genuine argued first in writing, §1952.301 keeping the choice yours, aftermarket only with your sign-off. Problem three: the gate that won’t sit right. After a rear hit, a tailgate that binds, gaps unevenly against the bed sides, or needs a slam it never needed is doing you a favor: tailgates hang off the bed the way doors hang off the body, and when the opening moved, no amount of hinge-fiddling fixes it honestly. That truck needs a [measurement conversation](https://dgcollision.com/answers/how-to-tell-if-your-car-has-frame-damage/) before a tailgate conversation. Money paths, quickly: someone else’s fault — their liability pays gate, paint, blend, and camera; your own comprehensive or collision — deductible math; cash — [the arithmetic](https://dgcollision.com/guides/file-claim-or-pay-out-of-pocket/) favors PDR dents and fights assemblies. The free written estimate sorts your tailgate into its real problem before you pay for the wrong one. Related Questions ## ASKED ALONGSIDE THIS ONE Is it cheaper to buy a used tailgate? + A: Often genuinely yes on older, feature-light trucks — a color-matched used gate is a classic honest save, and we’ll say so when it fits. The math flips on feature-loaded gates: used electronics carry unknown history, multifunction mechanisms wear invisibly, and a camera gate needs its camera verified regardless. Whatever the source, §1952.301 keeps the parts decision yours, made in writing. Why are tailgates stolen so often — and does insurance cover that? + A: Because they unbolt in minutes, sell fast, and older gates had no locks — a stolen tailgate is a comprehensive claim (theft), same bucket as hail, with your deductible and no fault assigned. Replacement plus paint runs the per-vehicle quote, and it’s worth adding a tailgate lock while the new one goes on; cheap insurance for the insurance. My backup camera is in the tailgate handle. Does repair affect it? + A: It can — handle-mounted cameras ride out R&I, paint prep, and replacement, so the camera gets reconnected and verified as part of any honest tailgate job, not discovered dead a week later. If the hit that damaged the gate also skewed the camera’s aim, that enters the claim as a documented line now, while it’s provably crash damage. Hail dented my tailgate but nothing else. Worth a claim? + A: Run the arithmetic before the paperwork: a handful of clear dents at $50–$150 each is usually cash territory under any deductible — and a free documented count settles it in minutes. The caution: tailgate-only hail is rare, because a storm that reached the gate usually reached the hood and roof; the count under lights regularly finds the rest of the story, and that total is a different conversation. Go Deeper [Truck hail, the full tiers](https://dgcollision.com/answers/how-much-does-hail-repair-cost-on-a-truck/) · [F-150 hail repair](https://dgcollision.com/f150-hail-damage-repair/) · [Silverado & Sierra hail repair](https://dgcollision.com/silverado-sierra-hail-damage-repair/) · [All quick answers](https://dgcollision.com/answers/)