I totally agree with not painting over dents. Maaco does body work too. They can take care of dents and dings. If the Op has the ability to do his own work, great. I probably had 5 cars painted at Macco for a quick flip. I did all the bodywork (dents, dings, chips, etc.), sprayed Dupli Color rattle can primer on all bodywork, Block sanded and wet sanded entire car with 320 and 400 before I showed up. I worked out with the manager a good time to drop the car off, so that it would be left inside overnight and sprayed the next day. When I dropped it off, in the parking lot I would remove the last few things like headlights and taillights. I always had to sign a waiver since I did my own prep. Then their inexpensive base/clear job looked really good, and "New Paint" always helped sell a car.