Vehicle Hail damage... Baseball sized hail.

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I just read Texas had baseball sized hail that damaged structures and vehicles. I can't even imagine it.

Do most people fix their vehicles or accept the dents? Are insurance companies good at covering it?
 
I was in my E30 when it got turned into a golf ball in a hail storm.

Anxiety city, thought I was going to have a heart attack...the body seams over the windows were bent over it hit that hard.

$1,300 car, just kept driving it.
 
My Suburban got hammered with about 50 dents. When a big storm occurs there are hail dent repair companies that travel to the city and set up in a rented warehouse. They have a vehicle inspection station that is very well lit and maybe 20 technicians at individual work stations. My insurance company sent me to one of these. These techs were incredible. All the dents were removed without having to repaint. 7 years later the vehicle is still perfect. I paid my deductable and went on my way. Of course the local dent places can be excellent but they can get overwhelmed by thousands of damaged cars.

The other option is to take the cash settlement and drive the dented car or sell it for what you can get.
 
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ZZman here in North Texas the hail is a regular occurance, the only question is the size. Fortunately yesterday in my neighborhood we didn't get any hail...or rain for that matter. But 10 miles east of us got pounded. Most people around here have to get the roof of their houses replaced every 5 years because of it (insurance claim) and many people with full coverage auto get their cars repaired rather than living with the damage. A few years ago we had softball sized hail and it totalled thousands of cars. The worst part of it is the scammer roofers that show up from all over the country.
 
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My old 79 Cougar survived several golfball sized hail storms with no dents at all. Our Tuscon has dozens of dents from hail that was even smaller than golfball size Does not take much to dent these newer vehicles. Never did fix the dents on our Tuscon it drives fine so took the insurance check and called it good. Over time a few dents did pop out on their own, but still have considerable hail dents
 
It was an amazing hail storm! The entire 3rd shift at the Arlington plant had major damage to their cars and EVERY new Tahoe/Yukon/Denali/Escalade suffered damage. It was really sad to see thousands of new $60-100k SUV's with such extensive damage. We are still surveying the damage and formulating a plan to repair them.
 
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
It was an amazing hail storm! The entire 3rd shift at the Arlington plant had major damage to their cars and EVERY new Tahoe/Yukon/Denali/Escalade suffered damage. It was really sad to see thousands of new $60-100k SUV's with such extensive damage. We are still surveying the damage and formulating a plan to repair them.


"...repair them".

Are they then sold with any sort of disclosure? Or since the damage is corrected/repaired at the factory, are they still considered factory new?
 
When I was working at the airport about 15 years ago we had a hailstorm with golf ball sized chunks that just went on what seemed like forever. The noise from the roof of the hangar was deafening. Planes damaged, cars totaled, etc. Some of the guys I worked with had just graduated tech school and started working there and had just bought new cars. I was driving an old Accord at the time so the dimples didnt bother me, but some of these guys had 3-4 month old cars that looked like golf balls with tons of damage on the hood, roof, and trunk. A couple of repair places sent up big tents in the parking lot and were doing the paintless dent repairs. Some werent too trusting and just took the insurance money and lived with it, but others used their settlements and took their chances with the repair guys in the tents. In a few hours time some of them came back with their cars looking like nothing had ever happened. I was pretty amazed and wouldnt have believed it if I hadnt seen the before and after versions with my own eyes.
 
Originally Posted By: ZZman
I just read Texas had baseball sized hail that damaged structures and vehicles. I can't even imagine it.

Do most people fix their vehicles or accept the dents? Are insurance companies good at covering it?

Repair-ability depends on the size of the hail and the amount of hail. Very rarely is hail all the same size. As a field appraiser in the DFW area I can tell you that Texas hail very easily totals cars, I've seen cars that every single body panel looks like a golf ball, and have seen a package tray (area btwn the back glass and rear seats) be broken by hail after the hail went thru the glass. All insurance companies in Texas sell comprehensive coverage policies and alot of folks carry it. The preferred method of repair is PDR but I always hated dealing with the storm chasers following these hail storms not only where they shady but would push people to file claims and would state that they would waive the deductible (illegal) and would start working on the cars even before the Insurance company could inspect the vehicle, and a lot of times those folks wouldn't have comp coverage. All the natural events that occur in Texas hail, hurricanes, flooding etc are one of the reasons why Texas has such high insurance rates for both Auto and Homes. The year before we left Dallas we had a really bad hailstorm that broke our skylight in the master bathroom, so it literally hailed inside my house.
 
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Seems that DFW gets a ton of hail.

I've lived in Austin suburbs for 6 years now, and can only remember light hail a few times, and not larger than pebbles.

Our Scion is from SA and has some hail damage on it.
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
It was an amazing hail storm! The entire 3rd shift at the Arlington plant had major damage to their cars and EVERY new Tahoe/Yukon/Denali/Escalade suffered damage. It was really sad to see thousands of new $60-100k SUV's with such extensive damage. We are still surveying the damage and formulating a plan to repair them.


"...repair them".

Are they then sold with any sort of disclosure? Or since the damage is corrected/repaired at the factory, are they still considered factory new?



In short, any repairs made at the factory can be repaired and sold as new without disclosure and the repairs are perfect in that we will replace hoods and trim etc. If the roofs are too bad to PDR we will then send those to auction. The trucks setting off the GM property on shipping lots are no longer plant responsibility and are referred to insurance for handling. There's more to it but thats the short version to your question. Hail damage occuring at dealers are another story all together and usually require disclosure.
 
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Do people regularly get hurt/killed in hailstorms? If they're leaving huge dents in cars, I can only imagine getting hit in the head with one...
 
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
It was an amazing hail storm! The entire 3rd shift at the Arlington plant had major damage to their cars and EVERY new Tahoe/Yukon/Denali/Escalade suffered damage. It was really sad to see thousands of new $60-100k SUV's with such extensive damage. We are still surveying the damage and formulating a plan to repair them.


"...repair them".

Are they then sold with any sort of disclosure? Or since the damage is corrected/repaired at the factory, are they still considered factory new?



In short, any repairs made at the factory can be repaired and sold as new without disclosure and the repairs are perfect in that we will replace hoods and trim etc. If the roofs are too bad to PDR we will then send those to auction. The trucks setting off the GM property on shipping lots are no longer plant responsibility and are referred to insurance for handling. There's more to it but thats the short version to your question. Hail damage occuring at dealers are another story all together and usually require disclosure.


Good info. Thanks for sharing.
thumbsup2.gif
 
PDR works great. Have used it a few times here in Oklahoma. One thing one of the workers told me that as long as there is no crease in the paint and the dents aren't in a crease in the sheet metal, they can all be fixed without you even knowing.
 
Originally Posted By: exranger06
Do people regularly get hurt/killed in hailstorms? If they're leaving huge dents in cars, I can only imagine getting hit in the head with one...
I know of a city utility employee that ran out of the power house to roll up the windows of his city truck without a hard hat and got knocked stiff with major concussion and several very large head wounds.
 
Lived in the DFW area for ten years and never had any hail damages. Year 8 of living there we took a driving vacation and were at Mt Rushmore when a thunderstorm with large hail came through. By the time we got back to the car, my wife had been hit several times with large hail on her back.

She ended up with several large black and blue marks. Somehow I lucked out and didn't get hit as much and had no marks. The rental car suffered damages but no broken glass thankfully as we still had 7 more days of vacation left. Notified the rental company and everything was taken care of with no charges to us.

Ironic that we had to leave the DFW area known for hail damages only to get caught in a storm in South Dakota!
 
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