Bad news. A huge hailstorm hit in the Milwaukee, WI area tonight. Baseball sized hail. I was at work, and couldn't get my car inside. I took a look at it when the storm passed, and it is BAD. I counted over 25 HUGE dents on the hood alone, and stopped counting. The hood, fenders, roof, trunk, windshield trim, rear window trim - everything is dented. And they're really big dents too. Some of them also chipped the paint. No pics yet, but I will post some in the morning. Just wanted to know if any of you have had this type of damage. I have insurance of course, I'm just wondering how this will affect my rates when I claim it. There's no way I can pay for it out of pocket.

One more question for those of you in the know... Do they do PDR for hail damage, or do they have to fill the dents with mud? Thanks. Wait for the pics - you guys are going to crap on yourselves like I did

 

A lot of times, hail damage that is that extensive will warrant them totalling it out. I know that is probably not what you want to hear, but it is awfully expensive to get the dents out either by pounding or replacement.
I would inquire, but that is what you are probably looking at.

 

My buddy does paintless dent removal in Chicago and Wisconsin. He and others will sometimes go on month long trips travelling around following hail storms to fix hail damage. They can make BIG money doing it. The fact that they do so much work with the hail is evidence that it's the most economical for the insurance company. Your insurance company shouldn't total it. A paintless dent guy will not be cheap, but not outrageous for the insurance company.

Your rates shouldn't really be affected unless you've had other claims recently. I'm not sure if they look at this as a collision or comprehensive. I've had State Farm agents tell me before they consider anything collidiing into your car as collision. Is hail a collision with your car? I don't know. Check it out.

 

I have seen the paintless dent removal guys do hail too, but when the roof, hood, fenders, and possibly some other glass has hail damage, it is going to be very costly.

 

I mean, it is a 97 and it is GXE.
It cannot be worth much more than like 7k.
With that cost, it does not take much to total it out.
It would be easy to incur $3500 in damage from baseball sized hail.

 

my hail experience in Colorado wasn't baseball sized, but i dented my hood and roof with over 50 small dents. they're unnoticable when the car is dirty, but shine up that super black and my baby looks like the surface of the moon.
my insurance decided for me that PDR was what they would pay for. A check for $1500 arrived shortly thereafter and went straight to the bank-my max just stays a little dirtier a little longer.
my rates didn't go up, but when i changed insurance last year, i saw that the comprehensive claim was listed right next to my wife's last speeding ticket in out driving/claim history.

 

one of my friends who was affected by the same storm last night has a monte carlo. his hood was damaged pretty bad, the rest of the car was covered by a tree. his estimate was for $3000, and he's got less damage than mine i think. here are some pics of the damage in case anybody wants to see. of course the pictures don't do it justice:









can you tell where i work from the pictures?? i only posted the hood, roof and windshield trim. the trunk, both front fenders, both rear quarter panels, and the A and C pillars are all dented.

 

You work at best buy. Those are the custom audio bays in the back aren't they?

 

I don’t think that they (insurance company) can legally raise your insurance because of hail damage. But the insurance company will probably find a way to do it to get their money back!

I had hail damage on the hood of my freshly restored 82 silverado. I got two estimates both for around $1800. The truck didn’t book but for just a couple of hundred dollars, so this wasn’t going to work. So I told them I could fix it myself for $1000, and we eventually settled on a payoff of $900. After that was a couple weeks of hard-core mudding and thrashing, then I traded it for the max!!! Damn I miss that truck....

 

yep i'm an installer

 

Huge hailstorm in April 98 in Bowling Green KY - the ground was entirely covered with SOFTball size hail - even some larger - rumors of bowling-ball sized hail... Everyone in town practically had to get a new roof on their house. Most cars were totalled. In the worst path of the storm, all glass was broken out of car & house windows. All skylights in the local mall were broken out. Storm dropped over 4 inches of rain in a little more than a hour.

Most cars were totalled. Dents were too large to use paintless dent removal techniques.

My Mom had a Q45 that looked like every square inch of it had been beaten with a sledge hammer. Front & rear glass was shattered, but didn't fall through. The car was only 2 years old, so the insurance company actually fixed it. All new body panels, hood, roof, glass, head & taillights (over 12k in repairs). The car looked fairly good afterward, although the paint job was nothing like a factory finish (it was a black car). She sold it a year or so later. Anyone looking closely could tell it had been reconstructed - but since it wasn't totalled, it didn't get a salvage title - just all new sheet metal.

Hail damage was covered under comprehensive insurance. They cannot specifically increase your insurance due to a comprehensive claim (same as if your car was broken into). BUT - after a big storm in the area, the comprehensive rates for EVERYONE's insurance will go up - to allocate the claim losses across the area. It may take 6 months or a year, but eventually everyone's insurance in the area will go up marginally...

 

Believe it or not but you can repair most of your damage with dry ice and minimal mud work. The more extensive dents will need mud if the metal is too far stretched. Worst case is the car could be totaled or they will require new body parts, ie. fenders, roof, hood, etc..

 

I just got my estimate today. They are replacing the hood and the windshield trim, and doing PDR on the roof, fenders, quarter panels, and trunk. Total repair: $3150

 

that sucks man, I hope they get that fixed for you. If I walked out to my car and it was like that, I'd just go to the neartest living thing and kill it.

 

Is that how you got your screen name? ha ha

 

yeah, it's fitting isn't it

actually when I was in my ricer days (9 years ago), I bought a 95 Civic that had been totalled and rebuilt it. So my screen name on the rice forums was OneToughCivic. So, when I joined the .org, since I'm not very creative, I used OneToughMax