Can Pea-Sized Hail Damage A Car?
Photo from stormwisehailrepair
Originally Posted On: Can Pea Sized Hail Damage A Car? – StormWise Auto Hail Repair (stormwisehailrepair.com)
Hailstorms often strike in the spring and summer in Colorado. Sometimes, it seems harmless, and sometimes it wreaks havoc on your car hood, roof, and other panels.
Can Pea-Sized Hail Damage A Car?
We get questions like this all the time. The short answer is yes, especially if the hails travel at high speed and the storm lasted for more than just a few minutes.
If you drove through a minor hail storm, even if you weren’t driving particularly fast, the moving car could compound the damage, causing more dents and deeper dents.
Often, when the hailstones are not large, people make a mistake thinking they dodged a bullet.
If you’ve lived in Colorado or Texas, you probably experienced a few hail storms. You would know that the minor damage may not look much when a car is parked in the garage, but as soon as it’s out there on a sunny day, suddenly, all the little imperfection shows up from nowhere.
What To Do With A Minor Hail Damaged Car?
When your car gets damaged in a hailstorm, a cost estimate from a reputable hail repair company will answer many of your questions about the cost, the coverage, how the repair works, etc.
Whether your car is damaged enough to be considered a totaled vehicle will also be determined by the estimate. You might see only a few dents on the car roof, hood and doors – but while some damage may look minor, the costs to repair it can be high.
The good news is that a minor hail damaged car is very much fixable with the advanced paintless dent repair (PDR). As one of the most reputable PDR specialist firm, our technicians can fix your vehicle and keeps the original paint all within a few days.
Minor Hail Damage Repair Cost
It’s typical when a car didn’t get a smashed window or chipped paint, and the cosmetic damage can easily be overlooked. But as mentioned above, hail damage may appear minor and can cost thousands of dollars.
Here is an example of a minor hail-damaged vehicle we recently repaired.
As you may have noticed in the first video, the dents are hard to spot until we flashed a light at the hood.
If you had to guess how much that hail damage repair cost, what would you say?
A thousand dollars? Two thousand, maybe?
It was over $9k to fix this Yukon.
The good news is that client paid $0 out of pocket – StormWise covered the $500 deductible and the insurance paid for the rest.
If you have hail damage on your car but don’t have comprehensive insurance, you can still have your car repaired – just be prepared for it to be an expensive bill. Hail damage repair can run into the tens of thousands of dollars if the damage is significant.
To learn more about how hail damage is assessed on a car, read these articles below:
Insurance for Your Car’s Hail Repair
If you are comprehensively insured, you should get an estimate for hail repair ASAP.
We encourage our customers with auto hail damage to contact us to get the claim process started. Since COVID, most insurance companies ask customers to send photos for insurance inspection. While that may seem convenient, it is extremely difficult to show the correct amount of damage in photos.
As a result, many customers were misinformed that their hail damage would be less than their deductible cost.
In fact, their hail damage is a lot more than what it shows in photos.
However, many customers didn’t need to pay even their deductibles, as our current full auto hail repair promotion will cover their deductible cost.
When to Repair Auto Hail Damage?
Hailstorms are seasonal in Colorado – summer is often the peak season for hail damage.
After a hailstorm, as a Denver native, you know that auto body shops will get backed up for months! Not only will they have a waiting list, but the repair times will extend extensively.
Sometimes your car couldn’t bear the extended wait time if you have smashed windows or tail-lights.
Even if you could afford the waiting, undeclared damage can cause big issues if you’re involved in a car accident and try to make a claim.
The difference with StormWise is that 99% of the time, we can fix auto hail dent within two weeks* of the drop-off date, and we rarely operate on a waiting list for hail repair services.
What About Selling or Buying A Car with Hail Damage?
If you’re selling a car with hail damage, it’s best to be transparent and let people know about the damage.
Also, be realistic of the listing price because repairs can be expensive, and your car’s value will be adversely affected.
To buy a hail-damaged car also bears tons of risk.
For one thing, make sure to see the car in person before bidding, as pictures can only show so much.
More importantly, check to see if you can insure the hail-damaged vehicle. Sometimes, insurers don’t allow you to take out coverage on a car if there is existing damage.
If your insurance company agrees to provide a policy with pre-existing damage, be careful how much your insurer assesses prior damage.
When it comes to hailstorms and the damage they can cause to your vehicle, it’s better to be safe than sorry. StormWise is one of the best auto hail repair brands in the US. Our technicians are Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) experts who can remove dents by easing the dented area back to its original shape without damaging the paintwork.
Give us a call or fill out our contact form to help decide what options you have with your hail-damaged cars.