MarkL

I can't believe it, but today around 3:30 we had a bad thunderstorm in Gaithersburg, MD. where I work, and huge hail came bashing down for about 10 minutes. It sounded like the building windows were being hit by huge pieces of glass. Soon after, the sun came out. People started talking about hail damage to cars, and I went out to check. I guess it could have been worse, but I've got about 5 dings on my hood, 2-3 on the roof and about 4 on the trunk. A couple are worse than the others, and since I've got a dark color, they are pretty noticeable at certain angles. Now I don't know what to do. A lot of other people went out and almost all the cars had some damage. Some were really deep. I saw a few BMW 325's and they were worse than mine. Some even had dents on the side where the hail had blown sideways.

Has anyone used the paintless dent removal places? And, anyone know if it'll work for minor hail damage? I washed it when I got home so I could really see the damage, and it's making me sick...
I don't want to have any painting done...

Mike T.

Wow, that is a real bummer! A nightmare actually.

I would suggest you contact your insurer asap and then say you want the car repaired perfectly.

"Perfect" probably means replacing the hood and trunk lid, and removing as much of the roof dents as possible and then refinishing the roof to "show car" standards.

I've seen some paintless dent removal results and although they are generally good, on a darker car it'd likely not be good enough to satisfy you.

WebGuyNJ

This sucks. I'm sorry to hear about it. Do get it fixed ASAP

Now, for my selfish question. Did it hail in Baltimore? My car was supposed to leave today or tomorrow.

How does one check for Hail damage?

renncpe

A good dent guy can do wonders, I would try that before any painting. Have them come out and look at it, they expect to remove them completly and will tell you if there are any that can't be done.

Randy

mleskovar

Try the paintless dent removal . I've had it done for door dings and you cannot tell it's been done.

Spyke

My wife had hail damage repaired on her Nissan with the paintless dent removal technique.

I was amazed.

While it entirely depends on the guy doing the work, her car came out much better than I had expected. I honestly could not tell where the work had been done.

That is, until I opened the trunk. The guy had to drill one access hole in the bracing to get to a spot, and there were some small scratches here and there where he had been working the tools. So, if that kind of thing bothers you, you should probably check with the guy to make sure he knows what you want/don't want.

In our case I couldn't have cared less about the inside of the trunk lid...

Strangely enough, when I had them quote my Jeep it came in within $200 of a typical repair, which included replacing some panels.

Fuzzo

Oh man i am sooo sorry to hear bout your car... i was alll ready to leave work and go to the mall and wait out the storm if we had any sign of hail...but in fairfax we didn't get any...well atleast none that i knew of....

will insurance cover this?

avlis

Usually insurance doesn't cover "acts of god". Or do they?

Spyke

They did in Minneosta when I lived there. After one big storm the companies set up huge tents and did mass damage estimates; set up multiple lines with a bunch of estimators. After looking at my Jeep, they cut me a check right then and there! (State Farm)

TimmyC230boy

Thats why you have comprehensive insurance. It covers pretty much anything but floods. It covers tree's falling, vandalism, just about anything other than what your liabilty and collision don't cover. If you have a nice car and your insurance agant doesn't offer you comprehensive coverage, It might be time to start looking for another insurance agent. One member on here was in a accident with a deer, and his comprhensive covered that. If you have any insurance questions email or PM me.

PS I am a Insurance agent.

Smoky

We had a huge hail storm here in 1995, hundreds of cars were damaged, house siding and roof shingles were replaced.

I had a '91 Honda Accord EXR, and it had damage to every panel, got the whole thing fixed and re-painted under insurance.

Got an $8000 new shake roof on the house too.

Call you insurance company, thats what you pay premiums for.

Smoky

avlis

I stand corrected.

BrabusCClass

Ouch! That sucks. There is no hail in california so I have no idea how it is. But from the sound of it I'm glad we dont have it.

Paintless dent removal is very good. There are some people who come out to you and others where they say you need to come to them. Let them come out to you and do it. There is no difference. It is usually like $35 per ding and the more dings in a specific location its cheaper. I had them fix a few dings on my door and I cant even see where it was.

I hope you get it fixed easy enough.

MarkL

Thanks for the replies and suggestions! I've talked to a few people here (at work), and they've used Dent Wizard in the past. One guy has an appointment on Monday. He said he had about 16 dings on the hood, roof and trunk, and they gave him an estimate just under $500. His insurance will cover it after his $250 deductible. I called my insurance agent, but she was out until Monday. I'll check out his car after it's fixed. One thing though, I'm not sure I want them to remove all the headlining stuff to get to the roof. There are three dings there. I'm wondering if they can get to it through the open sunroof... We'll see.

Mark08859

MarkL, any insurance company should cover an "act of God". The good part is that it doesn't affect your premium. By all means, contact your insurer.

MarkL

OK, for anyone still interested... I took my MB to Dent Wizard today and got an estimate. They take it into a bay (didn't go w/ them) where I think they have some "special" lights/grids that makes the dents easier to see. They found 10 on the hood (2 are worse than the others), 11 on the roof (3 are "bad") and 5 on the trunk. For the dent removal, they're charging $625. But, and here's the kicker, they need another shop which specializes in roof installation, etc. to drop the headliner stuff and possibly remove the sunroof "cassette". This place is just around the corner so they drive it over, get the stuff removed, drive back and fix the dents... That shop will charge $366 for their work, bringing it to $991! The roof actually looks pretty bad, so even though I'm reluctant, I'm thinking I really need to have it done also. I went over to the roof place and they said it's really no big deal to do the headlining. I've got an appointment for 5/28.

Here's my dilemma. I've had 3 comprehensive claims + 1 collision (my wife had a mishap with a garage wall) in the last 3 years. 2 of the comps were simply repairing a stone chip in the windshield, and 1 was an actual windshield replacement. The agent is telling me it doesn't matter how much they paid out, it's simply the number of claims during a 3-year period that might flag my policy. At this point, I'm thinking of just shelling out the $$$ myself. If there are "excessive" comprehensive claims, they can raise the deductible, or even choose not to renew the policy .

Also, while I was at Dent Wizard, I saw a Lexus SC430 waiting for an estimate. His hood must have been aluminum, because the dents were really bad. Turns out he works where I do! His estimate was $575. I also noticed he had the 3M stone guard stuff on his hood.

Odont

Sorry to hear about your damage!
I would certainly use a dent removal person; my father-in-law had a ding removed form his Porsche this way and you couldn't tell. Seems better than repainting portions of the car. Repainting might also reduce the value of your auto when it's time to sell and is probably many times the cost you mentioned above.

You should consult your dealer as to which dent removal person they use because the entire procedure would likely be done in one place (either at the dealer shop or at a designated body shop)

With regard to your insurance dilemma-- 1. Does a deduct. come in to play? 2. You must consider the long term ramifications of making a claim if your rates will increase; it may be cheaper to just lay out the money yourself.