What to Do if Your Car Has Been Damaged by Hail

Hail damage can be very minor or bad enough to damage a car beyond repair. If your vehicle has been damaged and you need to find a shop that offers vehicle hail damage repairs, a good place to start is the local auto body repair shop. 

Get Damage Estimates

When you have a car with hail damage, it is hard to tell what can be fixed and what can not. Sometimes the technician can physically repair the vehicle, but the cost of the repairs far exceeds the car's value. 

Vehicle hail damage repair can involve fixing dents in the sheet metal, replacing glass, and even repainting the car. The hailstones can scratch the paint even if they are small, but when they cause large dents that need repairing, the body shop doing the work may need to sand the sheet metal down, add body filler in places, and then paint the car to return it to like-new condition.

All of this work is expensive, so getting an estimate for the vehicle hail damage repair you can send to the insurance company is essential. It is critical to make sure all the work is included, so finding a body shop that will add everything in and itemize it is a good option.

Consider Paintless Hail Damage Repair

If your car only has minor damage to the sheet metal, there is a vehicle hail damage repair method called paintless hail damage repair that allows the tech to pull the small dents out of the body without having to repaint that car after the repairs. This method is not available at every auto body shop, so you may need to call around to find something that can do it.

Because the car does not need repairing after the hail damage repair is completed, the repair cost is often much lower. It may make the difference between a totaled car and one that is salvageable in the eyes of the insurance company. 

If the dents are small and are not too close together, the auto body tech using this method of vehicle hail damage repair can use some specific tools and techniques to pull the dents out, and when done right, you will not be able to see where the dents were. 

Get Glass Repair

Often vehicle hail damage repair involves glass repair as well. If the windshield or rear window is broken, the body shop will replace them for you after the rest of the bodywork is complete. Often dents around the glass can affect the seal, so the tech must remove those dents before the new glass is installed, or you could have a leak around the glass. 

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