Does your vehicle have hail damage? If you’ve thought of skipping the auto shop and heading straight to DIYing the hail dents yourself, keep reading. There’s a good reason to push the brakes on this particular garage project.
There are a range of different options you can take if your car’s been beaten up by hail.
We highly recommend going straight to the professionals for this job. Manufacturers have strict requirements for vehicle body repairs that a certified shop will definitely be able to follow. Not just that, going to a professional auto shop is how you can have your insurance cover the costs of repairs. The shop can inspect your vehicle and make a repair plan and cost estimate for you to submit to your insurance agency. Just be sure to find a reputable auto shop that won’t cut corners, or your vehicle might come out worse for wear.
If you really don’t want to go to an auto repair shop for your vehicle’s damaged body, you can try removing the hail dents using a dent repair kit. Using something like a dent puller is perfectly fine for smaller dents, but larger dents might need proper inspection in case the vehicle’s body or frame sustained enough damage to cause concern.
Dent repair kits also contain pushing tools. These long, thin metal tools allow you to reach inside the vehicle’s body panels to push out the dents. It’s slow work though, and if you apply too much pressure, you might make the dents worse in the end.
If you’re unlucky enough that it’s your vehicle’s windshield that’s all banged up, you can try a windshield repair kit. These kits use resin to fill in the cracks in the glass and prevent them from getting worse. Use them as soon as possible after the hail storm, but don’t rely on them if the windshield is shattered or has a serious crack.
Other than commercial dent pullers, there are other DIY home repair hacks out on the internet. Some sites recommend using a heat gun paired with some dry ice to heat and rapidly cool a dent. This causes the metal to grow more pliable from the heat and contract suddenly from the cold, which would make the dent pop out. However, using the heat gun can easily damage your vehicle’s paint, and at that point, it’d look much worse than a small dent. We don’t recommend repairing hail damage on your car this way.
Your auto insurance does cover hail storm damage as long as you purchased comprehensive insurance. Comprehensive coverage covers non-collision accidental damages to your vehicle, which includes storm damage, animal damage, and falling objects. That being said, you might still need to pay a deductible for hail damage even under comprehensive coverage. In addition, your insurance rates can go up if you file hail damage claims often.
If you only have auto liability insurance, which is the type legally required by most states, it won’t cover hail damage.
The total amount of time it takes for hail damage repairs depends on a number of factors, This includes damage severity, insurance company response time, and the auto repair shop’s repair speed. Typically, it takes 1 to 24 hours for the repair shop to complete a hail estimate. This includes proper documentation and photography.
Afterwards, it can take three to five business days for your insurance company to review the shop’s report and approve the shop’s estimate. After that, it takes one to four days for the shop to repair your vehicle’s body after rain.
Of course, if you’re conducting these repairs yourself, expect to spend less time following up with the insurance company but more time on actual repairs.
Spotting hail damage can be a bit tricky sometimes, and maybe that’s a good thing. If it’s so small you don’t notice it, then who else will? Still, we understand wanting to check for these types of dents. To spot hail damage on your vehicle, look at the side-casted shadow that the dent makes in the shade. Bring your vehicle to a shaded area and look for the shadow that the dent casts. They’re much easier to see this way.
There are also dent-reflector boards that you can buy or print out to help you spot dents more easily. These boards typically have thick parallel lines in alternating colors that reflect off your vehicle’s body. When there’s a dent, you can see a clear disturbance in the parallel lines’ reflection.
Ultimately, as long as your vehicle’s body is still intact and the dents don’t affect its structural integrity, you always have the option of just leaving it as is. But if you do want to get rid of the unseemly marks, we recommend leaving this job to professionals, especially if you have the auto insurance to cover it.
Any information provided on this Website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace consultation with a professional mechanic. The accuracy and timeliness of the information may change from the time of publication.