An Insiders Guide To Hail Damage Car Insurance Claims

The Truth About Hail Damage Car Insurance Claims

When it comes to making an insurance claim for hail damage, there are some misconceptions that a lot of people have about the process. The PDR dent repair experts at Dealer's Hail & Specialty answer some common questions about car insurance claims and hail damage.

When it comes to making an insurance claim for hail damage, there are some misconceptions that a lot of people have about the process. In this Hail Repair Blog post we'll take a look at a few of the most common areas where owners of a hail damaged car are misinformed. Additionally, we will address some common questions about paintless dent repair, or PDR for short, which has become the preferred method used to repair a hail damaged car. For more answers toPaintless Dent Repair Frequently Asked Questions, visit our page on PDR FAQ.

1.     Filing a hail damage insurance claim will cause rates to go up. While it makes sense that filing a hail damage insurance claim would make your insurance premiums increase, that is actually not the case. That's because unlike an accident or collision, where one or more drivers may be at fault, a hail damage insurance claim is caused by what is known in the insurance industry as an Act Of God, meaning it did not occur as a result of an action of the insured. In fact, this is the number one reason why people do not file a hail damage insurance claim when they get car hail damage. If an area experiences a large, expensive hailstorm with a large amount of car hail damage insurance claim payout made, or experiences multiple hailstorms in a relatively short time span, say a few years, it is possible that the insurance company will reassess their risk exposure for a particular market which may lead to a premium increase for all customers in the area, even the ones who had a hail damaged car but did not file a hail damage insurance claim.​​
2.     It's just a few dents, I would rather spend my car hail damage insurance claim money on something else. Some people get their car hail damage insurance claim check and suddenly feel less bothered about their hail damaged car, and no longer feel the need to get have car dent repair performed. While it can be tempting to use the money from a car hail damage insurance claim payout on something else, this is usually a very bad financial decision long term. A hail dented car is worth much less money than a non hail damaged vehicle, especially to a car dealership at trade in time. If your hail damaged car has a lien against, by a bank or finance company, they will expect the car hail damage to be fixed, usually by a reputable mobile paintless dent repair company or other hail damage repair service. Not repairing your hail damaged car can have major consequences down the road. Most people who don't repair car hail damage will later find themselves to be massively upside down, meaning they owe more money than the hail dented car is worth. This is because by then, there are no longer any reputable auto hail damage repair shops or mobile paintless dent repair services in town so the hail damage repair cost is calculated based on body shop dent repairs, like painting and replacing panels, which only further devalues the hail damaged vehicle. 
3.    My insurance company recommended I take my hail damaged car to one of their "network" hail damage repair shops, that must be my best option for getting my car fixed with paintless dent repair. Many insurance companies have developed special vendor programs designed around using only the cheapest hail damage repair companies who perform low cost PDR dent removal or other type of low quality car hail damage repair. While it may seem to be a credible referral, more often than not, the work performed by these "direct repair" or auto  

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