Hail Damage - GGGRRRRRR

[*MAD DOG*]

I'm waiting for the next wave of hail between the size of golf ball-baseball to come through. My poor Yaris copped a pounding. I can't tell if I have roof dints as it's still wet and raining, but from what I saw I would say 80% chance I'll have roof hail damage.

The noise the hail made off the roof of the house was like bullets ricocheting off metal, ping ping ping bang. :eyebulge:

I now have a broken right hand side tail light. :( There is nowhere I can move my car to make it safe as we've been warned on the radio more severe weather is coming and to stay put.

You see stuff like this on the news but you never expect to see it happen to you. :frown::frown::frown::frown::frown::frown::frown:: frown::frown::frown::frown::frown::frown::cry:

[1NZYaris1]

Ouch , nows your chance to get some after market tails
as just 1 oem tail light is about $450.:thumbsup:
and after 1 market pr about half that .

[CTScott]

That's horrible. I got caught in a hail storm last summer with mine. The hail stones were about an inch in diameter and were hitting so hard that I closed the sunshade for my sunroof to keep glass out of my face if it popped. It didn't, but I did end up with some clear coat damage to the roof and a small dent just above the center of the windshield.

[*MAD DOG*]

Here's a pic of one of the bits of hail. FARK!

[*MAD DOG*]

Garm,

You got any cheap fake Jdm tails?

[LtNoogie]

I sure hope your little dog did not have to go outside to pee during that storm.

[*MAD DOG*]

I have two pugs and they were too busy barking and shitting themselves to venture outside. It was like a war zone here.

[Toy Yaris]

moved my car in the garage just at the right time, hope no panel damaged we copped it heaps thought the house was gonna blow away..

[1NZYaris1]

Does this mean we have to send the your panel beaters back to Aussie .
We had a similar storm 12months ago , and the insurance company's bought in some hail experts form Aussie to fix all the cars ,
at last report they had 3 months of work left .
I guess now they will have another 12 months :bellyroll:

[*MAD DOG*]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/video/national/-/watch/18481251

[jclo3313]

That sucks man

[cali yaris]

Garm, You got any cheap fake Jdm tails?

I can give you a pretty good deal, but the shipping will be what it is, USPS to down under.

[DandiDani]

sorry to hear that

[*MAD DOG*]

Well it just got worse, I have severe hail damage on my hood, roof and a pillar. Garm, I won't need those tails as I'll be claiming on my insurance. However if they claim "act of god" god help them.

[*MAD DOG*]

Just spoke to my insurance company, $500 to claim. They will let me keep my rating 1 (we have a rating system over here, rating 1 is the best you can get and makes your premium cheaper).

All I have to do is organise one quote and get back to them and they'll sort it out. Not happy at all, you just don't think anything like this is going to happen to you. But i'm glad I took out a new insurance policy, in fact i'd only taken it out on 4th March 2010 and the hail damage happened at 4pmish 6th March 2010. So i'd just handed over $707 as the premium and now I gotta pull another $500 outta my arse to cover this.

[Yaris4ever]

Oh man I really feel for ya, I had a similar experience years ago with my Corolla!!!

[*MAD DOG*]

This is similar to what I had at my place....

[*MAD DOG*]

Has anyone else ever had hail damage before? Or does someone on YW work in a body shop and can give me suggestions on how to get this fixed properly. Obviously insurance is footing the bill.

[Yaris4ever]

When my car got damaged due to the hail years ago, I just made sure to take it to an approved NRMA repairer & they did a great job with it!!!

[1NZYaris1]

There's a couple of paintless dent removal people
that can do it , just not sure where in Melbourne .
oh and when you put in the claim ask whoever is doing the
work to purchase the after market tails you want .
I also see the local Toyota Yard that was preparing for it's grand opening
got hit bad , the hail went right through the front and rear screens :eek:

[bobselectric]

Has anyone else ever had hail damage before? Or does someone on YW work in a body shop and can give me suggestions on how to get this fixed properly. Obviously insurance is footing the bill.

A body man told me once that fixing hail damage was easy- just wait till the car cools after driving it and blow into the tailpipe really hard.


Oh and make sure you roll the windows up first!

:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::bigg rin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

[*MAD DOG*]

A body man told me once that fixing hail damage was easy- just wait till the car cools after driving it and blow into the tailpipe really hard.


Oh and make sure you roll the windows up first!

:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::bigg rin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

Thanks for the lol Bob. I needed it. :)

[Kal-El]

Has anyone else ever had hail damage before? Or does someone on YW work in a body shop and can give me suggestions on how to get this fixed properly. Obviously insurance is footing the bill.

Sorry about your situation.

I work at an Acura dealer and last year we got a hail storm that lasted about 1 minute but was enough to make every car on the lot look like the surface of a golf ball. Yup, all of those new luxury cars. The dealer simply hired paint-less dent removers who came on site (even outside on the lot) and removed all of those 10's of thousands of dents (painful process). Since they were new cars, they had to be perfect, and they were. The cost is very high, but should be covered under insurance if you have comprehensive (minus deductible).

Good luck. :smile:

[rob323]

Mad Dog, if you have the choice of the repairer, then definately talk to some of the paintless dent repairers. One of my special babies got badly damaged in a hail storm up here and all of the panel shops I spoke to wanted to cut the roof off and weld a new one in. To me that is a certain recipe for rust down the track so I avoided them. I ended up finding a really good paintless dent removal guy and the work he did was simply magic. I know where the dents were and I can't find any signs of them now. And he was cheaper than the panel shops (which didn't really worry me as the car was insured with Shannons).

[Kal-El]

Mad Dog, if you have the choice of the repairer, then definately talk to some of the paintless dent repairers. One of my special babies got badly damaged in a hail storm up here and all of the panel shops I spoke to wanted to cut the roof off and weld a new one in. To me that is a certain recipe for rust down the track so I avoided them. I ended up finding a really good paintless dent removal guy and the work he did was simply magic. I know where the dents were and I can't find any signs of them now. And he was cheaper than the panel shops (which didn't really worry me as the car was insured with Shannons).

Cut the roof off? Are they crazy?!

All that needs to be done for the roof is removing the headliner and popping out the dents like any other.

The hardest dents to remove are those on the side pillars but can still be done. Part of the problem is the side airbag assemblies are embedded here but professionals can do it properly. Plus, it's the most solid part of any panel.

[rob323]

Cut the roof off? Are they crazy?!
Nope but they are selfish. Why pay a dent removal guy to do it when they can give their apprentices something to practice on.

[*MAD DOG*]

Thanks for the valuable advice peeps. Insurance will cover all of it except $500 deductable. No way will I let a moron cut out my roof.

[SailDesign]

Hmmm.... Not to be the Spelling Nazi or anything, but isn't it "Painless" dent removal?

[rob323]

Well, the "paintless" dent removal guy I used was a hell of a lot more "painless" than any panel shop I ever had the misfortune to use. :biggrin:

[Kal-El]

Hmmm.... Not to be the Spelling Nazi or anything, but isn't it "Painless" dent removal?

Nope, it's paint-less as in dent removal requiring no paint work.

[*MAD DOG*]

Just took the car to a panel shop and they told me it's going to take 5-7 working days (Mon-Fri) to fix my car. Damn! Looks like i'll take a holiday from work as there is no way i'll catch a train to catch a tram to get to work as that would take almost 2 hours one way. I did not take the hire car option on my policy as I've never claimed in all my 12 years of driving.

DAMN DAMN DAMN

The good news is it's just the quote stage and I still have my car for now. Oh and I still don't know if they are going to write the car off or not.

[1NZYaris1]

Panel shops here give you a free
Courtesy car, while they fix yours , try some locally they might do the same :iono:

[*MAD DOG*]

Panel shops here give you a free
Courtesy car, while they fix yours , try some locally they might do the same :iono:

Unfortunately they aren’t just fixing my car, they are fixing 20,000+ hail damaged cars, not to mention the normal fender benders they'll be dealing with, if they have a courtesy car left that I can fit in I’d be surprised. No harm in asking though and I will when the insurance approves the repairs. :thumbsup:

[fluke_boy]

I feel your pain. It happened to my old Mitsu Sigma in the mid 90's while I was still living & working in Chicago. Got 1 or dents on the roof and multiple dents to the hood and trunk lid. Only had the hood and trunk replaced. Had a high deductible you see ($1000).

[nemelek]

At work one day, luckly I wasn't there, a Baseball size hail storm hit. Some people whose cars were fully paid off and still fully insured were fine tuning the damage with a hammer to get the maxium insurance dollar. After getting 4 to 5,000 dollars they just drove the car unfixed. Others whop didn't have the full insurance had to drive a banged up car. Others who had and took pride in their cars got them fixed or traded them in on new ones.

[*MAD DOG*]

I'm getting the insurance run around at the moment. They reccommended a panel shop for me to go to and get a quote, then after wasting an hour of my time going there and getting the quote they then said that they wont accept there quote as all quotes have to be done at there head office which is 40km (approx 20mi) away from my house.

After agruing with them I managed to get them to let me take my car to another panel shop near my house. They are going to need my car all day on monday to asses it. Lucky I have monday off, but no way of getting home and back to the panel place other than bus (Yick!).

[Shroomster]

Lucky I have monday off, but no way of getting home and back to the panel place other than bus (Yick!).

damn it man use your legs!

[*MAD DOG*]

damn it man use your legs!

Legs would mean a 2 hour walk one way. F that for a joke.

[Shroomster]

Legs would mean a 2 hour walk one way. F that for a joke.

meh, fig'd as you don't like pub trans....

[*MAD DOG*]

Took the car today to get the quote from the panel shop for the insurance company. They said it could be up to 2 months before they could squeeze me in as they are flooded (pardon the pun) with claims due to the storm. :frown:

I said well I have a busted tail light and that makes the car unroadworthy. I don't want to get pulled over by an over zealous cop and fined. The guy said he'd order one and then and I could bring the car back and they'd pop the new one on in 5 minutes. I thought this would take at least a day or two.

Well wasn’t I in shock to get a call 2-3 hours after leaving there to be told they have the part and are willing to put it on to keep me going until they can fix the car, no payment by me. :eek: :clap:

Don't get me wrong, I still have dints from the hail the size of golf balls-tennis balls on my car, but it's now legally driveable :smile:

Thanks for your support YW members.

[cali yaris]

pics of the dents? I've never seen that before.

[*MAD DOG*]

pics of the dents? I've never seen that before.

I took some shots, but to be honest you could not see them in the photo. I am just using my iPhone. If my wife comes home before dusk i'll take some pictures of her dinted Yaris as her car got pummeled compared to mine.

Here are a few examples of what hail damage looks like on a car:

Lucky for me I didn't end up with busted glass. The red car with the circles is what my car looks like for dints. Hard to see on a photo, but in person they are there. The circle shows where the dint is. Hope it helps you Garm.