imj0257

iTrader: (1)

Last night we got destroyed by storms/tornadoes but my car to the brunt of some massive hail, I saw at least golf ball sized. Anyways, my car was in an open lot and got fucked. The windows are fine thankfully, but there are dents all over the car, most noticeable on the hood, top, drunk and door frames.

Here are a few pics, not great pics and they don't show a lot of the dents but they should get the point across..





I've never dealt with hail damage before so I'm a little new to it. I already called my insurance and set up an appointment next week to meet with an adjuster to get an estimate. (I also learned my deductible is only $50 ).

Should I go to my Acura dealer before I visit with the adjuster to see how much it will cost to fix, just in case the adjuster gives me a lower estimate and I have the dealer's estimate as backup?

RonC5

Wouldn't hurt. Also talk to a paintless dent removal guy.

VQPower37

doesnt look too bad, if it were my car i would try to go with pdr for trunk and the roof, if there are chips on the hood, i would try to see if i could get the hood repainted, if not then i would just with pdr on the hood too

TripnTSX

My wife's Honda got the same damage here in Irving, TX. The adjuster is supposed to look at it on Saturday. Unfortunately my deductible is $500

NSXTC

iTrader: (1)

Man that sucks....I hate hail!!

Honestly, it doesn't look all that bad. See what the adjuster has to say, but more than likely they'll just have pdr done to all the dents. When it's done right, pdr does a great job and you won't even tell that anything happened!

Good luck.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Father of a friend has a shop in Texas and years ago after a severe hail storm he was replacing the hood, roof, and trunk on brand new cars that were on the dealer's lot.

Wait until the insurace adjuster gives you his decision/estimate. Let him do his job and voice no suggestions or quotes.

jda123

I just went through this with both of my TLs. We were with State Farm.

They gave us a check for what they thought that the damage was. This is not the end of it, rather the beginning. Took the cars to the repair shop and handed the check over. The repairs ended up being more than the checks were for, but the repair shop took care of all of it with State Farm for the extra money. We only had to pay our $100 deductible to the repair shop.

The cars look great. Paintless dent for most, had to replace some trim around the doors and windows and 1 hood needed to be painted. If the paint is cracked, then they will need to do the panel the old-fashioned way.

If you have a good insurance company, just remember that their estimate is not the end, only the beginning - they have to cover the repair and they just don't know how much it will be in the 10 minutes that they look at it.

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

The hail damage does not look too bad and certainly nothing a paintless dent repair guy cant take care of. I would highly recommend going that route as you really dont want to have to have any panels painted as its just never the same as the original.
An ex-girlfriend of mine had a newer civic that got hailed on and it had literally hundreds of dents on every imagineable body panel it was crazy. Paintless dent guy fixed it to look 100% brand new and the car still has original paint on it. After seeing that I was sold!!!

James

asbestos

Glad to hear PDR works wonders. My folks had a flawless '07TL in DFW which now looks like the moon. Windshield busted as well.

Dings need to be checked carefully. Dings w/ cracks = repaint, like it or not.

whudini3000

iTrader: (1)

Check out this Dallas PDR. Joe is currently working on 2004 Silver TL and has found additional damage my insurance company overlooked .Joe is covering my deductible ($100) and plans on kicking back some cash after the jobs finished. I have close to if not $6k in damages.

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?oe...73737617390201

whudini3000

iTrader: (1)

Your adjuster is going to lowball you, just as they did me. They are going to want you to use their shops which I've had poor experiences with (poor quality work). I took my vehix over to MacChurchill Acura and got a quote from their PDR specialist which seemed fair. I decided not to go through the dealer as it would have taken a while due to excessive storms.

imj0257

iTrader: (1)

^ Thanks for the info. As soon as it happened I was surely planning on going to my Acura dealer to get it fixed, but upon reading about PDR and all the awesome reviews about Joe's work, he will be my first choice to get my car fixed. (I don't have any paint chips)

I get my estimate tomorrow from my insurance and then I guess they will give me a check? IF the work Joe does costs more than my estimate, will Joe work with my insurance to have the rest paid for by them? (Although I'm hoping it will be less to fix than what the insurance gives me so I can have some money left over).

I'm almost positive that my Acura dealer will work with my insurance if the actual cost to fix the dents is more than the insurance estimate.

Acutron

PDR will get that out no problem. You won't be able to tell it was ever there.

whudini3000

iTrader: (1)

Insurance wrote me a check for $1700 the 1st time and Joe called them back after finding more damage. Insurance then wrote a check for $3500+ more and Joe agreed to do the work. Insurance has the damages over $6k including hood replacement but Joe told my Ins. Co. he would PDR the hood( to keep the original paint) so they cut a check somewhere around $5.5k. My car is due this Saturday, I will keep you posted. Its been over 2weeks without my car, my adjuster couldn't get to my car for a week due to multiple claims. I will be glad when I get out of the POS 2010 Altima. My god this car blows. BTW, feel free to shoot me your name and I will introduce Joe to you ahead of time.

aIRpeACE

iTrader: (2)

take it to the body shop and see what they can do if not too expensive

imj0257

iTrader: (1)

I called Joe yesterday and told him about my situation. I told him my car and he said 'another TL?!' I was like yea you've got a good reputation lol.

I'm going to get my estimate in a few hours then will call Joe back. I know I can get a rental paid for by insurance but also know it will be a POS, and I know Joe is swamped so no telling how long it will take him with my car. I was thinking that I could still get it done at the Acura dealership and in that case no matter how long it takes they would gimme an Acura loaner which would be much better. I guess we'll see how it goes...

whudini3000

iTrader: (1)

Ha! Joe is a great guy. When you take your car to Mac. listen carefully to the PDR assessments. I noticed you have an dent on the beam above the car windows, the PDR guy told me he may have to drill and plug because the metal was not very flexible. I didn't like the idea . So be wary of that if its mentioned! Let us know how it goes !

imj0257

iTrader: (1)

Well I just got back from getting my estimate and it is ~$3k.

I don't think I can go to Joe for PDR because he said anything bigger than half dollar size he probably can't do, and I have at least 10 bigger than half dollar size. Also, I need to get weather stripping replaced. I am probably just going to go to the dealer to get it fixed. I will call Joe and the dealer soon to see what they say..

whudini3000

iTrader: (1)

Im lost, they gave $600 for weather stripping and there is only two dents in the rubber lining. I really don't see that worth replacing, I'm actually torn on getting it fix or just leaving it as is. Joe seems swamped, I couldn't even get in contact with him today. I guess those reviews are an gift and a curse.

dickorydoo

We had a nasty hailstorm here in Phoenix back in October. My company car (a 2010 Taurus) was damaged. The insurance company had "paintless dent removal" performed - I've gotta say, that really impressed me (and I'm PICKY). I couldnt find any of the dents afterward. You might consider that.

whudini3000

iTrader: (1)

Just picked up the ride and I must say I am impressed. Joe performed miracle work and is nothing short of magnificent. Afterwards we calculated kickbacks on items i didn't see a need to replaced (or were DIY's) and it looks to be about $500 back in my pocket. Joe even went the extra mile to show me how I could replace them myself. Overall, the work done is nothing short of awesome and The car looks 2x better than before. I mentioned your vehicle, and Joe said to give him a buzz as he has enough room to fit you in. -PM sent

brusk

PDR is usually not very cheap from a guy that is good, just like anything you get what you pay for. Keep in mind though when you fight with your insurance agent it's not only the cost of getting it repaired anytime you go to resell and they know it had hail damage the greatly reduces the cost of the vehicle. As far as body panel replacement I would say alot of times it's easier to replace the easy ones the fender and hood but don't ever replace to roof as I haven't seen very many shops to a good or safe job at it. It's very diffictult to make that job look at good as it did from the factory.

imj0257

iTrader: (1)

I called him on Thursday and left a voicemail. Called him again a few times on Fri and Sat and Sun but no answer and no call back. he must be really swamped I guess...

I really just want him to take a look at the car first so he can give me an estimate and see if it is doable.

whudini3000

iTrader: (1)

Try 972-241-7777

whudini3000

iTrader: (1)

Just spoke with him, and is prioritizing calls. Shoot me your name and number and he'll get you in pmed!

Majofo

better aerodynamics.. shit.. I'd take the insurance check and be out. :thief:

imj0257

iTrader: (1)

lol

I wouldn't do that cus I want my car fixed Even if I wanted to, I probably couldn't because the check when insurance cuts me the check they said it will have my name and the repair shop's place on it, so I can't just take the money and run.

Majofo

The TL is the DD.. money jar saving for that 2nd gen CTS-V / GT-R.

Jennifernc21

Most of the time the insurance company.. REGUARDLESS of what the company is - will try to get out the PDR way vs. the body shop route only bc it's cheaper.... Pdr isnt all that bad && in most cases no one will ever be able to look at the car && notice the difference...

Have you taken it to a local body shop at all?

imj0257

iTrader: (1)

I could have gone to another shop by now but I'm taking it to a PDR guy whudini3000 took his car to and recommended me to. But the guy is out of town now so I'm taking it to him in a week and half to get it done. Already met and consulted with him and he said he can take care of it no problem and probably put some money back in my pocket.

Judging by the mass number of reviews of him and his work and all being 5-star, it is definitely worth the wait.

imj0257

iTrader: (1)

Well the insurance really did low ball me on the first check they gave me for $3k. After I took it to the guy to get it fixed, he got another $4.5k from them. lol.

He said he should be done next week and I should be getting some cash in my pocket. Can't wait to get out of this pos rental.

whudini3000

iTrader: (1)

^ oh the irony

Fatfrii

where ever you take the car to get painted will fight to get the most of out the insurance so that you can get more work done and so he can make more money...u both win in this situation..

Fatfrii

if i were you i would have taken it to a few different body shops and got some quotes along with getting a look at the quality of their work and then would have filed the claim

Gryphen

Honestly you got lucky they didn't consider the car a total loss. Many states for example NC and SC have laws that if the damage exceeds 25% of the current value they consider it a loss. Just recently bought my TL and when I was looking through Coparts auction sites I found at least 15-20 TL's that were going thru due to hail damage.

imj0257

iTrader: (1)

Finally got my car back. Took him a lot longer than most people's cars not only because of the amount of dents, but a lot of them were bigger than half dollar size.

But the car looks amazing, like the hail never happened (except for 1 tiny dent still there on the passenger side door I noticed when I got home, but he will come fix it). Gave it a wash yesterday and it shines oh so nice

Also kept $280 in my pocket, plus my deductible, so technically $330.

whudini3000

iTrader: (1)

Joe FTW!

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

talk to your insurance company....take it over to a shop get a quote....and get it done professionally...

and for crying out loud raise you insurance to atleast 500....this will save you a ton of $$$

imj0257

iTrader: (1)

^ You obviously read nothing after the first post..

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

^^^ partially true....LOL

is your deductible really $50 ? and how much do you pay for 6 months ?