Long story short, right before I was about to leave work today, it started to hail/storm really badly. I run to my car, but it's raining so bad that I can barely see my car, much less notice the hail damage on it. I get in and notice that the windshield is cracked from the hail, so I drive it to a gas station and get out and see dents ALL OVER my car. In the year and a half I've had my TLX, I've managed to not get a single door ding, so this was a pretty terrifying sight lol. Anyways, the damage isn't extreme, just moderate but not minor either. Every panel is dented.

Hood has about 10+ dings, roof has the same amount if not more, and trunk has about 10, all varying in size. My doors have some small dings now, as well as the chrome metal window outline pieces. The car is dirty and it's dark out so I haven't been able to get a great look at it. Anyways, have any of you guys dealt with hail damage? If so, how did it go? Now I have to find a good auto body shop to take my car to, which has not been easy since reviews seem to vary. Attached is a photo of part of my hood in case you wanted to see a picture. I haven't been able to get a full pic of the car yet, and not sure the damage would show up that well in a pic.

 

Never had hail damage, but I feel for you. Hope repairs aren't too expensive....

 

I have a buddy who works in the insurance industry - he says hail damage is one of the biggest claims for them. People have one off accidents on occasion but when it hails you get parking lots full of cars needing repair.

 

Some PDR and the car will be as good as new!!!

 

I had a 1996 Honda Accord EX with 352 miles that was pounded, I mean obliterated by hail, large hail. 6 weeks later looked good as new. Some panels replaced, others repaired.

 

This is terrible, so sorry to see this.. I hope everything works out for you with the insurance co..

 

Ouch!!! Sorry to see this.

Call your insurance ASAP!! When these kinds of things happen, PDR places get backed up real fast, and can take weeks to months to process claims.

Had a freak hail storm in my area 5 years ago, and PDR guys flew in from all over the country to make some $$$, and months later were still working on cars. Luckily for me, my cars were in parking garages at work, but my house's roof was destroyed, and needed to be redone. I got off easy compared to some.

 

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The dealer I used to go to had their entire inventory hammered one night. For many months one of the three service lanes was dedicated to paintless dent repair, including replacing at least one windshield when I was in there. And back in the '90s we had both of our cars at the high school, including my week-old '94 Accord, for an evening awards ceremony when a Texas-size hailstorm hit. The damage was pretty severe but the glass held up. It took a couple of months because we had to wait our turn. This PDR business is pretty slick, making cars well again. Both cars were immaculate when they were done.

 

Thanks everyone, I'm really bummed about my car! Because of the cracked windshield and dented trim pieces, I'm going to take it to an auto body shop instead of a place just dedicated for PDR. As long as PDR makes it look like nothing ever happened, I will be 100% happy. I talked to my insurance right after it happened yesterday and we've got everything in the works so hopefully the car will be in the shop soon. If my car were white it would look like a golf ball on wheels, lol. I've never had PDR performed on my car but hopefully it all goes smoothly. I'm wondering how long the repairs will take? Damage is pretty substantial, but not too severe.

 

Good luck, make sure you choose a good body shop. I work in the insurance industry and hail damage is definitely a huge deal for us.

 

Hail SUCKS!!!

My wife's and my cars (2010 Highlander and 2010 RL) were both pummeled by hail in a July 2014 hailstorm - auto insurers had disaster teams out for a couple of months. We got estimates from insurance in August. My wife's car was estimated at over $6,000 damage.

My RL was $12,000 - PDR can't fix everything. My repair included removing roof (cutting it off) and welding a new roof onto it - auto body manager brought his whole staff out to look at my car...I was contacted by the body shop in September to schedule a three-week repair - sometime the following MAY - 8 months out!!!

We didn't have either vehicle repaired - ended up trading my wife's car + insurance check for a 2014 Highlander Platinum and my RL + insurance check for 2015 TLX Advance.

PDR teams came in from around the country and set up 'parking lot' repair centers - the results were mixed. The 'temps' often tried to do PDR where permanent body shops (even where PDR was available) recommended panel replacements.