Hail damage, HELP!

[Damo]

I was caught in a large hail storm in western sydney today, now i have about 20 dings over my roof, bonnet, boot and left side front quater panel.

The hail was about twice the size of golf balls so u can imagine the damage.

Has anyone delt with this before, is it worth fixing, can it be fixed, should i claim insurance? Also can i do it myself?

Please give me some feedback, I am extremly upset at the moment. I feel like my pride and joy has been destroyed. All that time and effort I have put into it, keeping it clean and modifications has just gone to waste.

Damo

[jlnewton]

Bad luck man, that really sux. I have just hidden my car in the garage as we have had hail warnings across the TV all afternoon up here in Brisbane. If you have insurance, definately claim this one, it will cost a bit to repair. If the hail was a big as you say I can imagine the size of the dents and there is really no easy way out. I have been caught in a similar situation in my work van with cricket ball size hail and it made a real mess. All the glass in the car was smashed and the dents were everywhere. That was an insurance claim for me. That was bad enough I couldn't imagine that happening to my line, bad luck mate.

[Damo]

So it is possible to fix the dents u r saying. Thats a relief. I cant imagine been in a storm with hail the size of cricket balls. I was s%&t scared as it was (for the safety of my car i mean) . Though i did put on my sunnies to protect my eyes, I was sure the glass was going to smash.

Did anyone else in sydney see this storm. I was in the Vineyard area just off windsor rd?

[Roy]

sorry to hear you got caught out in the open.

I got home to Windsor about 5 mins before it hit, and christ it hit hard, destroyed my back verandah's ceiling and skylights.

As for the damage to your car there is a couple of mobile places around that do it...i take it you don thave insurance.

[camandcandice]

Dude that sucks mega ass. From what i hear any damage to the roof is a write off. Ive seen many cars at auctions with this kind of damage because the insurance companies write them off straight away.

Hail = bad news

[NIZR34GTT]

That is one reason I carry an old doona around in my boot so i can throw it over the roof.The bonnet and boot can be replaced if it is to badly dented.

Try one of the dent busters they can pop most of them out with out repainting.

[nv033]

dam thats bad luck...i guess i was in a bad and good situation myself...my skyline was in the garage (third party thank god) however i was drivin me girlies car (2month old little jazz) i was at bella vista and it hailed, pea size though....i also thought i heard somewhere that roof damage is right off....i hope this is true for me gurlfrwends case, cause the insurance company will replace new for old if its written off in the first year....ouch guys!

[Damo]

I do have insurance, think i will get a quote first and figure out if it is worth claiming. no point loosing a rating if it aint going to be more than 1000 to fix.

[Craved]

Yeah my mates car got caught in that storm too, out in BOX HILL. Nasty work, smashed about 7-8 windows, big damage to the roof as well and his new XR6 turbo!! i managed to put my car under a car port in penrith but that was like pea size hail!!

Feel For ya

[inark]

with that many panels damaged u will be looking at a lot more than 1k.

i used to work in a panel shop and we used to get cars from sydney all the time with hail damage... dunno who told u that it writes it off tho camandcandice... the only issue with fixing it is that its a bog job... and with all those dents a lot of it.

we pretty much used (on a pissy little ford festiva) a 4kg tin on the roof alone to get it looking spot on... u could probably strip the inside down and smash them out and use half the amount but it was a caryard job so we didnt have to as they wanted to cheaper option... of course.

make sure if they do fix it you check it with a small powered magnet like a fridge magnet... if it doesnt cling then theres lots of good ol filler.

[JimX]

I had a Commodore in a hail storm with every panel except the 2 right doors being damaged. I took it to my usual repair guy and he was going to replace all the panels, full respray etc, all costing around $10k under insurance.

NRMA then denied the claim, saying they wanted a cheaper quote from a paintless dent remover instead. So I rang a few of them up and they all quoted me around $1500 to $2000. Still quite a gyp to make a claim on that. I was about to go with one of them when the original workshop guy rang up and told me he found a cheaper guy who would do it for like $600. This was around the same as my excess so I just paid cash to save my NCB. Took 3 days, and you couldn't tell it had ever been damaged.

This was around 4 years ago and the guy has since moved to god knows where, so I can't put you through to him unfortunately But he did an expert job, apparently he gets hired by a lot of local car yards in Sydney for the same work. It shouldn't be too hard to track him down. His name is Beng or something. The price has probably gone up since then but you should be able to get this fixed for under a grand. Just shop around, there is probably more competition out there these days too.

[Damo]

Thanks for the help guys, I have the dent masters from penrith coming out to give me a quote sometime this week. I will let u know the damage.

Fingers crossed.

Damo

[shoey_R33]

my 'line was caught out in that storm too.. it was pretty stupid of me to go *bushwalking* in the blue mountains on that very day depsite warnings

but there the hail was only 5c piece sized so i checked today and i didnt really c any dents.. i was freaked out when i came back and saw the little pieces of hail on the floor around the car

[Damo]

Well heres the damage,

repairs $1836

if I claim insurance then $1000 excess

then i loose my 60% no claim to 40% for next year

therefore my insurance will increase from $2040 to just over $3000 next year. Then the following year to approx $2500.

So over 2 years i will be paying and extra $1500 on my premiums.

Might just have to fork out the extra $830 on top of the excess and not make a claim.

Insurance companies are a ripoff. No point making a claim unless over $4000 in damages me thinks.

One good thing to come out of this is i found out i am entitled to a free windscreen. Will definately be taking advantage of this as i have a large stone chip in it.

Expensive exercise this will be, feel like i should be sueing god like billy connely.

[Bozz]

The various flavours of stories going around about any damage to the roof means the car is a write off are usually a load of shit

If its panel damage, the roof panel can very easily be removed and a new one fitted. If somebody has jumped on your roof and crumpled it in, its again a relatively simple job to replace it for a pro.

However, when you have a severe accident and the roof bends/buckles then the car is often a write off. The roof skeleton is a structural component of most monoque chassis vehicles (as is the front and rear windscreens). The reason the roof buckles is because the remainder of the chassis has deformed in a manner to affect the roof.

[JimX]

Damo, that's what happened to me when I got quotes of $1800-$2000. I ended up wanting to pay $2k out of my own pocket to avoid the added insurance costs afterwards. But you should call a few places and play them off each other, you should be able to get it done below $1500.

Btw, this is a gravy train they're on. It will take one guy 2 or 3 days to fix this using nothing other than the hand tools which he already has. That's a pure labour charge of $1800. That works out to be around $75 to $112 an hour, with no workshop overheads! I'm in the wrong job.

[Damo]

I might as well finish this thread some 8-9 months later to help anyone else who ends up with similar problems. Since my last post i was caught in a second hail storm and had a total of 35 dints in the bonnet and about 25 in the roof.

I finally got my car fixed on the weekend by a guy who works out of his own garage at home in Green valley. about 15 minutes west of liverpool.

I stripped the roof lining out myself and the door trims (both sides) to make the job easier and cheaper.

The job was done at less than a third of my original quote (and that original quote was only after the first hail storm.)

I have a perfectly straight car again now and couldnt be happier.

I seriously recommend this guy Frank, he is a top bloke and seemed to care for my car as much as i did. He even fixed up all my stone chips on the wheel arches and the chips on the door edge from hitting stuff when being opened./ If u r in the sydney area and need any dings, dents, creases etc removed then go and see him.

PM me and I will be glad to pass on his details.

[ferni]

how much did it cost if you don't mind me asking?

[Merli]

Damo, why don't you make a new thread in the FAQ section with his contact details, and a write-up on exactly what he did for you, and how much it cost?

Would be an excellent resource to look at in the future!

[Damo]

Damo, why don't you make a new thread in the FAQ section with his contact details, and a write-up on exactly what he did for you, and how much it cost?  

Would be an excellent resource to look at in the future!

Good thinking, I will type something up and see if it gets approved by the moderators.