So, I'm sitting in my office today, Coworker comes out and says it's raining, so I do my mental checklist, windows up...check....sunroof closed....check....


All is good.

A few minutes later I hear ping ping ping ping ping ping on my office window.

Yep..... It's hailing.

Starts small.

Gets bigger.

I've got iceballs the the size of super ***** bouncing off my mini.

Total agony, having to witness this.

I asked my coworkers if they were willing to stand outside with me and hold a tarp over her, but they said no. One girl even had the nerve to say "It's just a car" Just a car my ***.


anyways..... I now have a claim on my mini that I just bought 6 days ago. My insurance company is going to be loving me.


Oh well, Now I don't have to tell my husband I doored a concrete block at a gas station today. The Dent is about the size of the hail dents. He'll never know.

 

Good girl!

That's what insurance is for.

G/L on getting your baby back into tip-top condition.

As for the dunce in the office who thinks it's, "just a car". Pfffft...I say make her a batch of brownies and lace them with exlax.

 

Bummer.

 

Hate to hear that.. :impatient .. not much you can do when you're not in the car and it starts hailing.

Same thing happened here about 5 years ago.. hundreds of cars with small dings all over them. One of the major "paintless dent repair" shops brought in a 18-wheeler with a big crew.

My boss's Explorer went from looking like it'd been beat with a ball pean hammer to looking like it was new in about 3 hours. I couldn't believe it.

 

I hope your Comp deductible is low !

I have preached many times that there's almost never a good reason to carry a comp deductible of more than $100. So many losses fall under the comp coverage and most of them are outside your control.

Now... a few years ago, I had a gorgeous 240SX that got hit by a hailstorm. It had over 30 dents in the roof, hood, trunk lid, and the top halves of the fenders, doors, and quarter panels.

After one day with the PDR specialist, you couldn't have told that it had even been in a rainstorm, let alone a hailstorm. And the nice thing about PDR, it doesn't affect the corrosion protection done at the factory.

Hail is nasty but with PDR technology, it's no longer a big deal.

 

It's actually 250, but I have a cousin who does body work, so we will work something out. I just can't believe I have two insurance claims within a month. (totaled honda del sol end of July, resulting in purchasing mini)

 

This wouldn't be the blue/black '07 MINI at Moritz in Dallas, would it. I dropped by yesterday to have a SES light checked out and there was a poor MINI there that looked like it had been beaten with a ball-peen hammer. Damage to the rear bumper, too. Poor baby!

 

Nope. I am in Indiana. Mine's silver, which is nice since it doesn't show dents nearly as much. The dents aren't bad enoough to where it's blatantly obvious. Unless you're under the right light. Then it really shows.

 

You "doored" a concrete block? In a Mini? The one that means so much to you that you were willing to sacrifice your co-workers to a hailstorm? Hmmm.

But seriously, good luck with PDR - they seem to do miracles!

 

If he doesn't do paintless dent removal, I would recommend that you find someone who does. A lot of body shop guys still want to fill the dents and repaint the car.

 

Good point. I'm sure your cousin would give you a good deal, Dianna. But PDR experts are not that easy to find. If your cousin happens to be one of them, GREAT. If not, spend your $250 deductible and find one.

 

Don't you mean that PDR experts "aren't" that hard to find. I have been to some repair shops that have ads for PDR companies. A simple Google search will locate a number of them for your area.

 

No, that's not what I meant. I meant they ARE hard to find.

People that can do PDR aren't that hard to find. A PDR EXPERT, on the other hand, is.

This isn't a little door ding she has. If I were her, I'd want one of the true experts working on my car. With that many dings, some of them are bound to be in difficult spots. All dents and dings are not the same.

Find someone who not only does PDR, but has been doing it for at least five years and trains others on how do do it.

 

Six days, and this. Did you get video?

A hailstorm pounded Prescott Valley a few years ago. Windows were smashed, mirrors broken off the door, you name it were wasted. A few travelling dent repair outfits showed up in town. Some hailstones were baseball size with spikes.

Hope your baby gets fixed correctly.

p.s.: whenever that bimbo breaks a nail, just say "it's just a fingernail."

 

I was willing to sacrifice myself and my coworker


I have to give my excuse, even though it is inexcusable. You see, this is my first mini, so I haven't gotten accustomed to the heavy door. Also, I used to go to swifty to get gas, not to be lazy, but because it is on my street, and ours doesn't even have a self serve option, so I hardly ever pump my gas.

I decided with my mini I was not going to use Swifty because I heard their gas isn't the best, so I went to a BP. The concrete block stuck out about a foot, and of course didn't have plastic or anything on it, so that's my excuse. I had the best intentions for my mini. Even paid 10 cents more a gallon.

 

I reread my post, didn't mean to sound heartless, just a little sarcastic... I'm sorry you doored the block, it's easy to do and I was maybe 1/2" from hitting one myself (in my case it was a strong tailwind and the heavy door, but I caught it in time).

Good luck with PDR - I've seen them work miracles...

 

You're fine. I'm just embarasssed that I did it. Makes me wonder how an 03 never got a ding before. Maybe the previous owners knew a good pdr guy also.

My cousin does have a good PDR in his shop, so we should be covered. It's the best body shop in town.

 

Since your cousin works in this shop, see if the PDR guy will let you watch. I've seen it done, when State Farm sent me to Auto Claims School. It's really amazing to see how they get to some of those dings and how they decide which tool is needed for each particular dent.

 

You work for State Farm, correct? How do the insurance companies normally handle the hail damage? Do they pay as though you are getting the regular repairs or the PDR? Can you be specific about which you are going to do? (My logic here is that I can ask for the regular, since it is much more than the PDR, but then get the PDR, that way it will be easier for my cousin to absorb the deductible. It's going to be more difficult now because he told me he has someone else come in for the PDR.) Oh, yeah....I'm not with State Farm so it wouldn't hurt your stock or anything. I'm sure State Farm isn't hurting for money, anyways. Kind of like Chase Bank, my previous employer. Could've cared less if someone was getting a little extra from them. Now I'm at a small community bank, and I actually like them, so I take people getting extra out of them more personally.

 

Well, Dianna, I can't speak for your insurance company as not all handle claims the same way. But... if you WERE with the world's number one insurance company ....

We would give you two options: Take your MINI to one of the "Select Service" shops that participate in our program for the estimate and the repair, or... take it to a shop outside the program and then have one of our State Farm Estimators look at your car.

Either way, the estimator is going to decide which repair option is best for your car (PDR or conventional). They're going to base the estimate on that decision.

Then, if it's a Select Service shop, the shop is going to repair it, we're going to pay them (minus your $250 deductible), and out you go. If it's NOT a Select Service shop, then we're going to give you a check for the amount of the estimate minus your deductible. What you do with that money is up to you.

Let me know if you have more questions.

Edit: By the way, what you're suggesting (an estimate for conventional repair with full intention of using PDR) borders on Insurance Fraud and you AND your cousin would be risking quite a bit just for a small bit of financial gain. I don't recommend it.