That's right. Hail at the end of December.
A couple of days ago, it was very warm, (70+ degrees) and suddundly, a storm blew up. Next thing we knew, there was golfball sized hail falling. Not just a couple of pieces, but, for a full 5 minutes all you could see outside was streaks of white ice falling. Most of it was large, (some reports were up to baseball sized hail).
We stood at the windows knowing there was nothing we could do to protect our 2 new cars, (05 MCS and 04 Prius).

After the storm, I went to inspect the damage. The Prius took it pretty badly. It looks like someone took a hammer to it. It has cracking paint and more dents than I can count.
I thought the Mini didn't have any ddamage because I couldn't see anything, (because the car was wet). All that happened was one of the air vents by the windshield got knocked off.

Yesterday, I had to go to Atlanta. I jumped into the car and noticed a chip in the windshield. I got to a gas station and that's when I saw the damage. Thye car was dry now and I could see the dimples in the roof and on the body panels.

My wife called the insurance company and they will be setting up a drive through claims next week. Many of the car dealerships have cars that have to be repaired, (a bunch of busted glass and dimples).

Should I go ahead and take the cars to the body shop before I go to the insurance?

 

You may want to have Global check it out for you and get an estimate from Magnum (they do all of Global's body work) so you can get things rolling quickly. Good luck!

 

sorry to hear

the prius will be very costly to fix as you mentioned cracks in the paint.
PDR won't be able to fix it. on the other hand, i think your MINI should be
fine with PDR and glass replacement.

I would take it into the body shop to get a free estimate as second
or third opinion(s)...then take it to the claims center drive thru.

hope it all goes well.

 

Ouch!!! Makes me sick to think of it...especially since something similar (perhaps not as bad) happened to me a few yers ago. I did find a really fantastic PDR guy out of the deal, though.

 

I can feel your pain. A few years ago, we had a hailstorm at school. Our 1 year old MCS got covered with an uncountable number of dents. Insurance covered it and MINI had it for a couple weeks fixing the damage.

How do you like the Prius? We have an '00 Insight and absolutely love it. Luckily, it wasn't in the same area as the MCS during the storm.

 

Well, I rran over to the local body shop. They are taking apointmants for late next week. As of 8:30 this morning, they had over 300 calls and apointmants.

We really like the Prius. What's not to like about a mid--sized car the gets 45 mpg .

I may take the car to Globbal mext week for it's 25000 mile oil change and get them to give me an estimate.

 

We had a monster hail storm (3-4 inch) a year or so ago. My Explorer was totalled. It is a 94, so not really that hard to do. Looks kinda kool with the golfball texture. I am still driving it after replacing the windshield (and cashing the insurance check).
Many of the newer cars in town went thru the PDR attempt, and I have never seen such a shoddy attempt at repair. I would never accept what some of these places turned out.
Beware of out-of-towners trying to cash in on your misfortune. We had folks from all over the Southwest flocking in here to make some quick bux, and guess what their warranty is worth once they leave town? Zip.
Make your insurance co pony up and do it right the first time.
Oh, and don't believe the story about letting the car sit in the sun and the dimples will go away. Pure bullsquat.

 

You would not believe the number of "Hail Damage Experts" that have poped up in the last couple of days.
Before the storm, only one place in town had PDR. Now, there is one on every empty lot in town.
I spoke with the adjusters yeaterday, they said to get with the body shop of my choice and they would take it from there. Good work State Farm!.

 

Find a GOOD PDR w/ brick and mortar not one fly by night out of towner.
A good one is worth their weight IMO.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Hope that black roof gets back to that deep smooth shine again, I love mine.

 

DuncanDad,
Just get your estimate and schedule the repair with Magnum. No need to even try to get an estimate from Global...they use only Magnum, anyway. Magnum will have Sting back to all new before you know it. Make sure everybody agrees on what to repair before they start. Take your time before and after to inspect it completely. You would just hate to think your car is finished, get it home, and you find a few places. Don't take it for granted.

See ya

 

I might run up to Magmum on Tuesday to see what they say. The biggest issue is, Magmum is over an hour away and if they need to car for more than a day, I have to get a rental, (which blows chunks) and make 2 trips to ATL in one week.

 

Yes, but if the job isn't done properly, think of how many trips to the other folks you will be making, to say the lest about the look of a dimpled MINI. Your MINI requires sacrifice from time to time but she offers obedience in return when you really need her in those twisties

 

Just got off the phone with State Farm.
If the repair shop is on their list, and that repair shop does a quote, the shop does the work. No other shop may quote the work and do the repair after the approved quote.

I took the car over to the local shop yesterday. The shop has done many porches, merc. and other "hi end" cars. They guarantee their work and so does State Farm.
Total to fix the car, (includes new Pittsberg Glass wind screen and extensive roof repair.repaint) 1187.00. No other parts replaced.

Total to fix the Prius, (the car was sitting 3 feet from mine during the hail storm). 2600.00. New hood, hinge plate, (covers the hinges on the hatch) repaint 2 doors, (paint busted and chipping).

The shop said that the far east cars took much more damage than the American/European cars. The eastern cars have lighter weight body panels, (in the case of the Prius we are talking a lot of AL). The European cars have much denser paint applied and the metal is almost always full steel.