Has anyone filed a hail damage claim and if so, do you have any pointers for me? We had 1 1/2 to 2 inch hail this evening and it looks like I am going to need a lot of body work.

 

I did a few years ago.

Easy as pie. I am with State Farm. They looked, gave me a check, all done.

 

Had my 94 Explorer totalled by hail (3-4"). Depends on who your insurance company is. Have you called them? Do not accept PDR as a repair method. You will regret it. I've seen what they call "repaired" and it ain't pretty.

 

looks like AIG wants to use PDR, but they have assured me that they will make it right.

 

Don't do it. In the dark, with sunglasses on it may look okay. But the wobbles and bends when you get any sunlight would be unacceptable to me.

 

Uh, ignorant on this acronym. please spell out

 

Paintless dent repair

 

uh, that sounds like an oxymoron, how can one repair dents w/o painting? seems stupid to me....

 

uses special tools to push the dent out. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I'm going to hope for the best, but........

 

They use special tools and "massage" the metal back into shape from the underside.

 

If done correctly, it will look as good as new.. If it wobbles then it is not done correctly.

 

It seems after a big storm event everybody becomes an expert in PDR. I've heard horror stories of operations who do things quick and dirty, taking short cuts and cranking out the repairs. There are real experts though...you'll have to search them out yourself and not trust your insurance company to direct you to the right source. I found such a guy in Fort Worth...he was the best. Repairs (in my MINI's roof) were perfect. I've been back to him several times for other random dings. Again...perfection. He was also significantly cheaper than the insurance quote, too. PDR is an art, and not everybody out there who advertises PDR (especially after a bad storm) is up to the task.

 

If you can find a good PDR guy, I'd definitely want to go that route before having all those dings filled and do a repaint. Just imagine multiple little dings, and they all have the famous bondo material in them.....I used to work at a body shop, and we had a guy that traveled the country following hail storms, whenever we had a storm we'd call him. I know people will say don't use a traveling guy, but our shop warranted the work, and the guy did hail repairs full-time, so he knew what he was doing. And he could repair a whole car in a fraction of the time we could.

 

ignorance seems even more stupid to me.

 

Uh, despite the laughiing simile, I'm not sure how to take this. I've just never had to file any kind of damage or repair claims on any car I've ever owned and I am acronym-ignorant on first reference. All I wished to know was what "PDR" stood for. Ignorance is not stupidity, K.

 

"how can one repair dents w/o painting? seems stupid to me...."

Your comment.

 

It's never "ignorant" to ask a question. If I ever got to the point of knowing all there was to know about everything, then life would seem booooring.

 

Thank you.