A hail damage to the car happens quite suddenly, usually in midsummer a thunderstorm front moves up and brings heavy hail with it. And the hailstones can cause quite sensitive damage to our cars, from a diameter of 3 centimeters hailstones cause damage to the car. Mostly extensive on all sheet metal parts, therefore a hail damage is also so expensive. If you also had the bad luck and suffered a hail damage, then you ask yourself of course the question whether you are stuck with the damage or whether your car insurance takes over the damage.
Which insurance pays the hail damage to the own car?
The liability insurance that each of us has, does not come for the hail damage on. Partial or fully comprehensive insurance is required for this purpose.
Already the partial cover insurance takes over the hail damage completely, and this without a downgrading of your SFR. This means that even if you have a hail damage settled by your insurance, you do not rise in the no-claims class, so you pay because of the hail damage in the future no more for your car insurance.
If you have fully comprehensive insurance for your car, you automatically have partial coverage as well.
Theoretically, you can also have several hail damage to your car per year.
No SFR upgrade after a hail damage
The deductible for hail damage
If you have an excess agreed in the partial cover then this is due in the case of hail damage, often this is 150 euros, you have to pay this out of your own pocket when settling the claim.
Total loss due to hail?
This is quite possible and even faster than you think, because due to the countless dents and dings that happen, the effort to repair the damage is very high, and the cost of a workshop hour is not exactly low. A total loss is when the repair or restoration of the damage is no longer worthwhile, that is, when it is more expensive than the residual value of the car. Tip: Calculate the residual value of your own car.
Important: Report hail damage to the insurance company as soon as possible
To avoid any risk, it is important that you report the hail damage to your car to the insurance company quickly. The following options are available to you:
- By letter
- By telephone
- By online form on the homepage of the insurer
The easiest and fastest way is to take your cell phone (but not while driving), call your insurance company and report the damage quickly and easily.
Hail damage and the insurance
What happens after the claim has been reported to the insurance company
Normally, the insurance company will send an assessor to you, or you will be asked to come to a workshop for an assessment appointment. An expert then takes a close look at your car and determines the extent of the damage, and what the repair will cost.
A few days after the appraisal, your insurance company will have the completed appraisal, which you can request.
The costs for the appraisal are covered by your car insurance, if you order a damage appraisal on your own, you have to pay for it out of your own pocket.
If you drive your car to the appraiser appointment then you should wash your car before, so the appraiser sees the damage better. Also insist that your car is inspected in the workshop, sunlight makes the damaged sheet metal look better than it is.
What exactly does the insurance pay?
The surveyor will record all the damage that has happened due to the hailstorm. You get your vehicle back after the repair just as it was before the hailstorm. So all damages are repaired, not only the denting, but also broken windows, not infrequently it comes to broken front or rear windows, similar to a stone chip.
But also plastic parts or damaged trim will be paid of course.
Repairing or paying out the hail damage?
Often quite clear: have it repaired. The assessor calculates the repair costs, not the actual amount of damage. So you get the money from the insurance which is necessary to repair the hail damage completely, so that you have no loss of value with your car.
And the repair costs are usually lower than the amount of damage – that speaks in favor of repair.
If certain reasons speak against a repair, then you can of course have the money paid out if you wish, from the repair costs determined, the VAT amount will then be paid out, you will therefore be paid the net amount.
But keep in mind with this decision that a hail damage has an extremely value-reducing effect.
Hail damage to a leased vehicle
If you have a leasing package that also includes motor vehicle insurance, then you should inform the lessor immediately after the damage has occurred. The latter then reports the damage to the insurance company and coordinates the repair dates with you.
How to repair hail damage?
There are different possibilities, the expert decides which possibility is most economical. We would like to briefly introduce the most common:
Dent removal: There are specialists who are usually called dent doctors. They manage to press the dents out of the sheet metal with special instruments and tools. This method is very gentle and usually does not require painting.
Painting: Pull out the dents in the paint, fill them and repaint them. This is a big effort but sometimes not otherwise feasible. Disadvantage: Especially with older paints it is impossible to match the exact color, so that even as a layman you can see that the car has been repainted.
Replacing parts: If individual sheet metal parts are very badly damaged by the hailstones, then it may be cheaper to replace them than to repair them. As with painting, but there is a loss of value.
What if the insurance company refuses to cover the claim?
If you report a hail damage to your insurance company, they will first evaluate the local weather data, if there is no hail recorded, then your insurance company will initially refuse to settle the claim. But you should not be impressed by this, find a lawyer and hand over the claim to him. It is very good if you have transport legal protection insurance for this eventuality.
Preventing hail damage
Sometimes the hail comes so suddenly that nothing can be done against it. If the hail front surprises you while you are driving you usually can't do anything fast enough, if you are lucky a protective bridge comes under which you can stand.
The best is, of course, if you have a garage or an underground parking space. Hail often comes along with thunderstorms, and these are often very predictable in the summertime. So always keep an eye on the weather forecasts, if a storm is predicted then simply park your car as a precaution under a roof. If you sprint to the car when the first hailstones fall, then it is usually too late.
If you do not have the possibility to park your car, there is also a possibility, the so-called hail garages. These are folding garages that are padded on the top so that the force of the hailstones is absorbed.