Hailstorm after Event 4

[PedalFaster]

Anyone else get caught in it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaQKoLseODE

The roof, hood, and even upper edges of the fenders of my car look like someone took a little hammer to them.

[PedalFaster]

On a related note, how do hail damage claims work? Specifically, how is damage to non-removable / non-repairable body panels like the roof assessed, and do premiums typically go up after a hail damage claim?

Historically I've never claimed minor damage on insurance since you end up paying more in premiums after the fact than you get in the payout, but I'm wondering if hail is treated differently since I'm not "at fault" in any way.

[Reijo]

I figured someone else other than Greg ('90 red RX7) got hit with this ... sorry to hear of it.  Hail is one of the reasons why we have higher insurance costs here .... My Miata got dinged pretty good but that was a long time ago ... 1991 .... insurance did not go up but someone else should speak about more current insurance ... If you have minor dents, perhaps a paintless dent removal place would work if there are not many dents ...  Otherwise cheaper to replace the panels .... some take a pay-out and just leave them ... devalued car, of course.

[nnywg]

Hey Stephen, I got hit hard a few years ago.  Insurance appraised the damage at around $2500, and took care of everything using pointless dent repair.  A lot was the roof, which they get at by dropping the headliner.  It was my only ever insurance claim and 100% worth it.

[NickST]

Holy crap... that is some serious hail!

I stuck around for the Red Deer club event today, we got a dump of rain, but not much more.

That sucks about your cars guys   

[zero10]

I was just far enough behind you to miss it - there ended up being around 4-6 inches of hail sitting on the highway north of Airdrie and at times the rain between Olds and Airdrie was so heavy we were down to about 20m visibility and cars were just crawling along.  Easily one of the worst storms I've ever driven through.  Add to that the repeated lightning strikes at the edge of the highway and it was perhaps the first time in my driving career I've ever felt that I should get off the road due to weather.  Scary storm and I'm sorry to hear your car got damaged.

Generally hail claims are considered a not-at-fault kind of claim and do not affect your rates.  However this does vary a little from insurer to insurer.  If you have a broker talk to them ASAP, they are going to get slammed with calls.

As for non-replaceable panels, they get repaired, when possible they will do PDR and when not conventional processes.  If it's a structural member that can be more complicated but generally this isn't the case.

Best of luck and I hope everything turns out well!

[Sprockett]

If the carrier offers a 'claims free' discount you'll lose that but it's usually marginal savings anyways. Hail claim will not affect your risk rating and should not effect your rates otherwise. Clarify with your insurance company though

[PaulT]

I think I saw you go by me Stephen after I pulled over for a bit. Eventually I got back in the traffic and made my way south and the storm seemed to follow me. At on point on Stoney I pulled over under the McKnight overpass and there were stones the size of apricots but by then it was too late. I thought the glass was going to break.By the time I got to 114Ave it was sunny again. I too must call my agent. It was a great day of fun and a good course otherwise.

[Apex Carver]

I was right around where Paul was and got hit pretty good. The only panel without some sort of damage on the Porsche is the drivers door. Turns out that 3 out of my 4 cars had some sort of damage from the storms (I think there were a couple cells - one by Crossfields, one by the airport and another that went through central Calgary about 1/2 hour later).

Made claims on all 3 cars yesterday and confirmed that my rates weren't going to change. I'm going to push for PDR as much as possible as I'd love to limit the amount of panel replacement/painting to a minimum if possible.

[Reijo]

I left directly after the event and since I wasn't running I was able to get away quickly and Holly had an appointment to keep so I rushed back ... apparently just ahead of the storm!  I got lucky.   Sorry to hear about all the damage, guys! 

r

[Midnightsky]

I was in Airdrie at home when it started, the door to my deck has 3 very distinctive dents in it now.  My car was also outside, I was worried too that Id have broken glass but thankfully that did not happen.  I have not gone over my car with a fine tooth comb yet but Im sure it has several new dents.  I was watching this storm on dopler right before it hit and it was a whopper.  A quick look outside and all I could see was hail clouds.   Im glad nobody lost any glass to this storm, it certainly had the power to break it.

[Reijo]

There was broken automobile glass in the NE corner of the city near Stoney/Metis Trail ... fist-sized hail apparently according to Global TV.

[Midnightsky]

There was broken automobile glass in the NE corner of the city near Stoney/Metis Trail ... fist-sized hail apparently according to Global TV.

I stand corrected, not surprised, those hail clouds were some of the worst I have physically seen myself in quite some time.  Apparently alot of crops east of Calgary towards Drumheller got destroyed from the storm too.

[zero10]

I'm really sorry to hear about all this.  I know for many, cars are prized possessions and this has to be really hard on you guys.  We've had a severe thunderstorm warning nearly every day this month and it gets very easy to ignore them when they seem to always be overblown.  I hope everybody has a pain-free experience with insurance and that everything turns out to be better than before.