What Does It Take to Repair Hail Damage?

You don’t always know that a hailstorm is coming until you’re caught in one, cringing every time pellets of frozen rain ding against your property—or worse, your car. Hail can really do a number on a vehicle. The hood, roof and trunk are the places that will likely sustain the most damage from hail, and you might be left with a dinged-up car with no clue of how to fix it.

Fortunately, hail damage isn’t irreparable. There are many DIY solutions available online that claim to help pop dents out of your car after a hailstorm, but the only way to get proven results that make your car look like new is to work with professionals at an auto body shop in Visalia, CA.

When you take your car in, the auto repair experts will identify all spots where hail damaged your car, including dents and dings in the panels, as well as in glass like windows and the windshield, to give you a repair estimate. Then, they can get to work.

Dents

Dents in the body of the vehicle will need to be popped back into place. In the event of severe body damage, whole panels of your vehicle may need to be replaced. Otherwise, there are two main ways of repairing dents.

Paintless dent repair (PDR) is a popular method of removing car dents. Your auto body experts will use a series of special dent removal tools to maneuver the metal and pop the dent out without requiring a new paint job. Some tools may push the dent out from the underside of the metal, while others can pull the dent out from the outside.

Body filler is another popular method of fixing dents, but it requires additional steps. The repair expert will fill the dent with body filler, then sand it down to make the surface flush with the rest of your vehicle and paint the area to match the color of your car. Body filler is a good choice for dents that cannot be removed through PDR.

Scratches

If the paint job on your car is scratched or cracked thanks to hail, you’ll likely need to have the car touched up or repainted. The scratches may also need to be sanded down or filled in prior to repainting, depending on how deep they are.

Shattered glass

If a window or your windshield was chipped or shattered because of large pieces of hail, you’ll need to have these pieces repaired or replaced. Chips can usually be filled in quickly, while windows with large cracks or shattered windows will need to be replaced in their entirety.

Glass repair can get expensive, though, so you’ll want to make sure that the total repair cost doesn’t exceed the value of your vehicle. Check with your insurance provider before heading to an auto body shop in Visalia, CA to see if hail damage is covered under your policy. If it isn’t, you’ll have to pay for your services out of pocket.

If your car has suffered from hail damage, don’t delay in getting it fixed. Call Toms Body & Paint, Inc. for a free estimate and make an appointment at our full-service auto body shop in Visalia, CA. We also offer paint services, towing and roadside assistance!

Categorised in: Auto Body Shop

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