ryanm6100

Well here's the deal:

I live in Texas, and we get some serious hailstorms. Many of you may know I had some minor hail damage previously, but not very bad, and I planned on fixing it myself. BUT...

Last weekend while I was out of town, it hailed BADLY (broke apartment windows, etc.), and of course my car was outside. So it has EPIC hail damage now, especially to the hood, nose panel, and roof. The rest is very minor and not a significant issue.

So I called my insurance co., filed a claim and they told me to get an estimate and get back with them. I did. And they want $4,500 for paintless dent repair of the entire vehicle.

My problem is that this will likely total the car, and I'm not sure that this is the route I want to take. Buying the car back and such is a possibility, but I am not familiar with this process.

My question is: Do I claim in on insurance, and buy the car back and do the repairs, or do I just cancel the claim and deal with it myself by replacing the panels and/or paintless dent repair?

1fastmr2

Basically insurance companies is like car buying in reverse.if their first offer is 4200 in damages likely you could get more.Dont settle for a little amount and if they want to total it and offer blue book show them that you cant replace your car for that amount.But basically move forward with the claim and they will likely try to total your car.If you want to go that route and have a rebuilt title car go for it.They will give you the opertunity to buy it back for pretty cheap after they pay out on it they will deduct that from the $ they are paying out.I've had a few insurance claims in my day and come out on top

wolfenstein

i have already done this , basically you will pay a salvage amount for the vehicle which they will deduct from your settlement-but the vehicle will now have a salvage title and i'm unfamiliar with how texas deals with that, if you're lucky there's a loophole and you can retain the title and buy it back

Burma Shave

Get an estimate at a conventional body shop. Pdr is not good for "epic" damage. At that price you can replace the hood and nose. The roof is small and easy to fix. Insurers only prefer pdr if it will be cheaper than conventional repair. If the claim is that large, you can also settle with the insurance company for a little less than what it takes to total the car and retain a good title. Then you can fix it however you wish and maybe have little $$ left over.

Darwantae951

I filed a claim for hail damage with my insurance, got $4800 and it didn't total the car. Not sure if they cared if it was an S or not. If you want to talk at all about my experience, gimme a call anytime.