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The climate in Australia is extremely unpredictable in recent years – and in recent times hail storms have been seen as some of the worst on record. Bad news! There has been plenty of property damaged by these storms, such as tens of thousands of cars over recent years.

There would be some questions that you have right? Well we have the answers. What do you do if you have a hail damaged car? Should you be looking for hail damage repair specialists? or if you’re a DIY kind of guy, you might want to know how to fix the hail damage.

Maybe you’re curious how much hail damage does it take for a car to be considered a ‘write off’, or maybe whether you should be shopping at a hail damage car auction. We’ll cover that soon. How about we get past certain nuts and bolts first.

What Is Hail?

Hail happens when water freezes in the upper regions of storm clouds. There are various sorts of hail damage, and that comes down to the sort and size of the hailstones. Ordinarily, hail is somewhere in the range of 5mm and 20mm in size, yet infrequently hailstones can get up to as large as 150mm – or as large as a grapefruit!

So how big does the hail need to be to cause damage to a vehicle? That is a hard question to answer. Any vehicle forgot about in the climate is vulnerable to damage, and hailstorms frequently produce differed sizes and shapes of hailstones. Ordinarily, the greater the hail the higher the possibility of damage.

Hail damage to vehicles can be serious – to such an extent that it can lead the vehicle to be announced an all out loss, or a write off. Keep in mind, hail doesn’t simply affect vehicles: it very well may be lethal to animals and people, and can likewise harm homes, structures, crops and property.

Hail Damage Car Repairs – What Do You Do?

If you’re unfortunate enough to have left your car out in a hail storm – be it in Queensland, NSW, VIC, WA or anywhere else in the country – there’s one thing you need to know. You need to have comprehensive insurance for anything to be done to help you out. 

Thats right, there is no ‘hail damage insurance’, however comprehensive cover is the only way to go.

“Customers can claim for loss or damage to their vehicle that is caused by hailstorms (with comprehensive insurance cover). If you only purchased third party coverage only on your car insurance policy, you would not be covered for a hail damage claim,” the spokesperson said. “We encourage consumers speak to their insurer to make sure they have the right level of cover for their needs.”

One common inquiry that owners of hail damaged vehicles have is “how much harm is required before a vehicle is viewed as a write off?” It’s a decent inquiry, yet the appropriate response fluctuates one case at a time case.

“If there’s considerable damage to a car or the repairs cost more than its value, a car may be written off,” said the NRMA Insurance spokesperson we asked. 

Whether your vehicle is damaged enough to be viewed as a write off will be dictated by an assessor. You may have a couple of imprints on the vehicle rooftop, hood and boot – however while some harm may look minor, the expenses to fix it tends to be high.

At the point when your vehicle is evaluated, a quote will be given to the insurer, which will be looked at against the estimation of the vehicle. Your vehicle insurer will assist you with finding the best spot to get your vehicle assessed and fixed.

On the off chance that you are completely safeguarded and comprehensively insured and you haven’t prompted your insurer about hail damage to your vehicle, at that point – get to it! Undeclared damage can cause enormous issues in case you’re engaged with a car accident and attempt to make a claim.

“We encourage our customers with vehicles that have been damaged by a hail storm to contact us to lodge their claim. Once a claim is lodged we can help customers through the assessment and repair process,” the NRMA Insurance spokesperson told us.

“We partner with Specialist Hail Repairers who are trained to fix all types of hail related damage. They use both Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) and conventional methods to repair damage caused by hail. PDR is an innovative repair process that removes dents by easing the dented area back to its original shape without damaging the paintwork,” the spokesperson said.

If you have hail damage on your vehicle however don’t have comprehensive vehicle protection you can at still have your vehicle fixed – though, be prepared for it to be a costly bill. Hail damage PDR can run into the countless dollars if the harm is significant.

Other repair shops might need to fill the scratches and repaint the vehicle, however that is a second rate choice in practically all cases.

How Can You Protect Your Car From Hail Damage?

According to NRMA Insurance, summer is the peak season for hail damage. They offered a few tips to try to prevent hail damage:

• If possible, avoid driving in severe weather
• If you’re stuck driving in an intense storm, pull over to the side of the road when and where it is safe to do so
• Do not drive through floodwater – even a small amount of floodwater can make a car lose control and float like a boat
• Make sure your car insurance is up to date