Filing a claim on my truck for the hail damage.....need advice!!

my friend had to claim hail damage for his truck. No questions asked, they came out and looked at the truck to confirm hail damage and wrote him a check. Needless to say, he sold the truck with all the dents haha. We did have a balling time at the beach that year..

 

We had some golf ball hail a few years ago. My truck was in the garage, but my house got the shit beat out of it. The adjuster gave me a $7,400 check. This was twice the repair cost. Of the neighbors I spoke to, everyone who had State Farm, (like me) or a few other big name insurance companies, had similar stories for their house and car. The ones who had cheapo insurance all had horror stories. I don't work for State Farm and generally hate all insurance companies.

 

I do have state farm and have always been treated right. hope They keep it up

 

I went through this last year with my 09 Tacoma there are a few pics of it in my build thread. I reported it to my insurance (State Farm) and they did not have a shop or adjuster in the area, I was in Southeastern Montana. They said I could go to any licensed repair shop and have an estimate written the estimate came back right at 10k from the shop I went to. The insurance company then said they would not honor it as it was not one of their preferred/approved shops. I then located a shop they did approve in Wyoming and went to them they put the estimate at 8.5K and that was accepted by insurance. I then asked to have the check issued directly to me and applied it to the principal of the loan and did not repair the hail damage the bank was not real keen on this but you can do it (they will tell you that you can't but you can). All I can tell you is it was painful to get through the process, If you plan to repair it get a list of your insurances preferred providers and research them as to which one is going to do the best repair and back it with a warranty and use that as leverage in getting the repairs done at a place that is going to repair it to your standards.

 

To add to this, you can get money from your insurance company for the diminished value of your truck. Sometimes it's a hastle but you can get it.

 

so you drove the truck with all that damage?? wasnt that painful

 

I always keep my truck in the garage just in case.

 

It might be different in Montana, but here in AZ you get to pick what shop you take your vehicle to and the insurance MUST honor it. The insurance company cannot tell you where to get your car fixed.

 

you have to have extreme damage to get the truck totaled out

 

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... ^^^ ... The same here in GA .. you can pick your own shop. You can really push for a total with the salvage value that high.

IMO, I would try for maximum payment and pay that on the truck and drive it until the wheels fell off. Have to fix any glass damage though.

Good luck to you and keep us posted.

FWIW ... even on a complete repaint ... it will look repainted ... unless you take it to a super-pro custom paint shop and that will cost more than they will pay.

They should pay the damages AND diminished value to the vehicle.

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A guy from AZ on TundraSolutions posted some brutal pics of the hail that hit his truck.. Friggin Awful.

 

Not to be a smartass but this is one of those things that we all skip over ..... reading our insurance policies.

You insurance company will evaluate the damage and stroke you a chefck. I know it sucks but when we are buying a new vehicle we all have glossed over eyes. Here sits a beautiful piece of equipment and we don't have thoughts that it may be damaged one day.

Best of luck ...... don't think of it as being "repaired" ..... you'll still love it.

 

I thought the windshield was going to fall in on me everytime I hit a bump, until it was replaced which covered the deductable. I don't think you ever get the same answer twice when dealing with insurance companies or banks on stuff like this or at least I didn't. That was the most painful part but the nice thing about Pyrite Mica is it hides the dents and scratches pretty good. It was interesting when I went through this 10 trucks had hail damage some were totaled others were repaired it just depended on the insurance company.

 

Wow, that's some real hail damage... I didn't see any during these storms, I guess we didn't get hit with it in Avondale. I haven't seen any since I left Wisconsin.

Good luck with the truck and the insurance... I am not sure what they will be willing to do.

 

i live in avondale to. I was telling my GF who was at home about everything going on here at work and she didnt believe me. it was dry over there

 

Holy shit! You guys in litchfield park got nailed. I am at 7th street and bell and was sweating bullets watching all the hail hit my truck. Luckily we only had pea sized....

 

Similar thing happened to my neighbor. They replaced all the bolt on sheet metal and re-skinned the roof and door frames. The truck was in the body shop for a couple of weeks getting repaired. The end result looked good, but he did sell the truck after a couple of years.

Hail is one of those things that I worry about as it typically causes a crazy amount of body damage but not enough to total the truck.

Good luck.

 

Would you mind taking my truck for a week or two? I'm thinking that gunmetal color would look great on my truck...

Best of luck - you should be fine.

A guy I work with had a buddy that had the same happen to his wife's car in TX. He then got the bright idea to do the same to his truck that was in a shed. So, he went out and did the same thing to his truck with a ball peen hammer. When the insurance company came out they said, "No problem with the Camary but that Ford over there, I have bad news for you. It looks like someone took a ball peen hammer to that truck and that's not covered!!!"

 

You should see all the cars down here in socorro. They had a huge hail storm back in 2004 that destroyed all the cars. Luckily I was still in high school lol.

Here are some pics I found of it online:








Im guessing most of the people down here didn't bother with insurance because about 1/4 of the cars here are still dented up pretty good.

sorry for the thread jack

 

Reminds me of an Indian (from India) friend in college... He would say those lines in that persons hands are reflective of someone that worry's too much!!! Is she a worrier?