SW Calgary just got hit by a hail storm - the first couple of stones I saw were baseball sized, the majority were ice cube sized.

My previously immaculate Jap car now looks like it's been attacked by a team of demented midgets with hammers. The Oakvile built van came off a lot better - one or two minor dings.

Anyone got experience of repairing that sort of vehicle damage?

Is it even worth claiming on the insurance?

On a flight in Kansas I sat next to a guy who flies around all the time following hail storms. He worked for a firm that specialized in getting the dents out. They'd set the equipment up in a tent and pull in cars off the street, like a school car wash. Part of his job was to quote for the dents, $10 for this one, $50 for that. I wondered if it wasn't all a bit fly-by-night but he said they go to the same towns and even fix the same cars year after year. I think he may have worked for Dent Wizzard :

http://autos.msn.com/advice/article....018966&src=GBT

You gotta love America, nothing is too strange to happen there.

That sucks. Maybe its more aerodynamic now...like a golfball!

Cant be the first time its happened in canada, so there must be some "proceedure" for it.

We are sure there is a procedure but the problem is that we dont want to phone the insurance company and advise them if it is common knowledge it wont be covered. We always have the view that you only tell your insurance company the minimum they need to know - otherwise they use it against you at another time!

Does anyone know the procedure for hail damage?

Haven't heard of anything, but will keep my ear to the ground. Couldn't believe the hail though, we are so glad we had the cars in the garage! I'm still amazed that we didn't get any broken windows.

My mom had her nifty Comet Mercury massively texturized by a hailstorm in Calgary in the early 80's. She made a claim and received more money than she had originally paid for the car! She only paid $300 for it, I think she received $350 from her insurers. Other than that, I'm not up to speed on car insurance in Alberta. I suspect it depends on your policy - ie are you covered for 'non-fault damage' or 'acts of God'? whether a claim would bump up your rate. I suspect it wouldn't but I would just a few locals, hailstorms are certainly not a rare event there - someone would know the scoop. Sorry, not too helpful but I suspect it's probably worth making a claim.

A community in the general Calgary area seems to get hit by a nasty hail storm every year - our bit of town hasn't been hit since the late 90's, so I guess it was our turn - back then most of the local houses got new roofs as a result, so I suppose we got off lightly.

We'll talk to the insurers at the weekend. Having seen what relatively light (ie.not grapefruit sized) hail des to a Japanese car, I think I'd like something North American as a replacement. Our neighbours' Canadian manufactured vehicles didn't have that cute golf ball texture after the hail storm.

I had severe hail damage to my car in July about 9 years ago. I claimed it on my insurance - as well as exterior house damage. For the car I had to get a quote (or maybe 2 I don't rememeber). I had a deductible on my policy of 250 CAD. The cheque was based on the quote from the high quality body shop and about 1950.00 (quote was for 2200.00). I then took the car to a one-man operation - a guy that was trained in body shop repair. He fixed the car for about 1600.00. I got my car fixed, made money and didn't have to pay the deductible. Incidently, they fixed the exterior of the house as well.
Should mention it was Calgary.

Duh... was this in JULY? :scared:

Of course...thunderstorms like you wouldn't believe are a Canadian specialty.

It's a prairie thing.

We don't get hail in winter, we get it in summer, but at least most of it is small and doesn't ding your car - bear in mind that small hail here is the size of grapes.

We get snow in summer too - but let's look on the bright side, at least it wasn't a tornado.

Spectacular is usually an understatement

ahhhh...fresh meat....how did you get in here without me noticing?

Oh yeah! are you thinking what I'm thinking!

I don't know......but it's not mickj if that's what you're thinking!