What Did You Do To Your Car Today?

[GreatBigAbyss]

Both cars got hailed on last night.  Golf ball sized hail.  Both the Mazda and the Prius have damage.  Luckily no broken glass, although the Mazda's windshield is cracked now. 

Funny, the Mazda got hit a couple of years ago, and we just had it fixed last summer.  So this is it's second hail event.  I'm sure the Mazda is worth enough that it will get fixed. 

But, is the Prius still worth enough?  I don't know.  I'm kinda worried about it.  I don't want it to get written off.

[Fobroader]

Oh man, that sucks, having family and friends in Calgary, I know what hail can do and the cost to fix it. Here's hoping they won't write the vehicles off.

[Firm]

That's terrible. We get hail like that here too, haven't been hit at our place yet, but it's always a fear. I do keep some padding (moving blankets) handy in the garage, and when there's a risk I go out and toss it on the cars in the driveway, just in case.
On the Prius, with a hail write-off (if that's the case), I'd consider buying it back and having it repaired third party....Give it to good paintless dent guy for a few days and let him go to work.

[GreatBigAbyss]

It could have been worse.  At least all of our glass is intact.  I have two neighbours at least across the street from us that had their back windows smashed in.  One of them is a single mother.  After the worst of the storm, I went over there with a tarp and helped her cover up her window to prevent the worst of the rain from getting in. 

Then there was the usual hanging around of neighbours talking about the aftermath of the storm, asking questions about insurance, etc. 

Good community building moment, that!

[RRocket]

Poor, poor Prius!!


Definitely buy it back if write off.

[Gurgie]

Poor, poor Prius!!


Definitely buy it back if write off.

^this

[GreatBigAbyss]

Oh man, that sucks, having family and friends in Calgary, I know what hail can do and the cost to fix it.

Funny you say that.  The last time I was in Calgary, I noticed a lot of car dealerships had metal roofs covering most of their lots.  I thought it odd, thinking perhaps it was to keep the cars cool.  It was only until later that I realized it was because Calgary gets lots of hail, and the shelters were to keep their inventory safe. 

[Fobroader]

Yeah, there are a number of cars driving around there that looks like a golfball texture from being hail write offs. Driving around after a bad hail storm seeing the path of the storm by the vinyl siding on houses that looks like it too minigun fire is quite the sight

[Revelations]

Alberta tends to payout insurers for hail and resell the vehicles through insurance auctions. They are sold with clean titles (no salvage/written off etc) However, the damage claim for hail will show up on a Carfax. The dealers in Alberta we're basically mandated by the insurance companies to park their inventory under these giant tents.

Back in 2022 (maybe 23?) East Calgary got hit with a massive hailstorm. It hit the airport, over 2500 rental cars alone got hit, plus I'm sure planes need some attention after getting pummeled. There were ten area dealerships that got hit, a mall, and of course entire neighborhoods. The homes there looked like someone opened fire on them with a machine gun. A friend that lived down the road from us in Alberta got hit. His house needed a new roof, windows (the frames got damaged) most of his siding, and his Toyota Tundra and holiday trailer. Just him, one guy had $78,000 worth. His insurance was $2600 per year, last years premium was $5800.

Crazy storms! GBA I'm not sure how Manitoba does it, but I'm sure you'll be looked after.

[GreatBigAbyss]

Yeah, my experience with hail last year was 'good'.  Took a while to fix - about a year until we had our car looked after.  But it was fixed properly, and all we paid was our deductible. 

I expect no less this year.  I'll be taking both cars to the same place we did last year - Dent Dynasty.  Run by a guy who started paintless dent repairs in a garage, and now runs a multi-bay shop focused on dents and hail repairs.  I'm sure he'll have plenty of business over the next couple of years.