How To Choose the Right Hail Auto Repair Company

It doesn’t seem that long ago that mechanics were performing car dent repair by using body filler, sanding down that filler, and slapping some paint on the top. Using that process was time-consuming and costly, and the results were far from appealing. 

One of the methods most auto repair shops use these days ispaintless dent repair (PDR). The repair technician uses specialized tools and rubs the surface of dented panels until the dent is pulled out and the car is back in its original shape. This is one of the most used methods because it doesn’t require any of the sanding, filling, painting, and maintains cars’ original paint and value. 

Hail repair is an extremely specialized dent repair job, and it’s one of those tasks that you should never try to do yourself unless you have been trained and taught by a professional. That means you need to know just how to find the right professional who can repair your hail damage for the best results, the shortest wait time, and the lowest cost. Here’s what you need to know.

What Kind of Dents?

There are three types of dents that your car can suffer from. The severity of those dents will determine the best ways to repair them, so it’s useful to have some idea of those dent types. The good news is that all three of these dents can be repaired with Paintless Dent Repair (PDR), and that means better results.● Round Dents: Not always the result of hail, round dents can also be caused by the local kids kicking or throwing a ball at your car! Of course, hail is far more common, and every heavy strike of hail onto your car’s body will result in large or small round dents. ● Dings: These are likely to be caused by minor hail stones or collision from a shopping cart, for example. ● Crease Dents: These are the long dents that are generally caused by scraping a car against another object like a tree or another car. As long as the creased dents don’t damage paint, it can be fixed with the PDR technique.

Contacting Professionals

When it comes to hail repairs, your next step is to find the right hail repair company local to you. While it’s a good idea to do your research online at first, the end goal should always be to speak to those repair companies that are close geographically. There’s little value in looking for auto hail repair in Dallas if you need auto hail repair Denver! Talking to your shortlist of repair shops means knowing the right questions to ask. Ideally, you want answers to the following questions before you commit to a specific repair specialist:

How much are hail repairs going to cost?

Not everything is about money, and you can often find that amateurs and professionals alike can have very similar prices. Of course, the finished results won’t quite be the same. When finding out more about the price, also ask how that price has been arrived at. If the repair shop can break down the process and the cost of each step, then that’s a good sign that they know what they’re doing.

Repair Duration

There’s nothing worse than having to be without your car for a few weeks, so you need to know how long your hail repairs are going to take. If your repair company is using PDR to mend your dents, then it should only take a few days, and up to two weeks if that company is particularly busy (which may be expected during storm season). If there’s no real justification for extended repair times, then that repair shopmay well be outsourcing their hail repairs, and that’s going to delay the time it takes for you to get your car back.

Quality of Services

A reputable hail repair shop often offers stellar customer service and helps with some of the most complex issues around filing for insurance claims. Dealing with the insurance company and handling the different estimates from adjustors and repair shops is stressful. A quality repair shop with hail repair speciality can help you file an insurance claim, cover or even waive your insurance deductible, and even provide a free rental car. 

Insurance and Accreditation

Is the repair company fully insured, and are they registered with the Better Business Bureau? Ideally, you want your repair shop to have an A+ rating with the BBB, as well as all of the insurance coverage and warranties needed to show you that they take their jobs seriously. It’s always important to trust your repair shop, and that’s always going to be easier to do if they have their coverage in place and proof of their commitment to ethical business practices with a BBB rating.

Hail damage can range in severity, and ignoring the damage can devalue your car significantly. If you don’t file for aninsurance claim and later get into an accident, you may get a much smaller coverage as the insurance company can write off the hail damage repair from the accident coverage. This means you could lose thousands of dollars. Get your hail damage repaired as quickly as possible, and always make sure that you choose the right hail repair company for the job.