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What the insurance company
doesn’t want you to know
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Why? Again, they hope that
you just pocket the money. If you don’t have your car repaired,
you would never know – and the insurance company gets to keep
the difference. Remember, if you have future damage to the car
you will have to pay for the hail damage repair from your own
pocket before further repairs would be covered. It could end up
costing you a lot of money!
Insurance Q&A
Should I get an
insurance claim made for my minor dents and door dings?
In most cases,
the repair cost for your non-hail repair will be less than your
deductible. Therefore, no insurance claim needs to be filed.
The hail damage
doesn’t appear to be severe enough to justify an insurance claim.
You might be surprised – in most cases, the average amount of
damage is around $2000. It can often be difficult to see all of the
dents (usually thousands) on your vehicle with an untrained eye,
especially outside in the sunlight. At About Your Dents, a
professionally trained technician will give your vehicle a thorough
inspection to detect hidden
and
hard-to-see dents. This will save you money in the future, when you
go to sell your car or turn in your lease.
Does a hail
damage claim make my insurance rates increase?
Almost always
no. Insurance companies classify claims into two different general
categories – Collision and Comprehensive. Generally speaking, hail
damage is a comprehensive claim and is considered an act of God by
most insurance companies, so it will not raise your insurance rates.
However, if your vehicle gets hail-damaged repeatedly, these claims
may affect your premiums later. Ask your insurance company for their
policies regarding this.
The hail storm
happened awhile ago and I haven’t made a claim with my insurance
company yet – is it too late?
Claims are
supposed to be made in a “timely” manner, which is usually
considered 30-60 days from the time of the hail storm damage. If
you haven’t made your claim already, we strongly advise you to call
your insurance company as soon as possible – before time runs out!
I received a
check from the insurance company and it has both my name and the
lien holder’s name on it. Can I cash or deposit it myself?
We strongly
recommend that you get the appropriate endorsements from all parties
before attempting to deposit or cash a check – otherwise, you may be
committing a crime. Most lenders will happily write an endorsement
over to our repair shop, as that ensures that the vehicle is being
appropriately fixed and will retain its value. If you have any
problems in this area, please feel free to ask for our assistance in
contacting the lien holder for their endorsement.
I have so many
other things to use the insurance check for besides repairing my
hail damage.
Please see
above regarding “unrepaired damage”
restrictions and how this can affect your future insurance claims.
Why shouldn’t I
use the Direct Repair Body Shop that the insurance company
recommends? Don’t I have to?
At About Your Dents, we work for YOU – we
will not compromise on our quality just to get insurance referral
jobs. By law, you can take your car to the shop of your choice –
and it was a law passed just because insurance companies “steered”
their customers to certain repair shops. Those repair shops, in
turn, performed work at a lower cost (and often a much lower
quality) in exchange for the referrals. Keep in mind that about 95%
of Body Shops will actually be sending your car on to a PDR
technician just like ours rather than doing the work themselves,
anyway. You absolutely do NOT have to take your vehicle to the
recommended repair facility. The choice is totally yours – and a
Body Shop is often just a third wheel in the PDR hail repair
process.
My
comprehensive insurance policy does not cover rental cars
Don’t worry -
we will provide you with a rental car at our expense. It’s just
another way we try to make this process as easy on you as possible.
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