How is Hail Damage Assessed on a Car?

When your vehicle is hail damaged, it can often create a situation where the cost to repair the cosmetic damage to the vehicle is more expensive than the value of the vehicle itself. This means that many insurers will simply give you the funds to buy a new car and scrap a vehicle that is reliable but has cosmetic damage. 

Today, we’re going to cover the types of hail damage on a vehicle, how hail damage is assessed on a car, what size hail will damage a car, and how insurance companies have created a niche of perfectly reliable hail damaged vehicles that cost next to nothing. Read on to learn more. Then, get in touch with an AutoSavvy dealer near you for help!

What Are the Types of Hail Damage? 

If you’re wondering if hail can damage a car, or about what size hail will damage a car, first know that any size of hail could potentially do damage to your vehicle. As for measuring the levels of damage posed by different sizes of hail, the best question to ask yourself is, “What are the different types of hail damage?”. Insurers commonly reference four categories, including: 

• Cosmetic Damage with Intact Paint: Under this category, your vehicle will have small dents from fallen hail, but your paint job will be intact. This damage is a quick dent-removal procedure and no cause for major concern. 
• Cosmetic Damage with Scratched Paint: If the dents on your car are accompanied by scratches to your paint job, chances are that you’ll need to remove and replace entire exterior panels. 
• Severe Damage With Intact Paint: In this case, your paint job hasn’t been damaged, but some of the vehicle’s mechanical systems may be compromised by hail damage. 
• Severe Damage With Scratched Paint: The worst case scenario, your paint job and some mechanical systems have been damaged by hail. 

How Much Does Hail Damage Devalue a Car? 

Hail damage can often create a situation where a vehicle remains reliable, but the cost to repair its appearance is too high. In many cases, insurance companies will brand a hail damaged vehicle as a salvage title, and sell to a scrapper, because it’s often cheaper for them to give you an insurance payout than it is to repair the exterior panels of a vehicle. 

So, how much does hail damage devalue a car? A hail damaged car loses most of its value once it’s been sold to a salvage lot, regardless of what mechanical condition it is in. This means that there’s a niche market of recent generation models with cosmetic hail damage that offer the latest features in the industry but cost even a fraction of what a normal pre-owned model would cost. Hail damaged vehicles can offer incredible value! 

How Can AutoSavvy Help You Save Thousands on Quality? 

At AutoSavvy, we carry a vast selection of hail damaged vehicles that are in great mechanical condition but have lost most of their value due to being given a salvage title. That is to say that if you’re looking for a reliable, recent generation vehicle with the latest features, and you want to pay even less for it than you would if you bought it pre-owned, you’ll find dozens of options at our dealerships across the American West. We have locations around Omaha, Boise, Windsor, Colorado Springs, Las Vegas, Houston, and Fort Worth. Read our customer testimonials to learn more about the savings we have to offer you!