Hail is Hell

[ancient-one]

The hail storm that hit Norman a few days ago totaled two of my Great Grandsons cars. He had an Accord that was low mileage and a very nice Civic in like condition. He called me a few minutes ago and said that there were 99 dents in the hood of the Accord plus one window was gone. I don't know about the glass in the Civic. The insurance companies are backed up as are the body shops. The used car inventory is low and I read in the paper that used car prices prices had increased 20 plus percent in the last year because the normal quantity of new cars were not available because of computer chip shortage.
He was in the Accord and said the hail and sound was bad but when the window right by him went things got a little scary.
I have been in a car during a hail storm just once in my life. I was driving between Pueblo and Garden City when we got hit by one of those terrible dirt storms. Day went to night and the in the midst of the dirt we started getting big hail. It was in 1956 and I had my first new car. I knew that it was ruined but we drove into Garden City and finished the night. The next morning the only thing showing on the car was a lot of top soil, no dents. Tougher construction those days.

 

[Rustyt1953]

A few years ago we had a short but angry hail storm. Afterwards every car on the street looked like a Titleist Pro V1.

 

[6518John]

Grayden—I was caught out in golf ball sized hail on a John Deere 2010 in a big open field years ago. You can sure make yourself skinny under that tractor frame! I crawled back under the rear axle after getting stung good by hail stones under the midsection. Now pretty much all equipment has a cab and farm boys have sense enough to get out a hailstorm. I think the weather band helps too.

 

[lihpster]

When my brother lived in Kansas, he saw car dealers having "hail sales". I think at the time they were offering $5 a dent off.

 

[Alton]

We got it last night in San Antonio again. Lucky for me it was just marble, my co-worker received a broken windshield.

 

[ZGrand]

Sorry to hear about your grandson's cars. I hope he gets things straightened out soon.

I got caught in a hail storm on a motorcycle once. Hurt like the devil on my arms and hands. Fortunately I was in a rural area, and pulled into the first empty carport I could find until the storm passed.

 

[mr_luck07]

That sucks about your great-grandson's cars. You were lucky to not get any dents tho. Hail is no joke.

 

[NYlakesider]

Been in a couple nasty hail storms. One chewed up my 78 pick up a bit.

Went through a real nasty one a few years ago. We were driving my 07 Vette and the traffic just stopped on the road. We were in the open and had to take it. By the noise I thought my car was hurt bad. Actually it came out of it just like it was a normal heavy rainstorm. The Vette body is not metal but a composite of things and I was very presently surprised. Some of the other cars by me got seriously dented!

 

[jeffrefrig]

For hail damage on the metal parts there are services that use dry ice to remove the dents. My body shop was telling me about this. He'll line up as many customers as he can while the guy is in the area and said it's amazing; you don't even have to repaint the cars. But, I've never seen golfball hail in PA, either. Of course windows are a little different, too.

 

[Czechvar]

There’s a used car lot in Oakdale MN that buys hail damaged cars from dealerships and other lots...then sells them with dents. You can get a good deal if you don’t mind the dents...and I do see the occasional hail damaged car driving around here. But if you just need a “beater” to get back and forth, why not?

 

[Rpg]

Years ago, my Subaru was caught in a hail storm. Created enough surface damage for the insurance company to total it and send me a check for its full value.

I didn’t fix the car but drove it for another 5 years.

It was the best of all possible worlds: I effectively sold the car but got to keep it and use it.

Of course, I don’t care what the car looks like as long as it works.

 

[Jinglebob]

I live in Norman and we got pounded. My truck has dents all over, the siding on the house is chipped and cracked and looks like it was hit with buckshot. I also had one window broken. The largest hail stone I measured was 3.5" in diameter. The Ford dealership in Norman sustained $10M in damages. All the vehicles on the lot were severely damaged.

 

[ancient-one]

I live in Norman and we got pounded. My truck has dents all over, the siding on the house is chipped and cracked and looks like it was hit with buckshot. I also had one window broken. The largest hail stone I measured was 3.5" in diameter. The Ford dealership in Norman sustained $10M in damages. All the vehicles on the lot were severely damaged.

I knew that there were other unlucky people and I am sorry that you were one of them.

 

[double-dipper]

When my brother lived in Kansas, he saw car dealers having "hail sales". I think at the time they were offering $5 a dent off.

They still do! you can get a hail of a deal sometimes!!!

 

[Rustyt1953]

"Hail is Hell" sounds like a Jim Cantore/Pat Benatar mashup song.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Hail storms are regular events in southern Colorado and other areas of the Midwest-southwest region. Very few areas go more than 5 or 10 years between damaging storms, and it is not unusual for some places to be hit every year or even twice in a given year.

We pay for this with relatively high insurance costs on homeowners and automobile policies, as well as some very high deductible amounts. Not unusual anymore for HO policies to come with 2% deductible, and that is not 2% of the damage amount, it is 2% of the insured value of the home. A $300,000 home might have a $6,000 deductible on hail and windstorm claims. Not unusual for a homeowner or automobile policy holder to receive notification that their policies will not be renewed after a serious hail claim. Insurance claims are frequently quoted in the billions of dollars after a serious storm in a populated area.

At today's costs for auto body and paint work it doesn't take very much to total out a 5 year old automobile, with the damage estimate exceeding the wholesale value of the vehicle. Here in Colorado that frequently means that the owner may choose to take the insurance settlement (less any pay-off on existing loans) and keep the vehicle, but only with a new title specifying the vehicle as being "salvage".

Of course, if your automobile is financed or your home is mortgaged you will be required to carry full coverage insurance with a deductible amount that satisfies the lender that you will properly maintain, protect, repair, whatever is required for the pledged security of the loan.

Just about every year in southern Colorado we see hailstorms with stones up to 1.5" diameter, frequently driven by winds exceeding 60MPH. Every few years there are incidents of hailstorms up to the size of softballs. In 1984 a hailstorm struck at Pueblo during the Colorado State Fair with over a thousand people injured by hailstones, many requiring hospital care.

Last time my truck was hail damaged (2007) I waited 7 months to get a spot on the schedule for a repair shop. $6200 damage with $500 deductible at that time, $5700 settlement on a 3-year old Ford pickup that probably had a market value (pre-hail claim) of around $12,000. Prices have not gone down at all! I doubt that I could get a policy with that low a deductible today.

 

[arjay]

There was a time (80s and 90s) when I had heavy damage to five cars or trucks over 10 years. The last storm,four years ago,totaled the roof of the house,two cars and my work trailer.
Thank god for replacement insurance!
My favorite storm hit my wifes 89 Cherokee. Remember when automakers switched primers and the paint would peel? Well it was out of warranty and Chrysler said “bummer for you!” So a few years later it got hammered by hail and insurance paid for the body work and new paint

 

[LVSteve]

Insurance company drops you because of a weather event? "That's special!" as they say in the South.

 

[pittpa]

How do sunroofs hold up compared to windshield and sloped back glass?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jeffrefrig]

Three & 1/2" hailstones?? That would be like getting attacked by a pitching machine on steroids!
As far as sunroofs go, I hope I don't ever find out!

 

[charlie sherrill]

My son's truck got hit by golfball size hail a few years ago. They cut him a check for $1,000 to get it fixed. A lot of the dents popped back out on their own. Some we put ice cubs on after the weather got real hot and a lot of them popped out. What was left he didn't worry about. We traded the truck a couple of years later and actually made money on it. Apparently the dealer didn't notice any hail dings or didn't say anything if he did. I got caught in the cruiser during the same storm that damaged my son's truck. It sounded like a lot of people throwing bricks on it. The cruiser was high mileage but still covered for hail damage. The SO service center manager got a check for the damage and put it in the SO operating account. Some of those dings later popped out. I drove it that way until I retired.

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

Back in 82 I had a 81 Olds and a hailstorm in Ok with grape up to baseball+ size hail. About three of the big ones hit my car, used the
dry ice treatment on those dents on a hot July day. Two of the dents
popped out but not the one on the roof. I had already received the
insurance payment and when driving I couldn't see the dent on the
roof, drove the car until it had over 200K mileage. Oh yeah, some of
the window trim had dents which I just ignored.

 

[Marshwheeling]

Years ago, my Subaru was caught in a hail storm. Created enough surface damage for the insurance company to total it and send me a check for its full value.

I didn’t fix the car but drove it for another 5 years.

It was the best of all possible worlds: I effectively sold the car but got to keep it and use it.

Of course, I don’t care what the car looks like as long as it works.

That happened to me once with an old BMW. They paid me 21/2 times what I’d paid for it, and I kept the car. They did’t want to insure me for anything but liability, but I persuaded them I still needed the glass coverage if I was going to drive it.

I have been caught on motorbikes a couple of times. The worst was going up 14A into the Big Horns. The hail was marble sized, but got so deep it was washing down the road in waves. Fortunately, good riding gear gives protection against impacts, but my girlfriend’s rain suit looked like she’d been in a razor fight, a bad St. Louis razor fight.

I only stayed on the road by following in the wheel tracks of a big flatbed with a backhoe. It was only 4:00 when we got to Burgess Junction, but we took a cabin and got off the road.

 

[6518John]

I always wonder about motorcycles in these storms. I have seen the riders under overpasses.

We were going to a hearing in NW AR several years back and came into the aftermath of one of these hail storms. The ground was covered white. Two gentleman on Gold Wings (I think that is what they are called, the big Hondas) were parked beneath an overpass. We pulled over too to take pictures and check on the men.

We offered them a ride somewhere, and I think they considered it, but thought better of leaving the bikes on the side of the road. They seemed both shell-shocked and giddy from having pretty much dodged it. They had on the heavy suits, but the hail came up quick and caught them out.

We took pictures and sent to the Weather Channel and they aired almost immediately. The lady lawyers I was with in suits and the biker men in their riding suits. The background looked like we were at North Pole. It was pretty comical.

 

[gregintenn]

My mother in law had some hail in her freezer a few years back she’d picked up in her yard. They were big as softballs. I’d think that would he hard on livestock.

 

[ancient-one]

How do sunroofs hold up compared to windshield and sloped back glass?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My great Grandsons sunroof showed no damage.