Most people in San Antonio have never experienced a Hail Storm nor do they understand what it takes to repair their damaged vehicle. We will discuss some of the key points to getting your car repaired and back to its original condition.
After A Storm
Have your vehicle washed and start inspecting it. The best way to do this is pull the car in the shade or your garage Look at you cars paint at an angle. You should be able to see the small little dings caused by the hailstones. If you have more than 10 dime size dings on any one of these panels hood, roof, or trunk your probably going to want to file a claim with your insurance carrier.
How do you file a claim?
You should have a toll free phone number on your insurance card. Call it and tell them what happened to your vehicle and the date. They will send you to a claim center or have an adjuster contact you to set a time to inspect your vehicle. Don’t waste your time running around town asking shop to write you an estimate. It’s pointless until you know what your insurance company will pay and not pay for. All insurance carriers are familiar with Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) and will more than likely write your claim with the PDR method. Some times the adjuster will write the damage as a combination repair. Meaning that it will be repaired and painted on some panels and PDR will be used on other panels. This will be due to the severity of the damage your vehicle sustained. Again make sure that your vehicles paint is clean so all the damage will be visible.
What Is Paintless Dent Repair (PDR)?
Paintless dent repair is a process that has been used for decades. It is the art of messaging the metal back to its original shape without the need to have the vehicle’s panel sanded, bonded, and re-painted. Special tools are used in this everyday process. Hundreds of thousands of hail-damaged cars are repaired each year with the PDR process. Insurance company recommends it because it allows your vehicle to be repaired faster and keeps your factory finish. When the repairs are performed by a qualified tech you will not be able to even tell that the car was damaged.
Choosing The Right Repair Shop
After the storm you will probably notice lots of out of town company’s popping up on the side of the road with their tents. Some will offer large discounts and other crazy things. Your really taking a gamble with some of these people. Their not all bad however if you have a problem when the work is done and they have moved to another city you will probably be stuck with the extra repair bill. We recommend using a local PDR company or reputable body shop. Generally these company’s will employ extra PDR technicians and will be around after all the storm cars have been repaired for any issued that may arise. If you want to deal with a local mobile operator your going to have to be prepared to let them use your garage to repair your vehicle. This may sound easy however you might find it to be more of an inconvenience. Some of these mobile operators operate without any insurance. If you ask to see their copy of business liability insurance and they can’t provide an up-to-date copy of it you better chose someone else. Remember it’s your vehicle you decide who is going to repair it. Trust you feelings if the charges are to good to be true or the is offering all kinds of miracles then shop around for a second opinion.
Concours Auto Salon offers high quality paintless dent repairs. Your satisfaction is our #1 priority. If it’s a door ding or a hail-damaged vehicle with 400 dings you can count on us to do the repairs right, on time and only employ the best dent guy’s in the business.
