Can Hail Damage on a Car Be Fixed?

The short answer

Almost all hail damage on a vehicle can be fixed, and most of it can be fixed without repainting anything. The dents hail leaves are shallow, round, and spread across the roof, hood, trunk, and the tops of the fenders. That is exactly the kind of damage paintless dent repair was built for. A technician works the metal back to its original shape from behind the panel, the factory paint stays untouched, and there is no filler, no color matching, and no repaint to fail years later.

What is repairable with PDR

Dents where the paint is intact. That covers the vast majority of hail dents, from pea size to golf ball size and larger, on steel and aluminum panels. Hundreds of dents on one vehicle are normal after a real storm and are still a PDR job. Roofs, hoods, trunk lids, fenders, and doors are all repaired this way every day.

What needs more than PDR

A few things push a repair beyond paintless work. Hail big enough to crack or chip the paint means that spot needs conventional refinishing. Sharp creases on a body line can sometimes be worked but not always. Hail can also crack glass, break mirror housings, and damage plastic trim and sunroof panels, and those parts are replaced rather than repaired. A panel with so many dents that the metal is stretched, which happens with very large hail, may be replaced. On a badly hit vehicle the repair is often a mix: PDR on most of the car, replacement or refinish on the parts that need it. That is still a repair, and insurance still covers it.

Can it be totaled?

Rarely, and usually only when the damage is severe and the vehicle's value is on the lower side. PDR keeps repair costs well below conventional body work, which is often what keeps a hail-damaged car on the right side of the total-loss line. More on that in Will Hail Damage Total My Car?

What it costs you

Hail is covered under the comprehensive portion of your auto policy, so on a covered claim your out-of-pocket is your comprehensive deductible and the insurer pays the rest. Comprehensive often carries a lower deductible than collision, so check your declarations page before you assume the number. We explain that in Comprehensive vs Collision.

Should I wait?

No. Hail damage does not get better on its own, and unrepaired damage lowers trade-in and resale value. There is also a practical reason to move: after a big storm, every shop in the area fills up fast. The sooner you have an inspection and an estimate, the sooner you are on the schedule.

What to do first

Get a free inspection. It takes minutes, there is no obligation, and you walk away knowing whether the damage is a PDR job, a mixed repair, or something bigger. We document the damage, handle the insurance claim, and back the repair with a lifetime warranty.