Freak Hail storm in Midlands
Discussion
Feck - hope you get the car sorted OP and anyone else involved.
I was at work in Coventry, and we had our guys in Landrover Solihull who said it looked like the end of the world and the storm stopped the line I think. Suppliers on the other side of town said they had hail damage the cars in the car park, but two miles away we had about 5 minutes of light rain and that was all we saw!
I was at work in Coventry, and we had our guys in Landrover Solihull who said it looked like the end of the world and the storm stopped the line I think. Suppliers on the other side of town said they had hail damage the cars in the car park, but two miles away we had about 5 minutes of light rain and that was all we saw!
I was in Narborough at the time, didn't get the hail but the sky was black and everything flooded. I work for a windscreen company and the phone lines went crazy. We took 126 jobs in 20 minutes just for glass replacement in the Hinckley area. As far as I can tell it passed through Hinckley, Glenfield, Syston and Rearsby at least. Was in Burbage all day yesterday replacing glass. Every road had a windscreen fitter on plus roofers sorting houses out. It's mental. The dents don't show up in photos very well but I would say the majority are half inch deep. Think in the region of 60 dents per car in the worst areas. That's every panel including roof and a-posts etc. They are no way repairable by a dent guy. There was a guy next door to where I was doing a job, bought a new car on Monday, £38k, and the insurance have confirmed write off. I saw houses like the picture above, holes smashed through roofs, Velux windows smashed to pieces, conservatory roofs shattered, it's scary how much damage has been caused by 15 mins or so of hail.
Just to clear it up, I am a pdr tech who specialises in hail work usually spend about 3 or 4 months abroad (Holland, Germany ,Poland in 2011) in the summer months repairing damage like that. The damage does look fairly light from the pic and would expect a 2 day turn around to be fully repaired. The inside track on the trade is that there are a couple of companies putting hail teams into the area to sort out the damage. So should be a goos solution for the guys that dont want their pride an joy written off!
Dents said:
Just to clear it up, I am a pdr tech who specialises in hail work usually spend about 3 or 4 months abroad (Holland, Germany ,Poland in 2011) in the summer months repairing damage like that. The damage does look fairly light from the pic and would expect a 2 day turn around to be fully repaired. The inside track on the trade is that there are a couple of companies putting hail teams into the area to sort out the damage. So should be a goos solution for the guys that dont want their pride an joy written off!
I know there's no logic in it really, but I would probably prefer the car written off!Would the damage have to be pretty bad to be written off? Mine seems to have bigger dents in than the photo of the GTR, mainly on the bonnet, roof and boot, but the wings and doors have a couple too.
I guess I just want an excuse to go car shopping again!
With my car having pretty much every panel damaged, would they respray the whole car to ensure the paint matches well?
vinnie83 said:
Dents said:
Just to clear it up, I am a pdr tech who specialises in hail work usually spend about 3 or 4 months abroad (Holland, Germany ,Poland in 2011) in the summer months repairing damage like that. The damage does look fairly light from the pic and would expect a 2 day turn around to be fully repaired. The inside track on the trade is that there are a couple of companies putting hail teams into the area to sort out the damage. So should be a goos solution for the guys that dont want their pride an joy written off!
I know there's no logic in it really, but I would probably prefer the car written off!Would the damage have to be pretty bad to be written off? Mine seems to have bigger dents in than the photo of the GTR, mainly on the bonnet, roof and boot, but the wings and doors have a couple too.
I guess I just want an excuse to go car shopping again!
With my car having pretty much every panel damaged, would they respray the whole car to ensure the paint matches well?
My guess is it will be written off.
Nedzilla said:
vinnie83 said:
Dents said:
Just to clear it up, I am a pdr tech who specialises in hail work usually spend about 3 or 4 months abroad (Holland, Germany ,Poland in 2011) in the summer months repairing damage like that. The damage does look fairly light from the pic and would expect a 2 day turn around to be fully repaired. The inside track on the trade is that there are a couple of companies putting hail teams into the area to sort out the damage. So should be a goos solution for the guys that dont want their pride an joy written off!
I know there's no logic in it really, but I would probably prefer the car written off!Would the damage have to be pretty bad to be written off? Mine seems to have bigger dents in than the photo of the GTR, mainly on the bonnet, roof and boot, but the wings and doors have a couple too.
I guess I just want an excuse to go car shopping again!
With my car having pretty much every panel damaged, would they respray the whole car to ensure the paint matches well?
My guess is it will be written off.
Hopefully should have my first estimate back from Middlehurst Nissan today. Also going to get along to a few other bodyshops. Again the photos really do not show the extent of the damage. It is an absolute mess I just want it gone off the drive as its depressing to look at! My business has had calls off various foreign hailstorm damage teams asking to repair our stock but luckily we have an indoor showroom so the stock cars are fine.
Hopefully will have an update today, hope others affected are getting things sorted!
Hopefully will have an update today, hope others affected are getting things sorted!
vinnie83 said:
I was supposed to take my car in tomorrow morning, but had to reschedule.
I had a quick chat with the chap at Sytner and he told me that they have written off a few cars already, so it doesn't seem like it's quite so easy to repair as some have suggested.
Yes, exactly as predicted early in this thread.I had a quick chat with the chap at Sytner and he told me that they have written off a few cars already, so it doesn't seem like it's quite so easy to repair as some have suggested.
How anyone, self-proclaimed expert or not, expects to economically repair a car with heavily dented roof panel and pillars is extremely questionable. Wings and doors bolt on and off, though dressing a bare door is fairly time-consuming in itself. I guess he reckons he can straighten those on the car. You just can't push out dents in structural pillars though, not if you want the car to be any more rigid than a damp cardboard box afterwards.
vinnie83 said:
I was supposed to take my car in tomorrow morning, but had to reschedule.
I had a quick chat with the chap at Sytner and he told me that they have written off a few cars already, so it doesn't seem like it's quite so easy to repair as some have suggested.
it's not ease, it's cost. If two cars comein with the same damage and cost of repair at say £3000. Then anything worth under £10,000 is likely to be written off, anythiing over likely to be repaired.I had a quick chat with the chap at Sytner and he told me that they have written off a few cars already, so it doesn't seem like it's quite so easy to repair as some have suggested.
You also don't know if Sytner are looking at the dent removal option, or full panel replacement.
LoonR1 said:
it's not ease, it's cost. If two cars comein with the same damage and cost of repair at say £3000. Then anything worth under £10,000 is likely to be written off, anythiing over likely to be repaired.
You also don't know if Sytner are looking at the dent removal option, or full panel replacement.
If the sytner guys are not using the dent removal option, they will be advised to do so as ultimately any estimate will be checked by and engineer (who is employed by the insurance company) before a decision is made on the outcome. You also don't know if Sytner are looking at the dent removal option, or full panel replacement.
The bigger dent companies are in talks directly with the insurance companies to get it sorted out. A hail storm that has damaged cars to this level has not been seen in this country since 1994 so the bodyshops are completely unprepared to deal with it and most probably don't know that it is common practice to repair hail damaged vehicles with pdr. I would imagine it will take about 10 days or so for things to settle down and the plans to get finalised. Given the area affected and the amount of cars damaged I reckon it will take about 6 months to get the bulk of the repairs done with probably car dealership stock and rental companies taking priority. So probably best to be prepared for a bit of a wait until you know what is happening with your own cars!
LoonR1 said:
it's not ease, it's cost. If two cars comein with the same damage and cost of repair at say £3000. Then anything worth under £10,000 is likely to be written off, anythiing over likely to be repaired.
You also don't know if Sytner are looking at the dent removal option, or full panel replacement.
If the sytner guys are not using the dent removal option, they will be advised to do so as ultimately any estimate will be checked by and engineer (who is employed by the insurance company) before a decision is made on the outcome. You also don't know if Sytner are looking at the dent removal option, or full panel replacement.
The bigger dent companies are in talks directly with the insurance companies to get it sorted out. A hail storm that has damaged cars to this level has not been seen in this country since 1994 so the bodyshops are completely unprepared to deal with it and most probably don't know that it is common practice to repair hail damaged vehicles with pdr. I would imagine it will take about 10 days or so for things to settle down and the plans to get finalised. Given the area affected and the amount of cars damaged I reckon it will take about 6 months to get the bulk of the repairs done with probably car dealership stock and rental companies taking priority. So probably best to be prepared for a bit of a wait until you know what is happening with your own cars!
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