Had about a 5 min hail storm yesterday here in Daytona and my hood got it bad. Never seen anything like it in my life. It left about a donzen little pot marks from the ping pong size hail balls on the hood. Not too worried about the roof. It was like someone dumped the ice tray - they were that big! At 1st I couldn't see the damage with all the water but later in the garage dry and under the lights you could see it easy. Not sure what to do - I have a $250 deductable. The dealer said 300 for an unpainted hood. Don't know how it will affect resale down the road? or if it's I can live with it looking like that. Won't tell how bad it is till the sun comes out this weekend and I give it a bath.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Could it be time to get scooped? Live with it? Any less expencive place than the dealer to get a hood?

What ya think?

 

hmmmm, if I were you I would pay the 250 deductable and have it all fixed. Thats what insurance is for. A new hood +paint job will be about 400 bucks, but you still will have little dings all ove the rest of the body.

Make the insurance company fix it

 

Or pay the $250 deductible and get a hood with a scoop...not sure if you could away with that with your insurance company or not but itd be worth a shot.

Fink

 

We get a lot of those hail storms here. the last one did 7k worth of dammage to my vehicles. You can try PDR (paintless dent removall) or leave it alone, most small dents from hail acually come out by themselves after some time (metal expansion/contraction from heat) since your rig is basicaly New, replace the hood, just make sure they use New Toyota parts, not aftermarket stuff! good luck and welcome to our weather

 

i say get a new hood with a scoop on it

 

if the dents aren't too bad, you could always try one of those do-it-yourself dent removal kits. some of them work pretty well.

 

get it appraised for the whole truck (hood/roof/etc and then just get a hood scoop for the 4runner........maybe you can live with that cause you dont notice the roof too much
just a suggestion....

 

for me, that $400 to fix it yourself is worth it, that way your insurance doesnt go up for a comp claim......

 

My BMW got beat to hell last year in OKC. The insurance co originally wrote me a check for $5000 but the estimate turned out to be on the low side by $4000. So $9000 later we have her looking great again, thanks Liberty Mutual.

 

My Eclipse got "screwdrivered" pretty bad about 5 years ago and I had to make a claim and got the whole car re-painted for my $250 deductable and my insurance didn't go up with Farmers.

 

Colemanfu:
were you at Riddle when it happened? All the cars in the parking lot were raelly messed up, and the planes... wow, glad I'm not flying!

Hope you can get it worked out. HAIL SUCKS!

 

Since it's a 2004, I would get a new hood, but don't go through the insurance. If a new hood is around $300, paint will run you probably around $150. Therefore, it's not enough to justify going through the insurance as a claim will most likely increase your rate. As for the roof, just leave it alone. No-one can see it, so why bother. My wife's civic has dents all over it from hail. I've tried almost everything, except those dent removal things you see on TV, and nothing has worked. It over 5 years old now and has a bunch of other scratches, so we don't really worry about it now.

 

I'll say pay for the deductible and let your insurance take care of it. I had two claims on my rig for over $1000 but my premium stayed the same. Thank you USAA. Get it done right the first time so you don't anything to worry about later.

George

 

Must be nice. My first claim is free. After that, my rate will start going up.

 

talk with your agent, sometimes weather damage isnt counted against you as it was beyond your control. ask in a 'what if' scenario, the way those insurance companies work, just asking about can cause your rates to go up even if you dont claim.

lee

 

Its an act of God and your insurance will not go up!

 

Exactly. We had a bad hailstorm here in Georgia in April 2003, back when I had a two month old Nissan Xterra. Well, I was out of town and the X was in the driveway. When the hail started my dad ran out to put it in the garage, against better judgement but very thoughtful of him. Our hail was almost baseball size in my area. State Farm, my insurer, had set up tents all over ATL because there was so much damage. My comprehensive deductible was only $100 which I gladly paid. There was damage all over, you had to look at it in flourescent light to see it all. No cracked glass, but every panel was damaged and a tailight was broken, etc. The Xterra was fixed at Regal Nissan. The initial assessment was around $4k, but with a new paintjob (the OEM color Canteen Green) was $7k. My insurance didn't go up a dime, and we got check in the mail for the added depreciation of the X after being in a hailstorm.

Added bonus: June of 2003 I traded it in for a 2002 VW GTI, black on black devil car. I was getting pissed at this dealership, so I didn't tell them about the history. It was their fault they didn't check. Well, I get a call two weeks later from the asshole who sold me the VW. He said "You better not stick around here (the dealer) too long, you aren't well liked here after dropping a lemon on us". HAHA!!! Screw you, O'Steen VW!!!

Bottom line: State Farm has saved my ass twice now, I love them to death. Your insurance wont go up, just make sure you get it completely repaired and repainted. After you get the Runner back, take it under a flourescent light and survey any mistakes before you accept it back from repair. Do not accept anything but OEM. Ever.

Good luck!