Is hail damage worth fixing?

Usually yes, because the claim costs you the deductible and little else

Hail is a comprehensive claim. Comprehensive covers what happens to a parked or driving car through no decision of yours, and a storm is the clearest case there is. In Ontario a comprehensive claim is generally not counted as an at-fault accident, which means the rating consequences that follow a collision claim mostly do not follow a hail claim. You pay your comprehensive deductible, which is often lower than your collision deductible, and the insurance company pays the repair.

That changes the question. It is no longer whether the dents bother you enough to spend on them, but whether the repair is worth your deductible and a few days without the car. For a roof and hood peppered with dents after a storm across Markham or Scarborough, it almost always is. The dents do not get better, and a car with hail damage is worth noticeably less the day you try to sell or return it.

Where it is worth pausing: a handful of small dents on an older car you plan to drive into the ground, on a policy with a high deductible. Then the honest answer is that you may choose to live with it, and we will tell you so rather than talk you into a claim.

The roof and hood count is what tips the decision

Hail damage is priced by counting. The estimator goes panel by panel, counts the dents, sorts them by size, and writes a line for each panel. The roof and hood take the brunt because they face the sky, and they are also the panels that show. A trunk lid, the tops of the fenders and the upper edges of the doors come next.

A low count means a small repair and a quick turnaround. A high count on the roof, especially with dents stretched along the edges or across a rail, can push a panel past the point where dent removal is sensible and into replacement. That is where a claim earns its keep, because a roof skin replacement is a real repair, and paying it yourself makes little sense when comprehensive coverage exists for exactly this.

Leased and financed cars have an extra reason. The lease agreement expects the car back without damage, and a hail-dented roof at turn-in is charged to you at the lessor’s rate, which is rarely gentle. Fixing it under a comprehensive claim while you still have the car, with your own deductible, is the cheaper path in nearly every case. The page on repairing a leased or financed car goes further into that.

How hail repair actually goes, panel by panel

Most hail dents are shallow, round and sit on paint that is not broken. Those are the ideal case for paintless dent repair: the technician works the metal back from behind with tools, without filler or paint, and the factory finish stays on the car. It takes patience, a good light and access to the back of the panel, which sometimes means dropping the headliner or removing a trim piece.

Dents where the paint has cracked, or dents that are sharp-edged and deep, get conventional repair: metal work, a skim of filler, primer and paint, with a blend into the neighbouring panel so the colour reads as one. Some cars get a mix, with the roof done paintless and a creased hood edge painted.

• Count and map every panel under a hail light before any tools come out.
• Paintless repair where the paint is intact, which is most of them.
• Conventional repair and refinish only where the paint has broken.
• Roof skin or hood replacement when the count makes repair unrealistic.
• Check the glass, the trim and the sunroof, which storms also hit.

What to do this week if a storm just came through

Photograph the car in shade or under a garage light, where the dents show. Direct sun hides them. Call your insurance company to open the comprehensive claim, then tell them which shop you have chosen. Ontario drivers choose their own shop, and that includes hail. Some insurance companies set up a temporary hail assessment site after a big storm; you are welcome to use it for the count, and the car can still be repaired here.

Send us the photos too. Hail is hard to count in pictures, so the photo estimate for hail is a starting point rather than the final number; the real count happens under the light at the shop, and any difference goes to the insurance company as a supplement. After a widespread storm, dent technicians across the GTA are booked for weeks, so getting the car on the list early matters more than usual. The hail-damage repair page describes the service, and the situation page on a hail storm leaving dents walks through the first few days.

If the car is drivable, it is fine to keep using it in the meantime. Hail dents do not spread, and unless the paint is cracked they do not start rust. The only thing to avoid is a sunroof or windshield that took a hit; a cracked piece of glass can grow with the first cold night, and that belongs on the same claim.