Hail Stone Damage - Removing Small Dents (1 Viewer)

[Clickem]

In the night we had several large hail stone storms and my van, which is under 2 years old, has suffered with hundreds of small dents in the roof

I can live with the dents in the roof, but the van, Trivago Tribute, has a curved front, which is showing dents, that you can see from the ground

My insurance expires at midnight and I move over to another company. Had one claim already this year for storm damage to the canopy

I intend to notify the insurance company, in case I do go down the claims route, but it looks like new roof panels and a few £1,000, and a few weeks of work

Please does anyone know if it is possible to get the front panel dents out, with someone like a "Dent Doctor" that would be less than my £300 insurance excess?

 

[Baldeagle7470]

Sorry to read of your bad luck,they say lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place,but the storm did.
Couldn't happen to you at a worse time.
All I can offer is the hope in you getting it fixed cheaply and to your satisfaction,what a shame.

 

[Clickem]

Thank you for the commiserations

Having reflected on it a bit more I am more inclined to go down the insurance claim route

I called my local dealer and they have already had a similar van in this morning, for estimate, but that had also shattered the plastic roof vent cover - at least our van is still useable and we can have the likely 3 week repair done, at a time of our choosing

I would still be interested to find out if the front of the roof is fixable by pulling the dents
outwards. The body shop says no, as the material is too thin, but then he would say that

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[Judge Mental]

a smart repair woud be my choice.. have used chipsaway, but like anything only as good as the franchise operative. Or maybe a vinyl rap?

 

[DiggerJon]

I'm afraid I just get philosophical about nicks and scrapes and the cynicism of the repair industry. Over £1000 for a bit of injection moulded plastic rear light carrier! Gaffer tape rules. And low branches caressing the tender roof? No holes, no worries. Unless I am anxious to sell a vehicle I put up with the odd mark here and there. I used to worry until my 24 hour old car had the offside scraped down a wall and within 2 hours of driving out of the body shop after a week's repair, a learner driver rammed exactly the same panels! Six weeks after that, the car was written off in a major RTC which killed my wife. I now worry about bigger things than a bump or scrape, but I know others disagree: I respect their views.

 

[Tea Bag]

Hi Digger Jon
Sorry for what has happened,like your honesty.
Tea Bag

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[Judge Mental]

Oh dear....my sympathies Jon


Little dings draw the eye and can drive you nuts till you learn to ignore them. As Jon said I would leave roof as is as,long as no paint damage. And just sort the front that you can see, choice as I previously suggested

 

[Feltwell]

I've used a mobile paintless dent removal service a couple of times now, absolutely brilliant. You pay more for the call out than anything else. £60 to take a big dent out of the door of my Audi (colleague at work reversed into it ), a previous time he charged £80 to take dents out of 2 cars we had on one visit. On all occasions you would never have known the car was dented in the first place after he'd finished.

I wouldn't bother with ChipsAway for this. It's a specialist job that needs practice so they tend to get the mobile guys in that you can book directly, cheaper, yourself.

I tend to use him if we buy a new (to us) car and a dent needs knocking out. Most of his work is at car dealers.

Essentially a variety of rods with different shaped ends are used to press on the inside of the panel, then lots of tiny taps with a hammer on the outside to gently persuade the metal back into shape without breaking the paint. Clever stuff. I had one where he couldn't get to the inside of the dent, so he glued a plastic piece to the outside of the panel with hot glue gun, used a slide hammer to pull the dent out, then gently tapped it back into shape again.

On one job I was told he couldn't get it perfect, well I for one can't tell where the damage was afterwards!

The man I use is in Shrewsbury, Andy from Dent Wizard. It's a franchise though so there will be others around the country, if their work is as good as his I guess will vary.

 

[Granjan]

Oh dear we had a bad hail storm last night too ... sounded so bad in the attic that I thought boiler was throwing a thrombie and got out of the bath. Better check our motorhome too! Forgot today ...thanks for the reminder.

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[TheBig1]

there is at least one member on here specialises in hail damage. travels the country following storms
it really is a specialist job

 

[laird of Dunstan]

Ex chips away fanchisee here , there are a multitude of paint less dent removal guys about , there are only a few chips away guys that can do pdr.
In the USA they have guys called storm chasers who go to areas that have been hit by hailstones.
The dent removal guy is your best bet as long as the paint has not been broken ,some charge by the panel , the guy will be your best bet if you wish to avoid an insurance claim , most body shops will subby out the work to them anyhow

 

[9526]

A quick google advises that some dents can be removed by parking in direct sunlight apparently the metal getting really warm can "pop out" some hail dents.

I have absolutely no idea whether this is true or not but it's got to be worth a go.

Other than that, the paintless dent repair services appear to be your best bet.

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[TheBig1]

A quick google advises that some dents can be removed by parking in direct sunlight apparently the metal getting really warm can "pop out" some hail dents.

I have absolutely no idea whether this is true or not but it's got to be worth a go.

Other than that, the paintless dent repair services appear to be your best bet.

yes its true, as most metals are "elastic" and want to return to their set shape. the dent removal guys sometimes apply heat, but be aware too much in the wrong spot will cause more damage than it fixes

 

[Techno]

Hail is a natural occurrence and the roof is not fit for purpose if it cannot withstand this. Suppose you claim the cost on your insurance only for it to happen again? most vans have a tough roof or like Rapido a anti hail skin.