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Aurora, IL FAQ Answered About The Hail Claims Process

If you suspect your vehicle has hail damage as a result of the early April 2023 hail storms, this article will answer some of the most frequently asked questions we have received from Aurora, IL vehicle owners.

How do I get the hail damage repaired on my vehicle?

• Paintless Dent Repair (PDR). PDR is the preferred method for repairing auto hail damage. Specialized tools designed specifically for PDR technicians to remove dents from either the underside or top surface of the damaged area. Special rods are used on the underside of the vehicle panels to push out and smooth dents. Dent pullers are used to gently pull the dents out from the top surface. Both methods ensure the painted surface is not disturbed. In most cases, repairs may take only a few days. PDR may not be effective on large dents or extensive damage by hail.
• Conventional vehicle repair. Conventional body repair is the preferred method for repairing dent damage that has damaged the vehicle’s paint or damage that is too large to be reversed with PDR. Working mostly on the exterior of the vehicle, dents are pulled out and irregularities filled in with a body filler While the method is most effective on deep dents, repair time is generally longer because the repaired area must be primed and repainted.

90% of hail damage can be repaired using the paintless dent repair method. If we discover paint damage, such as cracking, scratches, chips or loose paint, The Hail Shop USA can still repair the vehicle. We offer 100% auto hail repair services, including paint damage repair.

Does my car insurance policy cover hail damage?

It depends on the type of coverage you have. You’re covered for auto hail damage if you have comprehensive insurance coverage.

Minor hail damage often isn’t worth claiming because the repair costs don’t exceed the deductible. Keep in mind that hail damage can be hard to perceive with the naked eye. The Hail Shop uses special LED lighting specifically designed to identify hail damage you might not see.

Can hail damage total your car?

Yes, a very severe hail storm CAN total out a vehicle.  Depending on the size of the hailstones and wind speeds during the storm plus the grade of your vehicle’s panels, a hail storm can deem a vehicle beyond repair. Some materials, such as steel, used in car manufacturing are more durable and safe than others.

The hail damage must be severe enough before insurance companies will declare a vehicle as totaled. If you are concerned that your vehicle was totaled by the recent Aurora storms, call the professionals at The Hail Shop USA first for a thorough and comprehensive assessment first.

When an insurance adjuster estimates the hail damage, they will sometimes decide a vehicle is totaled because they don’t understand the magnitude of what PDR can repair.

Do I have to repair hail damage on my car in Aurora, IL?

If your vehicle is completely paid off and you own it outright, the choice to repair is yours. If you still carry a lien on your vehicle, you must repair the hail damage.  Any settlement will be made out to you and your lienholder.

Will I need to deal with an insurance adjuster on hail damage?

The choice is yours! You can take care of the hail claim and deal with the insurance company or you can skip the stressful parts and leave it to us. From inspecting your vehicle and writing up an estimate for your insurance company to filing your hail claim for you, we can take care of everything.

This is how it works:

• We inspect your vehicle at the location of your choice.
• We write the estimate and submit it to your insurance company.
• If the assigned insurance adjuster wants to double-check our estimate, they will come to the shop to go over the claim.
• If additional damage is discovered after we have disassembled your vehicle for repairs, we contact your adjuster to request a supplement to cover the damage.
• Once your vehicle has been repaired, we reach out to the insurance company to close the claim.

Will a hail damage claim in Aurora, IL raise my insurance rate?

If you file a claim for auto hail damage in Illinois, the claim information will go into a database that stores previously filed insurance claims. If you have an extensive claims history, that could result in higher premiums.

Frequent hail can also affect the insurance rates for everyone in a particular area. If your area is prone to severe weather, insurance companies might set rates higher due to the likelihood of claims.

The National Weather Service continues to track increasing instances of severe hail across primary reporting sites, including Chicago, Springfield, Rockford, Peoria, Moline, and St. Louis. According to the most recent State Farm Catastrophe Analysis, the insurer paid out over $4.6 billion in hail claims nationally in a single year, highlighting the growing intensity of storm seasons and the critical need for professional PDR restoration.

Ultimately, Aurora, IL auto hail damage claim, or any city in Illinois, can affect your car insurance rates, whether you file a claim or not.

Learn more by reading our Auto Hail Claims Guide.

Aftermath of a Severe Hail Storm in Omaha, NE

When high wind speeds and hail meet during a severe summer storm, the result is millions of dollars in repairs. Omaha auto hail repair shops will be busy for many months and possibly even into next year. Residents are worried that these severe storms could be the new norm.

Kearney County Emergency Management Director Craig Lupkes said, “We’ve been hit pretty hard the last couple of years. We can never just catch rain. All it is is severe weather. When it comes through, it destroys everything.”

Omaha meteorologists and scientists are echoing these concerns.

Scientists say that damaging hailstorms are on the increase in Nebraska and are expected to worsen with climate change. Meteorologists describe these storms as a “ring of fire” because they follow along the periphery of the hot air mass. Climatologists have notated that 2022 has been the second worst June for hail in the last 10 years.

Good news. Hail storm season in the midwest typically only lasts about 3 months of the year. Bad news, the consensus by experts in the scientific community doesn’t see this trend in severe weather getting better.

Nebraska can get hail any month of the year, but most hailstorms occur from May through July, with June the peak month. June 14, 2022, has been the worst.

Omaha insurance groups report a major increase in wind/hail damage claims.

$32 million dollars in 2022 hail damage claims alone.

American Family Insurance, a major insurer in Nebraska, has received 6,200 claims for wind and hail damage this year and over 4,000  more in June.

In an attempt to expedite the Omaha auto hail claims process, some insurance companies have set up drive-through inspection tents in multiple big box store parking lots across multiple counties.

Omaha vehicle owners are expressing major concerns about the likelihood of rate increases as a result of the hail claims.

American Family Insurance spokesman Ken Muth says, “While storm damage does affect insurance rates, no single year does,  Instead, the company bases rates on a 20- to 30-year average. The recent sharp increases in insurance rates are due to the rising cost of building materials, car parts, replacement cars, and labor.”

Quotes extracted from the Omaha World Journal.

The Hail Shop – Omaha’s #1 Auto Hail Repair Shop

We can’t stop the influx of severe weather occurrences but there are steps vehicle owners can take to soften the blow. Visit our Auto Hail Repair page to access our collection of articles and blogs to get ahead of the storm.

If your vehicle has hail damage that still needs to be repaired, you can visit our Omaha shop to get scheduled. All of our paintless dent repair technicians specialize in repairing auto hail damage.

Typically, we experience sleet in the wintertime months and hail during the warm months of summer – so why is it hailing in December?

While sleet and hail are both forms of frozen precipitation, they form in completely different ways but before we get further into these curious frozen weather phenomenons, let’s discuss all of the forms of precipitation.

There are five primary types that eventually reach the ground: snow, sleet, freezing rain, hail, and rain.

Rain

When the air is warm enough all the way down to the earths surface, it’s just plain old rain. Further explained, when heat from the Sun turns moisture (water) formed from plants and leaves, as well as oceans, lakes, and rivers, into water vapour (gas), which disappears into the air. The water vapor then rises and turns into clouds.

When the water vapor cools and condenses, it then turns BACK into water. When the water droplets get too large and heavy to suspend, they fall as rain.

Snow

Snow forms when tiny ice crystals in clouds stick together to become snowflakes. If enough crystals stick together, they’ll become heavy enough to fall to the ground.

Snowflakes that descend through moist air that is slightly warmer than 0 °C will melt around the edges and stick together to produce big flakes.

Snowflakes that fall through cold, dry air produce powdery snow that does not stick together.

Snow is formed when temperatures are low and there is moisture in the atmosphere in the form of tiny ice crystals.

Freezing Rain

Freezing rain develops when warm oceanic air rises up and over the cold air, producing liquid precipitation that falls through the cold layer. The falling droplets become supercooled and freeze on impact with the cold surface causing freezing rain. Freezing rain is the precipitation type with the highest rate of accidents and death during the weather event.

Freezing rain occurs only when the earths surface is below freezing temperatures.

Sleet

Sleet is oftentimes confused with freezing rain but the two, in fact, are very different. Sleet is simply frozen raindrops and occurs when the layer of freezing air along the surface is thicker. This causes the raindrops to freeze before reaching the ground. Sleet isn’t as dangerous as Freezing Rain because instead of freezing when it hits the earths surface, sleet bounces off of objects on impact.

Sleet occurs when snowflakes only partially melt when they fall through a shallow layer of warm air. These slushy drops refreeze as they next fall through a deep layer of freezing air above the surface.

Hail

Hail is essentially oversized sleet. Hail is frozen precipitation that can grow to very large sizes through the collection of water that freezes onto the hailstone’s surface.

Hail typically forms in spring, summer or fall thunderstorms. First, soft, snow-like particles form in subfreezing air at the top of a thunderstorm. (Yes, even in the middle of summer, the tops of thunderstorms are below freezing).

The hailstones grow bigger in the clouds as ice crystals and cloud droplets freeze onto them. They’re held suspended in the clouds by strong winds that push up into the storm.

Finally, once the hailstones grow too heavy, gravity causes them to fall to the Earth.

Hailstones come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They can be lumpy, bumpy, and may even take the shape of small spikes. Hailstones must be at least 0.2 inches in size.

Hail typically forms during the warmer months of summer.

Why are we seeing hail in the winter months?

As you have read above, you now know that the months in which hail forms doesn’t depend on seasons but the temperature of the season.

Hail requires cold in the upper atmosphere, where it forms. A raindrop forms and begins to fall, but an updraft takes it into the freezing zone, where it freezes. It begins to fall again, but another updraft takes it back up, where it acquires another layer of ice. After several such cycles, the frozen particles fall as hailstones. It may be cold or not so cold on the ground.

Typically, the winter months display cooler temperatures and the summer months  are warmer. This isn’t always the case, much like we experienced in Kentucky this December of 2021.

The average temperature in Kentucky during the month of December is high 45.4°F and low 29.9°F. December 11, 2021 clocked in at a high of 66°F and low of 54°F.

On December 10, 2021, a violent, long-tracked tornado moved across Western Kentucky, producing severe to catastrophic damage in numerous towns. In Paducah, KY on December 11, 2021 – 2.75″ hail fell from the sky resulting in hail damage to vehicles and homes.

“The hail recorded earlier in the evening Sunday from the supercells ahead of the cold front was very impressive. Especially for the time of year. A few locations even observed hail damage to vehicles and homes. Ping pong ball sized hail was even observed by a NWS employee in the Paducah area.” – WPSD Local.

2021 has proven to be the year of record breaking and unseasonably warmer winter months….and unseasonable weather.