Your car is exposed to the elements most of the time, even when it's sitting in your garage. Since your car is a machine that needs to be fine-tuned and properly maintained to be working properly, it's your responsibility to make sure that nothing happens to your car beyond your control if you can help it. Unfortunately, things like hail damage, thunderstorms, and debris flying around on the highway can all hit your car at the exact wrong moments to cause significant damage that affects your car's performance.
Therefore, it's important to fix hail damage or any other "minor" damage before it becomes a large problem. From cracks to rust, repairing dents from hail can add up to big wins down the line. You might save money on insurance, the resale value of your car, and lots more.
Protect Your Paint Job
The paint job on your car might seem like it's going to be there forever, but it only takes about five minutes of observation while driving to see other cars that aren't so lucky. What usually takes a paint job from "wonderful" to "terrible" is allowing little dings and pings to add up and scrape the paint off of the body of your car. A car damaged by hail with have sharp edges rise up to match the dents, and the clear coating that keeps your paint together will be compromised. With enough exposure to UV rays and rain, you will need to think about an auto paint job in the future unless the dents are fixed. Instead of having to paint the car, you can remedy the areas around the dents to keep the integrity of everything in check.
Save on Insurance
Insurance claims for cars tend to factor in the cost of hail damage. If you have a comprehensive policy, hail damage is usually covered and you might be eligible for auto body repair. Depending on how bad the damage is, the age of your car, and other factors, an insurance claims adjuster might actually "total" your car and decide that this will be your last visit from them before dropping you. It's wise to get an estimate for the cost of repairs out of pocket from an auto body shop before calling your insurance company and then compare the options you have. Sometimes, it's much easier (and gives you the same outcome) to pursue hail damage repair yourself than to involve your insurance company. That way, when something really bad happens (such as a car accident) you can have full coverage when you need it.
Keep Your Vehicle's Value High
These days, people don't usually drive their cars into the ground. Instead of keeping them for their full useful life, lots of consumers keep a car around for a couple of years and then trade up for a new model or use it as collateral to finance another car. This is fine if that's what you want to do, but you must realize that by not fixing hail damage as soon as possible, you'll be lowering your car's resale value immensely. No dealer will give you top dollar for an automobile that is full of dents and dings or suffering from a loss of paint already. This is because no consumer will want to buy it, and they will have to invest money into fixing it before resale. Even though 90% of stone breaks (stars, bullseyes, etc.) in windshields never crack, it's still a huge eyesore to see a car with less than optimal glass.
Do Yourself a Favor, Fix the Damage
If your car is currently suffering from hail damage, do yourself and your car a favor and get it fixed immediately. Not only will you be keeping your vehicle's value high, but you'll be able to preserve the paint job and avoid unnecessary dings on your insurance. Your car will look nicer and be worth more if you simply pay to have those dents and dings taken care of, and you'll know to be more careful in the future. If you're ready to have your damaged car looking like a million dollars, be sure to contact River North Collision Repair today!
