Thread: Hail - first world problem but ouch

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Hail damage wouldn't make a vehicle unroadworthy would it, unless it smashed the windows?
Couldn't you just withdraw your insurance claim and continue to drive it with dents?
I once had hail damage on ourcD1 and didn't claim, just got it repaired privately for a modest cost.
I remember the repairer asked if it was an insurance claim and when I said 'No' the cost of the repair almost halved! Miraculous.

Here in Vic., if a vehicle is deemed uneconomical to repair, it is deemed either a "repairable write off" or a "statutory write off". It is then entered into the WOVR register. If a vehicle is entered into this register, it is considered unroadworthy and the registration cancelled. If it is a repairable write off, you can get it inspected and removed from the WOVR. It then will need a roadworthy to be registered.
If it is not entered into the WOVR, it is still registered.

After one of the previous hail storms in Melbourne, a work colleague had his car hail damaged. He claimed through insurance. They wrote it off (repairable write off) and he bought it back. The car did not leave his ownership. The insurance company paid him out, cancelled his comprehensive policy and issued a third party policy. A few weeks later he was done for driving an unregistered vehicle. Unbeknownst to him, the insurance company had put it on the "Written Off Vehicle Register", as they were supposed to do. He received no notification from any authority. It was his responsibility to find out.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Surely one of those paint-less dent repairers can fix it ?

I reckon they could. It would be costly, though.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Hail damage wouldn't make a vehicle unroadworthy would it, unless it smashed the windows?
Couldn't you just withdraw your insurance claim and continue to drive it with dents?
I once had hail damage on ourcD1 and didn't claim, just got it repaired privately for a modest cost.
I remember the repairer asked if it was an insurance claim and when I said 'No' the cost of the repair almost halved! Miraculous.

I did ask re that Mick. Yes I could withdraw the claim but my Disco would not be covered by insurance for the pre exisiting damage making having comprehesive insuracne a total waste of money. That is very well documented by many poor sods who brought a bargin paid for years of insurnce only to find the patched up pannels not covered by the inurance they had paid for. I also agree once I take the word insurance out of it I will get a more reasonable repair price. Question is do that to mine or a new one with the 18K. Noted a white Rangie with almost as much damage as mine today. A significant number of options - Just a tough choice to make as I like mine.

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

I reckon they could. It would be costly, though.

At the assesment place they were actually using a dent removal process on one car at the waiting area to keep us entertained I think. Just like this

It was interesting to watch and clearly difficult to perfect. With several hundred to do it would takes weeks. It would be good for a few dents.

Wow!
I wonder how much they're worth? I need to remove a few dings from the Merc similar to this one:
PDR Glue Pull Gone Bad - YouTube
And so on and so forth.

AFAIK the dent pulling method won't work on aluminium because it stretches on impact way more than steel.

A guy I know had his Hilux dimpled to the max in Eltham about 5 years ago. The panel beaters had it for less than a day pulling the dents out and it came back looking like new. Quite amazing.

DL

Are D3/4 panels aluminium though ?

The bonnet is and I think also the tailgate.