We had a hail storm that lasted almost 1/2 hour today. My poor Baja took shots from hail up to the size of golf balls. Although it faired better than the Toyota Tacoma parked next to it, the exterior is ruined
I should be finding out tomorrow how much it's going to cost for all the body work. The only thing not dented was the bumpers and the plastic molding; wish they made the whole car out of that stuff!
One body shop told me they will take all the paint off completely as the Atlantic Blue Pearl would be too difficult to match perfectly. I'm wondering what a Subaru Dealership would do...
Another suggestion by my insurance company was a mobile "popsadent" guy; yeah right.
You would be amazed at what the dent fixers can do. The Dodge stealership I work at was hit by a bad hail storm back in May. A company came out to work on all of the cars, and the body shop work also. They are the best that I have ever seen. You can't tell the cars were all beat up. There were only a few dents here and there that they were unable to get out. And the hail we had was up to golf ball size. Talk to the insurance man, they will tell you how they will pay to fix it, my guess is that they will try the dent guys first to see if it will work. Mike
My sincere sympathies Atomic Baja. That is really a bummer! Hope it's not too big of an ordeal for you to get your Baja fixed. Keep us informed.
Spacinjason
If you're living in a place that gets heavy hailstorms, you might want to invest in a padded car cover. Then at least you can run out there and get it on the car to protect it.
Of course that could hurt a bit running out in a storm like that, but well new cars ain't cheap...
First Estimate came in at $7,600. Shop will replace the hood and roof. All molding and cladding comes off, dents fixed and the whole body gets repainted.
Second estimate came in at $4,600. This shop will do the "popsadent" method everywhere and replace 4 of the cladding panels. Just noticed today that there are some dents in the plastic cladding from the hail!
Any of the body cladding that is replaced I hope to store for a while; no telling when a dented body cladding might be better than no body cladding in the case of an accident ten years down the road!
Mike, I think you were spot on; the insurance wants to try the cheaper method first. I'm half tempted to ask for the cash instead and buy a bike! It occurred to me that with my car looking the way it does, I won't worry about the dorks dinging my car in the parking lot!
dude, hail is like my worst nightmare with the baja. Replace the roof!!! that sucks man, I feel for you. Do you at least have color options with the paint job?
good luck man
Mike, I think you were spot on; the insurance wants to try the cheaper method first. I'm half tempted to ask for the cash instead and buy a bike! It occurred to me that with my car looking the way it does, I won't worry about the dorks dinging my car in the parking lot!
Just as I figured, they will try the dent guys first. If the dents come out, it will look nice, if not, then body work time. I wouldn't want anyone except the best body shop sawing off the roof and puttin a new one on. Its a structural part of the car, and needs to be done right the first time. Mike
Ouuuuch!! That's dam horrible! We are getting hail right now, and I can't wait to go outside and see how bad the cars were hit. Did you get any pics of the damage? I work with the PDR guys alot. They do really good work. Just on some parts or some dents, you can't get at them, and some could be too big for PDR. Good luck.
dude, hail is like my worst nightmare with the baja.