What happens after you file a hail claim
Six steps, in the order they happen, and who is responsible at each one. Two of them are yours. The rest are ours.
What actually happens, in order
Hail is handled under the comprehensive part of an auto policy. Here is the order of events, and who does what at each one.
Seven steps, and whose clock each one runs on
Two of them are yours. One belongs to your carrier, and it is the reason no honest shop can promise you a finish date on day one. The rest are ours.
- YouOne phone call
You call your insurer and open the claim
Only the policyholder can do this, and it is one phone call. You will be given a claim number, and that number is the thing everybody else refers to from then on.
- CranioAbout 30 minutes
We look at the car in person and write it down
At the vehicle, under proper light. We photograph and count what is there, panel by panel, and build a written estimate from it.
- CranioSame day
The estimate goes to your carrier
We send it and we deal with your adjuster directly. You are kept in the loop rather than put to work.
- Your carrierTheir clock, not ours
The adjuster reviews it, and sometimes disagrees
This is the normal middle of a hail claim, not a sign that something went wrong. It is also the part nobody can put a date on, because the clock belongs to your carrier.
- Cranio
If the first estimate missed damage, we file the supplement
We document what was left out and submit it for review. That is part of the job, not an extra.
- YouYour call
You authorize the work
Nothing starts on your vehicle until you say so. You will know exactly what we found before anything happens to it.
- CranioMost within 5 days of approval
The repair, then delivery
We can arrange a loaner so you are not left without a car. You get the vehicle back, and the written warranty terms come with it.
Two things are yours. The rest is ours.
Only you can do
- Open the claim with your carrier. Only the policyholder can.
- Authorize the repair before work begins.
We do
- Inspect the vehicle and document the damage in writing
- Send the estimate and deal with the adjuster
- File the supplement when the first estimate misses damage
- Arrange a loaner where we can
- Tell you what stage the car is at, without being asked
Who pays for what
The question everybody asks first, laid out plainly.
The repair is paid through your policy
Hail is handled under the comprehensive part of an auto policy. The number does not come out of a price list we set. It comes out of a damage count that is documented in writing.
Your deductible is set by your policy
Not by us, and not by the shop you pick. Your carrier is the only one who can tell you what yours is, and it is worth asking before you file. We do not give insurance advice.
The inspection costs you nothing
Free, about 30 minutes, and no obligation afterwards. If what we find does not justify a claim, we will tell you that, and you owe us nothing.
The three questions everybody has
Money, time, and whether filing will cost you later. Here is what we can tell you straight, and where we send you when the honest answer is that it is not ours to give.
What does hail damage repair cost?
Hail repair is paid through the comprehensive part of an auto policy, where the driver carries that coverage, not out of a price list we set. The inspection itself is free and puts you under no obligation, so finding out what is actually on your car costs you nothing either way.
What your own policy covers is between you and your carrier, and we are not going to guess at it on a website. What we will do is make sure the estimate reflects every dent that is genuinely on the vehicle, and deal with the adjuster directly so you are not the one arguing about it.
One thing worth knowing before you call anybody: of the customers whose written reviews we reproduce on this site, not one of them wrote about money. They all wrote about the same two things, that somebody handled the insurance side for them, and that someone from our team turned up in person. Read them yourself.
How long will you have my car?
Most repairs are finished within about five days of your carrier approving the estimate. That clock starts at approval, not at the inspection, because the slowest part of a hail claim is usually the carrier's own review, and that is the part we take off your hands.
Parts, glass and other trades can move it. A vehicle that needs a windshield or a panel replaced is waiting on somebody else's supply chain rather than on us, and we tell you that when we see it instead of after.
This describes what usually happens. It is not a commitment about your specific vehicle, and Section 12 of our Terms of Service says the same thing.
Will filing a claim raise my rate?
This one is not ours to answer, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What we can point you to is public. Hail is a comprehensive claim, which carriers treat differently from an at-fault collision, because a storm is not something the driver did. In Texas, rule 28 TAC 5.7016 bars an insurer from refusing to renew a policy solely because of weather-related claims.
That is not the same as a promise about your premium. Claims-free discounts, your own claim history and area-wide rate changes after a bad storm season are all real, and all of them belong to your carrier rather than to us.
Ask your carrier directly before you file. It is a short phone call and they are the only ones who can answer it for your policy. We do not give insurance advice, which is written into Section 4 of our Terms of Service.
What we are not
We do not stand between you and your insurer
We are not a public adjuster, we do not represent you before your carrier, and we do not give insurance advice. Coverage decisions are made by your carrier under your policy, and we cannot promise a particular outcome, settlement or timeline.
What we can do is make sure the damage on your car is documented properly, because an estimate built on a bad look at the vehicle is how a hail claim ends up short.
Questions about your specific policy belong in a conversation about your car, not in a paragraph on a website. Bring them to the inspection. The full terms are in our Terms of Service.
Start with the inspection.
You do not need the claim open first. We can look at the car and tell you what is there.