**How much of a worry are hail storm damaging cars in RC? (Rapid City: apartment)

[folkguitarist555]

Was just curious if hail storms are a yearly concern for residents in RC. And if car damage from them is a constant concern and occurence. Thanks

[uncleharley]

No worry, as long as you have good auto insurance & a garage. Otherwise hail damage can be a consrn to any property owner in S D.

uh

[Username00]

Hail is extremely common here. We get hail with nearly every thunderstorm over the summer. That being said, we've been here 5 yrs and park exclusively outside; and this past summer is the first time I've even received hail damage on any of my vehicles. It's pretty noticeable up close, but not from a distance and none of the windows or windshield was damaged.

[212david51]

I would not buy a really nice car and park it outside. Hail can be severe and put a lot of dents into a car in just minutes. Sunroofs can be broken and the car flooded. If you plant a garden putting hail netting over it is a good idea as one hail storm will wipe the garden out.

[ejisme]

My family's experience over many years in the Rapid area. The in-laws lived outside Piedmont and our son graduated from SD School of Mines and Technology, so we spent a lot of time in the area. Lots of smaller pea-sized hail, but a couple times marble/grape sized. Never heard or saw anything bigger in the Rapid City metro, but heard of it just a bit further east or south towards Hot Springs. As soon as our son graduated and took a job in Fort Collins, CO his car was totaled from hail damage. I'd say the Colorado front range has more of a hail risk than the Black Hills 'front range.'

[Podo944]

When my hubby got permission to go remote in early 2020, (this was shortly before the pandemic) RC was one of the areas we went to check out on a 2 week road trip. There was a really lovely apartment in the area that we really liked, but noticed there were no carports in the parking lot and very few garages that people were on waiting lists for. We had heard about the hail and asked why there were no carports to protect the cars and the manager said there was some sort of ordinance about keeping open spaces or some nonsense. (Or maybe they didn't want to invest in carports?) I asked how bad the hail gets and he said some people put a tarp or something over their cars if they know a storm is coming but he also told us that in the summer before there was a big hail storm that completely destroyed all the cars in the parking lot!! I was like WHAT??? He just shrugged and said, well, that's what we get insurance for.
I don't know... there was something really off about the whole thing, nevertheless we literally tossed a coin between RC and another city, and the other city won in the end.