Question about hail (Dallas, Fort Worth, Coppell: HOA, insurance, house)

[dmorrell]

My husband and I are finally moving to Dallas in September, so we've been watching the weather and news fairly closely for the past year. I'm curious about hail. I'm used to "giant hail" being the size of a pea. So tell me, when hail the size of golf balls or even softballs comes down over DFW.. how serious is the damage to vehicles? I'm assuming this is a very common insurance claim. We have a 1 car garage (which will probably house the motorcycles) so the cars will be in the driveway. Is this going to be a big issue for me? If I purchase a cover, what constitutes a "giant hail-proof" cover?

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by dmorrell

My husband and I are finally moving to Dallas in September, so we've been watching the weather and news fairly closely for the past year. I'm curious about hail. I'm used to "giant hail" being the size of a pea. So tell me, when hail the size of golf balls or even softballs comes down over DFW.. how serious is the damage to vehicles? I'm assuming this is a very common insurance claim. We have a 1 car garage (which will probably house the motorcycles) so the cars will be in the driveway. Is this going to be a big issue for me? If I purchase a cover, what constitutes a "giant hail-proof" cover?

Luckily hail that huge doesn't happen that often, but when it does (I had "egg sized" hail last time) it is very damaging. I'm not sure about a "cover" but I was very happy that I was parked in the garage during the last storm. The cars parked on the street were trashed.

[Willsson]

Is this going to be a big issue for me? If I purchase a cover, what constitutes a "giant hail-proof" cover?

No, it's not going to be a big issue. I've lived in Texas nigh on to 64 years and only ONCE was my car parked in a location where the big stuff fell. The car had dents. The house roof was an insurance claim.

As far as a cover, a single flat aluminum roof will do. But you'll need to make sure of any HOA restrictions before construction. You'll appreciate that cover even more for protection from the summer heat.

Or a large tree.

[TurtleCreek80]

Big hail like we just had is INCREDIBLY rare. The last time the metroplex had a storm that bad was in the mid-1990's and it was over in Fort Worth. Hail is common, especially in the spring/summer storms, but pebble sized is far more common than anything over 1" in diameter. Northern burbs tend to get more hail than central Dallas- probably due to the 25-30 mile distance that often creates lower temps there?

I had minor hail damage- enough to be worth getting fixed but not enough to break or crack my windshield/ sunroof- about 5 years ago. It was a super easy insurance claim to go through. Paid my deductible and drove straight to the body shop.

My neighbors who can't get all cars in the garage or don't have a garage put quilts & comforters over their cars in the June storm. None of them had windows break so I doubt they had minor damage either.

[MckinneyOwnr]

There is a car cover called "Hail Blanket," but even they say that your car will not be hail proof with it. It's the thickest car cover on the market that I know of though. I bet if you put a thick comforter underneath it for extra protection, you'd be ok.

But, if you really have a nice car, a garage space is obviously worth looking into. It does hail quite often here, but usually it's the 1" size or less, half an inch is quite common and can hit hard enough to dent a hood/roof.

[RabidTiger]

It's not so rare. We've had two big hail storms this year already. The first was in april that went through south arlington (tornado) and up into DFW airport and Coppell. The second hail storm was in east dallas. Both caused significant damage.

Coppell also had a equally bad storm last year.

The roof on my house has been replaced 3 times in 10 years due to hail. This year both of my cars were totalled.

[Lakewooder]

Lived here for 50 years and never really had any hail damage to cars except once - fairly minor - I don't really remember my parents talking about having any before I was born, but my father was very sure not to be parked outside without cover when hail was mentioned in a forecast.

I remember a couple of times that I got some money for a roof for hail damage - has been at least 20 years - but nothing like the last storm.

What happened in my neighborhood in June had not happened in 80-90 years from what I can determine. Fortunately I was not home and parked outside. Many cars were towed away - that's all that could be done.

[Pete53FR]

No damage to my car a ding or two but three roofs replaced in 40 years. Its a good thing really you get a new roof for the price of a deductible.

I have been all over the country and many other places. Every place has something that can cause damage.

[kaykay]

It happens but like some of the others, I have lived in Texas for 56 years (Dallas area for27) and we have only had hail damage one time. Hope that helps put the danger/risk in perspective.

[USA_Mom]

The odds are in your favor...that said my MIL was visiting in June and her car (which she does NOT insure except for liability from what I understand as once she pays something INCLUDING her house she drops insurance) was damaged. It's driveable, but it looks like crude. She's the only person I know with any severe hail damage. Our truck (used and over 120K miles on it) had some we think happened last year because we don't remember seeing it when we bought it, but it's a knock around and used for hauling and handyman stuff so it wasn't a big deal to us. It's very slight and on the roof so I can't see it anyway as I'm short and it's an F150.