Damaging hail. Is it possible to keep a nice car? (Panhandle: house, to buy)

[texasdreamin]

I've read so much about the damaging hail that my thinking is I should proably not expect to have a really nice car when I get there. It would seem like a waste of money. How do you keep your cars from sustaining so much damage? I know you can garage it, but what about when you are out and get caught in a hail storm? I would be very upset to be driving down the street in a nice car and then get hit by hail and have all of those dents and pings. How do you deal with saving your cars?

[kaykay]

It's always a possibility, but thankfully, it just doesn't happen that often. About four years ago, the area had a really bad hailstorm and we sustained hail damage on our cars, but that was the only time in 50+ years of living in Texas! My husband works in a building that has underground parking...so that helps, but it just doesn't happen so much that it's a major concern. Hail is forecast a lot but even when it comes, it might be in certain areas and not in others.

[Turk]

Hailstorms in SE Texas aren't common, and when they do happen are typically small storm with small hail. Not much damage occurs if any. Of course there are exceptions.

[kaykay]

Originally Posted by Turk

Hailstorms in SE Texas aren't common, and when they do happen are typically small storm with small hail. Not much damage occurs if any. Of course there are exceptions.

Yes, that's a good point! We got some hail at the house the other day, but it wasn't large enough to do any damage!

[Steel Man]

Do you ever notice that when car dealers have "hail damage" sales, they only knock off what it will cost to fix the hail damage? Well, you might as well wait to buy a new car without hail damage in the first place! Back in 1993, my new 10-day old car had some hail damage, even though I ran outside and placed a thick blanket on top. The dents were not too bad then.

[Trainwreck20]

Hail storms tend to be very localized, at least usually, so when you see a hail storm hits city 'x', it usually means a very small area of the ctiy. Most hail storms do not cause damage unless the hail is >1/2 inch, and noticeable damage usually means bigger hail than that. Figure in the odds of having a hail storm and being out in your car at that moment, and you are pretty good shape.

Now, I did buck the odds. In 2002 I had a 2 week old car and was heading to Port A when I got caught between SA and CC in a hail storm. Pecan size hail coming down. Did find one lone big oak tree (with about a dozen other cars under it) and avoided the worst, but got a couple dings.

[cdelena]

It can be a problem; in over 35 years I had cars in the area I always used a garage and still had four damaged by hail I could not avoid. But have had more than that damaged by idiots in parking lots.

[momof2dfw]

We have nice cars and not had a problem w/ hail. As said earlier, I've had more damage from idiots in parking lots that can not park between the lines and they like to slam their doors open into your car. The only vehicle we have had get hail damage was hubbys truck in the bad storm a few years ago. Got it fixed which you SHOULD do as if not it will drastically lower the value of your car whenever you trade. If it is minor they can usually do the paintless dent repair.

Hail storms tend to happen late in the day early evening so most people are home. One reason to get the useless crap out of the garage so that you can park your nice expensive cars in it. There is also plenty of warning in most cases. When it does start to hail you will see people racing to the nearest gas station cover or stopping under the underpasses (which if you do this don't block it as now you have left other motorists stranded in the middle of it behind you).

[texasdreamin]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. It is much like I thought. I don't think I'll be putting too much money in my cars, though, to me, a nice car is any new or newer car, regardless of value. As for parking dings, I take great pains to park my cars out of other people's way and have had great success with keeping my cars ding free. I learned a great lesson when I had a brand new 3 day old custom ordered car and some idiot opened up their door on it, really hard and I'm sure on purpose, and left a nice scrape and dent. Broke my heart. From that point on, I've learned to park away from other cars.

[lilypad]

I have a 1998 Buick, has seen several hail storms and if you look just right in the light, can see tiny dents. But I live up in the Panhandle, really different weather than south Texas. Got caught just last week in heavy hail, not a thing to do but try to take cover somewhere!