Your car got hail damage — here's what to do next
A step-by-step guide to assessing hail damage, dealing with insurance, and deciding between paintless dent removal and traditional repair.
Melbourne's northern suburbs cop hail every couple of years, and the aftermath is always the same — hundreds of cars with panels full of dents, and owners scrambling to figure out what to do next. Here's the right order.
Step 1: Document everything
Before you move the car, take photos. Get wide shots showing the overall damage, and close-ups of each affected panel. Note the date and location of the storm. Insurers will want this.
Step 2: Check the paint
Run your fingers over the dents and look closely in bright light. If the paint is cracked, chipped, or flaking anywhere, that panel will need a traditional respray. If the paint is intact — which it is in about 90% of hail cases — paintless dent removal is the better option.
Step 3: Contact your insurer
Most Australian comprehensive policies cover hail damage as an event, not an at-fault claim — so it usually doesn't affect your premium. Lodge the claim, get a claim number, and ask whether they'll let you choose your own repairer.
Step 4: Get a PDR assessment
Not every panel shop does PDR, and many will push you toward a full respray because that's what they know. A proper PDR assessment will tell you:
- Exactly how many dents are on each panel
- Which panels are PDR candidates (paint intact, metal accessible)
- Which panels, if any, need traditional repair
- An itemised quote you can send to your insurer
Step 5: Decide
If the paint is intact, paintless dent removal is almost always the better choice — your factory finish stays, the repair is faster, and the total cost (even if you pay an excess) is usually lower. If some panels have paint damage, we'll repair those panels conventionally and PDR the rest — a hybrid approach that keeps as much original paint as possible.
The biggest mistake we see after a hail event is owners letting a generic panel shop respray everything. If the paint is intact, you're throwing away your factory finish for no reason.
