I posted last week regarding some hail damage to my vehicles - the estimate for my Ex was completed yesterday -- $6000 I did not think it was that bad, I was thinking the damage may not even make my $500 deductible, and now $6k in damage!

I'm debating on pocketing the money or having it fixed. My Ex is a 2000 Limited PSD 2WD, about 180k miles, in very good to excellent condition without the hail damage. I purchased it last summer at 159k miles for $9500 after searching for a nice used PSD Ex for months. I plan on keeping this truck for a long time, it is our family vacation mobile, trailer tow vehicle, safe vehicle to haul the rugrats in, both the wife and I really enjoy it.

The damage is mostly on the hood and roof with some very small stuff on the front fenders and door panels. The body shop estimate calls for a new roof, which is over half the $$ in the estimate, new hood, new grille, new mirrors, some new window molding and paint-less dent repair for the rest. Since the truck is white it does not look that bad, you have to look very hard to find the damage on the sides of the truck, the hood stands out the most, but it is not that bad. The mirrors are intact and usable but they have small chips by the mirror glass where it is molded to the supporting plastic. The grill has a quarter sized hole in it. The paint is starting to peel on my roof in the gutter area, so if I have it fixed I would get fresh paint up there. The body shop said they would also repair/re-paint the peeling paint inside one of my door jambs at no cost to me.

I'm at an impasse about what to do. The truck does not look that bad, but it would be nice to have it looking fantastic, some fresh paint where needed, new mirrors, grille, etc. $6000 in my pocket would be nice too - I'm not a rich man, I could put this to good use. If I elect tp not have it fixed State Farm said I can no longer carry full coverage insurance on this truck, so I would be at a loss if I wrecked it, it was stolen or broken into. But my insurance would go down considerably and I would have two thirds of what I paid for the truck in my pocket. Oh what to do!

 

Wow, what a tough decision...

If it were me, I would think about selling the damaged vehicle for a reduced price, maybe half to 2/3 of its value, plus the 2/3 you get from the insurance... I'm not real good at math but I'm thinking that could put you ahead of the game. Since it's drivable you would have time to scour the world of PSDs for a suitable replacement.

 

I've been there with our trailer just last year. I hated to part with it but we took the insurance money, sold the trailer and took the $$$ and bought another one. I didn't want a trailer full of dents though.

I found this on C/L this AM. 2001 FORD EXCURSION LIMITED

 

so all State Farm said is if you want to pocket our money and not fix the vehicle, you can't have full coverage anymore??

 

Quite the dilema for sure. I would consider taking the money and fixing a few things myself the run with it. Guess it all depends on how perfect the vehicle needs to be for you to be happy. I would get a hood, have it painted and slap it on myself, touch up the roof issues myself just to stop the rust, and talk to Jim here about a new grill, I seem to remember him having a good source for them. Pretty much a question of what you can live with, $1500 will fix alot if you do things yourself, then you still have 4500 to put in the bank as your own insurance plan since you would drop full coverage.

Good luck on the decisions!

 

Hail damage is claimed under the Comprehension Insurance coverage you get with full coverage. If you don't fix it and pocket the cash, they won't allow you to continue to have comprehension insurance. They do this in order for you to not be able to claim existing damage on a new claim. For instance, if another hail storm comes in, how would they know if the new storm damaged the truck verses the old storm UNLESS you use their payout to fix the existing damage and have it verified by the Ins. co. that you fixed it. It's a CYA move on their part. We went through this exact same deal with our old RV that got pummeled last year.

 

why are the letters on the building backwards?

 

have you tried dry ice to remove the hail dents? if hey are not too deep sometimes you can get them out!

 

Ha, ha.. the dealer person flipped the photo.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to think about this for a couple of days.

Keeping it and the cash sounds good - I would not have any issues with the vehicle in it's current condition. I will have to consult with wifey a little more if you know what I mean.

I have not tried to remove any of the dents, most of them are minor. If I decide to keep the cash I will need a second damage appraisal so I do not want to mess with anything yet.

 

I'm glad this thread was here so i didn't have to post one...lol...i also have some hail damage to my rig, that i didn't even notice, but now that it's been pointed out to me, i can't get it out of my head...however, my dilema is that i only carry liability on my truck except for the coverage when i'm hauling chit, and none of it covers hail damage to MY truck, if i were towing something that got damaged with hail, THAT would be covered...anyway, enough of that rant, i just need some info on how i can remove the little dings, they are very shallow, but there...how does the dry ice thing work, never heard of that before...

 

PDR = paintless dent removal. I had this done on my truck over a year ago. I had a very noticeable dent on the side of the bed right at the crease near the top rail. Tried to throw a log into the bed that was bigger than me... Anyway, the dent really bugged me because I could see it in my mirror when driving. I got an estimate of $150 to remove that and a few other smaller dents. If I look really hard from the right angle with the right lighting I can tell there was something there. Well worth every penny.
When I took my truck in the PDR guy was working on two hail damaged vehicles. He did mine in about an hour and still expected to complete both of the other vehicles that day.

Maybe an option? See if you can find a good PDR guy to do a side job for cash? Don't worry about the roof if you want to save $$?

 

Thanks Mike, i'll give 'em a call...

 

the dry ice thing i have heard works too...dont know for sure

 

wtf...i tried to find a PDR outfit here...i've seen them riding around, but i guess they're too small to have a listed phone number...lol...how do you work with the dry ice...????...