It could be goodbye...

[entice]

Bear in mind, a full respray is around $15K... all insurance companies will try and avoid paint and panel, and ratehr use paintless dent removal.

so, if you consider full respray. a panel or 2 to be replaced, and belt moulds etc etc, it wont be hard to come close to a total loss claim.

[kleung]

I know it is cold comfort to those affected, however one thing I do is carry some blankets with me in the car so that should this happen to me again, I can at least try and get something over the car to help protect it.

What a great idea! I keep a travel rug in the car for when I have to cart large stuff around in the cabin, but I never thought to use it to protect the roof in a hailstorm...

It is then the insurer you are with. I am with AAMI that gives me a new for old for the first 3 years if it is written off. After that it is the agreed value less depreciation.

New for old replacement only applies for the first 2 years, not 3, as per AAMI's Comprehensive Car Insurance policy documents.

When you look at the check sheet of an insurance quote you realise that it will not take much before the vehicle is written off. The insurer will pull the plug at anywhere between 30% to 50% of the insured value.

I asked that question of the AAMI claims team the last time I made a claim - they told me that they generally won't write off a car unless the repair cost exceeds 100% of the insured value of the car.

[passatpout]

Hi, my Passat suffered over 100 dents in the March 2010 Perth hail storm and RACWA assessed the damage, found it was repairable due to the value of the car. My complete roof (turret) and bonnet were replaced and all other panels were repaired then the car totally resprayed. Excellent job, was in the shop for 3 weeks but came out perfect, no creaks, rattles or overspray. All new decals, side strips included.
And at the time, as only a few weeks after the last Melb hail storm, replacement cars were very few and far between!

Cheers, well done for getting a decent fix done. As for me.. maybe not. IIRC our cars are a similar age.. in March 2010 mine had done less than 60,000km, now it's coming up to 120,000.. I had a valuation done at the 75,000km service in October 2010, they reckoned it was worth $28,000 then.. I reckon if it's valued at any more than $20K now I'll be doing well, and that might just tip the balance for me. Anyhow, nothing I can do now but wait for the claim to be assessed, and pay the excess..

Mind you, I was at a family Christmas lunch when the storm hit.. there were about 12 or 14 cars there in total, and the majority will be written off.. and there was some fairly significant damage to houses (including where we were) - lots of broken roof tiles, leaks, etc.

Can't say the idea of going out into a hailstorm to throw blankets etc over really appealed at the time, and doesn't now - easier to fix the car than recover from the knock on the head if one of those beauties sconed the noggin. Besides, how much is a blanket going to save? I wouldn't think it would be a huge amount - one of the cars at the party had pillows on the windscreen, and they were almost shredded.

[passatpout]

Assessment tomorrow evening. Have asked work today how we go about novated leases, if necessary....

[WestOiler125]

Cheers, well done for getting a decent fix done. As for me.. maybe not. IIRC our cars are a similar age.. in March 2010 mine had done less than 60,000km, now it's coming up to 120,000.. I had a valuation done at the 75,000km service in October 2010, they reckoned it was worth $28,000 then.. I reckon if it's valued at any more than $20K now I'll be doing well, and that might just tip the balance for me. Anyhow, nothing I can do now but wait for the claim to be assessed, and pay the excess..

Given my repair totalled over $23K, you may be be a total loss. Not a nice way to lose a perfectly functional car!

---------- Post added at 09:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:53 PM ----------

Can't say the idea of going out into a hailstorm to throw blankets etc over really appealed at the time, and doesn't now - easier to fix the car than recover from the knock on the head if one of those beauties sconed the noggin. Besides, how much is a blanket going to save? I wouldn't think it would be a huge amount - one of the cars at the party had pillows on the windscreen, and they were almost shredded.

Agree also, having been in the car when the hail storm hit and seeing trees being shredded in front of me, and the sound of my car being literally hammered I doubt blankets would have done nothing. Given the depth of dents on seams, the force of impact was very high. So much better to protect yourself, that's why we take out insurance.

[oxymoron]

Any update on the outcome? Hope it all worked out ok for you

[passatpout]

Any update on the outcome? Hope it all worked out ok for you

OK, the latest... It was assessed last night at the RACV hail centre in Essendon. We were worried at first, since some of the comments as we parked it weren't encouraging - and compared to the other 6 or so cars that were being checked, it was a shocker.

The first comment from the assessor was that it would be a "complete" or "comprehensive", something like that and which didn't have a good connotation.. They then explained that meant that a repairer would be assigned straight away, and it would be fixed no question. One assessor actually said he loved hailstorms, since they gave him lots to do...

Anyhow, after about 10 or 15 minutes waiting, the assessor came to see us, and said he needed to talk to us about the car... Which had us worried. He then said that it would need to go to a panel beater to get quoted, and since it was a VW wagon, it would need to be a specialized repairer. They then assigned me to Eurostyle in West Melbourne, and advised me to contact them for a time. Based on the quote, they'll advise what they'll do with the car.

Since we're going away for a fortnight, in a fortnight, planning about a 3,000km road trip, we asked about that, and were told to use the car for the trip (if we can handle using it with the damage, which we can), then get it booked in for the quote when we return. The assessor actually said that if people have trips planned, he tells them to take the car on the trip, since that way any dings or scratches from the road will be fixed with everything else... Good advice, in my book..

So, in about the second week of February, I'll arrange for it to be quoted. Fortunately it's only about a 5 minute bus ride from work, so relatively convenient. And hopefully it'll be fixed shortly after, preferably while I'm away for work in the last week of February.

As an aside, the toll from the storm in my wife's family alone stands at 7 cars written-off, 2 potentials (including mine), 3 other damaged cars, a damaged boat, and 2 damaged houses.... But luckily no injuries...

---------- Post added at 09:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:47 PM ----------

Also meant to add that the windscreen was replaced on Wednesday night (was originally meant to be Tuesday afternoon, then Wednesday morning.. you get the drift)..

Tossing up now whether to see, if the entire car is resprayed, about changing colour....

[anthony]

Keep the colour,as door jams,inside of motor,boot are not likely to get resprayed,and for resale,keep your colour origional.

[passatpout]

It's booked in for quoting in early February. Will wait to see what the damage is then... One of the first questions asked by the panel beater was "Will it need a new roof?"...

[passatpout]

It was inspected today for the panelbeaters to work out the details - they reckon it'll take another 2-3 days to compile all the parts prices from VW, and then they'll advise RACV.. Indicatively, he suggested between $12 and $15K for the full repair.. A PDR specialist viewed it and said it was too extensively damaged for PDR to be effective.

Anyhow, I told them my preference is for it to be repaired, and that once they work out if it is, then I'd like to know how long it will take to repair, and when they'd be able to book it in.. at the end of the day, it doesn't worry me too much if it takes a while before it can be done, I'd just like to know that it can be..