Bad luck for my SC :(

[CyberGene]

There was a heavy hail storm over Sofia today with ice balls the size of an egg... I have never seen such thing in my life

Result: shattered rear window, all metallic surfaces hammered like hell...

I guess the insurance company will cover the repair but anyway I feel depressed...

 

[chrisRibiza]

Awful! And nothing you could do to prevent it either.

Hope you get sorted and it's not classed as "an act of god".

 

[Rokerlad]

I feel your pain dude. Bad luck but keep your chin up.

 

[xOchoa]

D: that's one of my worst nightmares

 

[CyberGene]

It WAS indeed my worst nightmare... Thousands of cars were damaged. I've spent 5 hours in the insurance company, waiting among many other unlucky people. BTW, it seems VW group cars and BMW cars are the most damaged ones - metal surfaces are like moon craters and windshields are shattered. Take care with your rear window, there was another guy with a new Leon and rear window shattered. Seems it is a weak spot. After the examination of my car, which took like 20 minutes, it was concluded that all metallic surfaces are for repair But everything will be covered by the insurance. Hope nobody goes through hell like this with his car. There has never been such a hail in Sofia for probably 100 years. Meteorologists call it a super cell. I call it a super hell!

 

[niggle]

Roof repair will be tricky as the panels are laser welded at the factory. Possibly bonded on for an aftermarket repair.

 

[CyberGene]

What they have explained to me is that such repairs go through one of two methods: vacuum is used to "suck" the crater and/or a temporary nail is welded to the crater and is hammered out. Of course a lot of putty (if that's the correct English word for car repairs) will be used...

 

[JK1]

I can't say I'd be very happy them putting putty in the dents?!

If someone had stood on the roof and dented it that's one thing. If every panel is damaged with dozens of dents it should all be replaced in my opinion.

 

[CyberGene]

I am afraid most common car insurances in Bulgaria (for example mine costs around 900 euro first year and will go down to around 400 euro in 5 years) always try to repair stuff first even if it will involve putty and hammering and will replace parts only when beyond repair I am sure there are clauses and such that in nature disaster event they might not be obliged to replace all parts with new.

 

[yellowcone87]

They do that here in the UK too. If the dent can be accessed from behind the panel by removing trim, it will be pushed out. If they can't access the rear of the panel they drill a small hole in the centre and pull it back out. That is where the putty comes in. Then they just paint the hole. They won't fill the whole dent with putty

 

[terryt]

You can pull dents with glue from the outside without drilling now, depending how bad it is.

 

[niggle]

Larger panels (bonnet skin, roof skin) flex so much that the body filler eventually cracks and falls out. In times gone by the only lasting repair for a dented roof skin was a vinyl roof.