It’s hail season in Colorado, and many people will be searching for best hail repair shops via the search engines. We have assembled a list of things you absolutely need to know before taking your car to any shop for hail repair.

1. Your insurance company owes you for the FULL VALUE of your hail repair claim… however, most first estimates are deliberately written for only 50%-60% of the actual value of the claim. They are hoping that you will simply cash the check without actually repairing the damage to your vehicle. This is a huge mistake in most cases, as the insurance company boosts their profits, and you pay the difference when you go to sell or trade in the car.

2. Get a post-scan. The best hail repair shops will make sure that before they deliver your car back to you, they perform a post scan to make sure that all safety systems and electronics are connected and calibrated if necessary. Your safety is at stake. Make sure that everything is working the way it should be.

3. Never let them cut glued reinforcements. This is common practice in lesser quality hail shops. Cutting glued reinforcements can result in rattles or even worse, compromised structural integrity.

best hail repair - don't cut seams

4. Never let them drill holes for access to hard-to-reach areas. Another all-too-common practice among paintless dent repair (PDR) tents and shops is to drill holes into the structural posts and rails to reach the dents. No vehicle manufacturers support this practice, as it obviously degrades the integrity of the structure, putting you and your passengers at risk.

best hail repair - never drill holes

5. Make sure all one-time use trim pieces and moldings are properly REPLACED, and not REUSED. Often, technicians need to remove trim pieces inside the cabin of your car. These pieces can cover airbags, and in many cases are designed to be removed only once – in times of an accident that includes airbag deployment. If a tech tries to reattach a one-time use panel, it could become a projectile during an accident.

6. Factory corrosion protection must be replaced. Your vehicle is 100% protected from rust and other corrosion. Any time that is compromised during a hail repair process, the corrosion protection must be replaced. Many substandard shops skip this step, and when rust starts, the safety of your vehicle is immediately jeopardized.

7. What if there’s broken paint? Best hail repair shops know that just touching up paint cracks isn’t good enough. Not only does it look horrible, but it doesn’t protect against corrosion. Make sure the people doing your hail repair have a facility to repaint and master your vehicle’s color.

8. OEM parts are important. No matter what the insurance company tells you, aftermarket parts are, by definition, not the same as original manufacturer’s parts. If they cut corners on your parts, what else are they willing to compromise?

9. Your windshield could save your life. More and more vehicle manufacturers are insisting upon using OEM glass because areas of the glass are infused with technology that works with the safety systems elsewhere in the car. There are many case studies of shops using lesser quality windshields which could affect the entire safety system of the car.

If you’re truly looking for the best hail repair in Colorado, here at Nylund’s we pay attention to each and every one of the above listed steps – for every repair we do. If it’s not perfect… it’s not leaving. Contact us with any questions you might have.

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