Does car insurance cover hail storm damage?

When you’re looking to buy car insurance, hail storm damage is one of the incidents that may encourage you to purchase a comprehensive car insurance policy. A comprehensive policy can be expensive. To help with the cost, you should compare insurers’ quotes and check if you’re in an area that is seen as high-risk incidents like storms that you’d want cover for. 

Does insurance cover hail damage to a car?

Most Australian insurance providers offer four types of car insurance coverage. This ranges from a basic third party level of cover that only covers your liability if other people are injured, or their cars or property is damaged.

The range goes up to comprehensive car insurance which offers the maximum coverage for the widest range of incidents - including hail damage. For this reason, it is also by far the most expensive type of insurance policy.

f you’re worried about hail storm damage and want to buy comprehensive car insurance, consider comparing policies offered by different insurers. It will help you to make sure you get a suitably priced policy. However, you’ll also need to ask the insurer about their conditions for covering storms and natural disasters. If your car was previously damaged in a storm, insurers might not offer you a comprehensive car insurance policy.

How do I file a hail damage car insurance claim?

If you need to file a hail damage car insurance claim the first step you should take is to put together evidence of the storm damage by taking photos. If you have pictures from before the storm, they can help confirm that the damage was unavoidable. The insurer will ask their assessor to check whether the damage is substantial and if your car can be repaired or if it needs to be written off completely. Based on this assessment, you can submit the hail damage car insurance claim form, and seek the necessary compensation for repairs or replacement of your car. 

If you can get the car repaired, the insurer will either let you choose your repairer or ask you to take the vehicle to one of their preferred repairers. In the latter case, the insurer may pay their preferred mechanic directly, and you only ask you to pay the excess. However, if your car is written off, or deemed damaged beyond repair, the insurer will compensate you for the value of the vehicle. This sum will depend on whether you’ve opted for a market value or agreed value policy. If it’s market value, the insurer will pay you the amount it was worth before the damage. If you chose an agreed value policy, your insurer will pay the sum agreed to on your policy.

It can cost a lot to get your car repaired for hail storm damage, you may want to consider if you want to file an insurance claim. Filing a claim can affect the cost of car insurance in the future. Also, once the car is deemed hail-damaged by the insurer’s assessor, you may not be able to buy a similar insurance policy in future.

Can you insure a hail-damaged car?

Any history of insurance claims can affect the premium you pay for car insurance. If your car is damaged in a hail storm or other natural incident, buying further insurance coverage can depend on the amount of damage. If the damage is only minor and there is no significant change to either the car’s performance or its appearance. In this case, insurers may offer you a comprehensive car insurance policy at a higher premium.

If the car is badly damaged but repairable, you may have limited options. You may also need to get the repairs done before the insurer will offer you a comprehensive car insurance policy. Even then, they may only allow you to purchase a market value policy rather than an agreed value. Some insurers will only allow you to take out a third party property or fire and theft policy if your car has pre-existing hail damage.

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