So the tornado-prom storm did some serious damage to Mr Lisa's and LL#1's cars (I wasn't home so mine is fine). LL#1 drives a Kia soul --it's relatively new and in good shape but although there are lots of dents, they are hard to see, so I am not too concerned about the dents and normally wouldn't even consider fixing them. But Mr. Lisa drives a mid-life-crisis-worthy sportscar and of course, he wants the dents fixed in his "baby"

We have car insurance with progressive that includes comprehensive coverage and a $500 deductible. So we could file the claim and get one or both cars fixed. But LL#1 is 18 so we are still paying teenage driver rates, and LL#2 is coming up fast - he's 15 now so we'll be paying for him in a year. It's been years and years since I filed a claim for anything and I'm kind of scared to - I have heard that car insurance companies will penalize you even for things that aren't your fault (like hail damage) because filing any claim makes it more likely you'll file something else in the future.

The other option would be to shell out to fix the damage ourselves - we've gotten ballpark estimates from $800 (from someone who had only seen photos, not the car itself) to $3000. Obviously it makes no sense to file an $800 claim - after the $500 deductible, we'd be putting a claim on our record and risking higher premiums for $300. But $3000+ is another story....

Does anyone have any experience or advice on filing car insurance claims (or not) for hail damage? I guess if we're going to file for one and sully our "perfect record" we might as well file for both, right? Progressive's website says they can and may raise rates even for comprehensive claims, but not as much as you'd be charged for an at-fault accident. They don't give any specific numbers and I'm guessing they won't until we actually file the claim, and by then it's too late to do anything about it.

This sucks - you pay so much for car insurance and then when you have an actual claim you are terrified to use it for fear of them jacking your rates.

(Also, some of this depends on the results of a roof inspection -- if we have to file a homeowners claim for the roof, we might as well file the cars too - at that point, we'll have a claim on our record anyhow. We'd probably only file for damage to the shingle roof, though I can tell you right now that we have a lot of dents (a LOT of dents) in our copper porch roofs but the damage there is cosmetic only -- I'm not sure if we'd include that or not or if they would pay if the damage is only cosmetic.

Complicating things is that we switched insurance companies a little over a year ago so we don't have a long track record with either of them. I would hate to file and then get booted. And there's 2 different companies involved - Progessive does our cars and Liberty Mutual does the homeowners.

Ugh - I am confused. Any advice/info/stories to share??

I can only speak to Massachusetts, where glass coverage with no deductible was, I was told, mandated by state law.

I had a couple of glass claims, they didn't affect my rates.

I have filed major hail damage on homeowners, but not on car. Insurance company (amica) told me weather damage and water damgage (like our leaky fridge) was different than car accident damage as far as how/if your rates go up, rates going up on on homeowners based on how many claims nationwide there are each year, not how many claims you file personally(because you have no control over the weather or if your fridge will leak) Rates go up on auto for accidents (driving) based on your personal driving record, because you have control over that. Not sure if this helps, but what I did, after our leaky fridge was to call amica and ask them those questions, (worried that they would drop us, or raise our rates, and they said no, they would not - they were very helpful.

I’d ask my agent but not many people use agents any more.

My car was totalled in March of 2018 after I lost control of it from running over a blowing empty garbage bin (you know, March kite-flying winds). It was light after being emptied on trash pick up day. There were a number of blowing garbage bins as there always are on such windy days. (In fact, I had returned to my house after a block, especially to put my own blowing bins in the carport to avoid their causing an accident.)

Anyhow, State Farm blamed me (at least officially) for the March accident, claiming I should have swerved to avoid it - as if it had been stationary or something (It was blowing so fast, I hadn't even seen it. The cop only reconstructed what had happened from tire treadmarks and finding the trashbin wrapped around the left wheelwell, from below.)

I was very PO-ed as if ever there was an "Act of G-d" car accident that was it . What's more, it raised my premium. I can't imagine how such accidents can be avoided. In fact, I gave it some thought, as a mental exercise. What invention COULD prevent such accidents, especially since trashbins becomes so easily airbourne once they're emptied?

Anyhow, apart from the VERY snotty Claims "lady" who gave me a very hard time about it (like it wasn't enough to have a chestful of broken ribs from hitting an opposite direction tree after spinning around several times!), what it boils down to per State Farm, anyhow, is how "collision Damage" is defined. If you hit something coming from above, it's considered an Act of G-d" (theistic or what?) whereas if the damage occurs because of something from below, it's considered your fault. Either/Or. (I DO have an agent and she's the one who explained it.)

Come to think of it, ages ago, a rake hanging on the wall of my garage fell off and damaged my parked car - made a neat little row of dents. I was sure I'd be charged (after all, it was MY defective rake holder), but they DID write that off as an Act of G-d.

It came from above, see?

If other companies operate the same, I'd think you'd have your hail damage covered even without a deductible as with my rake.

I would say each issue has a different answer.

I think it is easier to change auto insurers than homeowner's insurers. So even if your auto insurer took a dim view of paying for hail damage, it is easy to pick up the phone and go to Geico if they raise your rates later. My experience with homeowner's insurance is that you can easily get blackballed for filing too many claims, even small ones.

With that in mind, I would definitely fix the hail damage on the expensive car and file a claim.

On the Kia Soul . . . that's a close call for me. You definitely shouldn't file a claim, but I would think about fixing the damage yourself. We keep our cars a long time, and I don't like to let them look bad. If they still look good at 10 years, we are more likely to keep them. If they look like crap, it starts to bother me, and if fixing $800 of hail damage will keep me happier for 8-10 years, it's a good deal. So I do like to fix noticeable cosmetic body damage, and $800 sounds reasonable.

Regarding the roof . . . I would probably fix all of the damage and file a claim if it is expensive. When you sell, you do not want the new buyers dinging you for unfixed hail damage to a copper roof. I think they have to pay even if the damage is "only cosmetic." Damage is damage. (Maybe you're thinking of product warranties where they often exclude "cosmetic" problems from coverage?).