[ramnaresh_2000]

My father's 4 months old Grand i10 Nios was hit by hailstroms on 18th Mar'23 in my hometown. My father was traveling back from work to home and it suddenly rained hailstroms. The night he parked the vehicle and accessed the damage next day.

He called me with disappointment and shared pics on whatsapp. I could count almost 40 dents from the pics and videos he shared. I visited my hometown the weekend and the damage was far worse than pictures.

He was clueless and said let's get it fully painted if it gets any major scratches later. I then asked him to claim insurance, he was not sure and said this is not covered. A quick google search reveals otherwise, it is covered as part of comprehensive cover.

I quickly booked an appointment in Fusion Hyundai, Hyderabad for insurance claim. I was assigned SA within minutes. He was not 100% sure if this will be covered by insurance and they already had a new Creta waiting for approval which had similar damages. I pressed strongly and said it has to be covered and I will escalate to IRDAI if required.

Claim was made, surveyor visited the next day and asked for below

• A letter requesting to consider for claim as the incident occurred 8 days back (As per him any claim has to be made within 7 days of incident)
• Any videos which we took during the incident (we had none)
• Paper clipping or news article about hailstrom on the specified date
• Any other videos of hailstrom from same region

Submitted everything apart from live video. The claim was made, and the wait started. Service center claimed 81k from insurance company, they negotiated to 51k plus 1k for claiming which we had to pay. 1200 for teflon and 1200 for 3M internal cleaning.

They got approval for 51k. The work started and the SA shared regular updates via Whatsapp. The service center took 3 days to complete the job (impressive). All parts apart from bumpers and lower part of doors were re-painted.

I will let the pictures do the talking

Dents: Win prizes for guessing the exact count of dents













Work in progress:

















Final output:













Bill breakdown:



Approval email from Universal Sampo



Lessons learned:

• Always try to claim the insurance on the same day when the incident occurred
• If in doubt if it is covered in insurance or not, still make the claim, at the max they will reject it
• In case of unfortunate incidents like hailstorm etc, always take a video and pictures when the incident occurs
• Keep a copy of news articles to share with insurance company

100% dents were not covered. A keen eye would pickup a few dents. Service center claimed only 90% would be removed and minute dents are hard to remove and will be filled with putty, something which we have to live with.

Total process took around 2 weeks. Well done Fusion Hyundai and Universal Sampo. You earned my respects and a lifelong loyal customer.

[ike]

I wonder how a sunroof would have fared in a hailstorm.

[bordeaux]

I once (several years ago with Bharti Axa) claimed insurance almost 45 days after an accident. Luckily I had the toll receipt when the accident happened. I was let off with a stern warning. Insurance paid up. One must raise a claim request immediately irrespective of when you want to get your vehicle repaired.

Also, I don't think you have to keep newspaper clipping etc. The onus is not on you to prove that there was a hailstorm. What if you were driving from Hyderabad to Vishakapatnam and there was a hailstorm somewhere in between? You won't halt there overnight waiting for the next day's newspaper.

[Revvman]

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

They got approval for 51k. The work started and the SA shared regular updates via Whatsapp.
100% dents were not covered. A keen eye would pickup a few dents. Service center claimed only 90% would be removed and minute dents are hard to remove and will be filled with putty, something which we have to live with.

IMO, you were not served right by the ASC..... I had a similar incident many years back with my Indigo being hit by a hailstorm much worse and the entire car from bonnet till boot had dents the size of golf balls, front windshield was shattered, one side fenders and doors were dented and everything including denting, painting was covered by the insurance. Also, no photographic or videographic evidence was asked for as it was right there for everyone to see. The only difference being that I took the car to ASC right on the next day of this incident.

Originally Posted by ike

I wonder how a sunroof would have fared in a hailstorm.

It wouldn't hold up IMO! I've seen solid hailstorms first hand and if the hails are big enough, they shatter the whole windshield, let alone the sunroof.

Hi Mods, couldn't find how to merge the 2 replies after I had already posted. Pls. do the needful.

[JReacher13]

The recent hailstorms in and around Hyderabad have wrecked havoc on cars. I have seen at least 4 cars in my office with these micro dents all over the body. The damage is more pronounced on Magnite and Seltos among the cars I noticed. It's a conundrum whether to get them corrected or not.

[vidyanand]

Originally Posted by ike

I wonder how a sunroof would have fared in a hailstorm.

Originally Posted by Revvman

It wouldn't hold up IMO! I've seen solid hailstorms first hand and if the hails are big enough, they shatter the whole windshield, let alone the sunroof.

My Civic when faced hailstorm while I was in US, the roof and bonnet of the car had enough damage but neither the sunroof or windshield was affected. I would believe its due to the shape of the hails which are almost round most of the time. Remember even if you hammer on the window of the car it does not break/shatter but same hemmer on the body will have considerable damage. Windshield does break more than the sunroof for the same reason. Also angle of the hails on the windshield reduces or increases the impact.

After every hailstorm, major insurers arrange a camp in a big parking lot to do a on-spot inspection, estimate and approval. Sunroof damages are none or very rare.

[pravint]

Originally Posted by ike

I wonder how a sunroof would have fared in a hailstorm.

Same as windshield glass, I dont see any damage on windshield.
The materials used for sunroof and windshield are almost same.

[ramnaresh_2000]

Originally Posted by bordeaux

Also, I don't think you have to keep newspaper clipping etc. The onus is not on you to prove that there was a hailstorm.

Any insurance company will try their best to reject the claims by trying to find flaws in our claims. Many use delay tactics. Newspaper clippings can also be provided from online sources and not just local newspapers. In my case I provided both offline paper clippings and links to online news. The more genuine information you provide, the better the chances of your claim getting approved.

[ssathiyanarayan]

Hi ramnaresh_2000,
Sorry to hear about the incident and glad that you came out of the same. It's a good learning for me on the insurance claim part though. I honestly thought that this was not covered as part of insurance. Nice post with details to help others equally on handling such issues in future. Wishing you happy miles on your steed and without any troubels.

Sathiya Narayanan. S
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