Photo Credit: clubalfa
Hailstorms are a nightmare for car owners. The destructive force of storms and widespread damage can flood repair shops, leaving drivers stranded as they wait for repairs to their vehicles.
So, how do you protect your vehicle from hail damage when you don’t have a garage or undercover parking? In this post, we will answer some of those questions.Our team of editors independently research, test, and recommend the best products to help you navigate when shopping online. This post contains compensated links, and if you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn a commission. To learn more, read our disclaimer.
7 Ways to Protect Your Car from Hail Damage
While parking your car under a solid roof structure like a steel roof or a garage is best, these ways can help you keep your car safe when you see it’s about to hail. However, never try to protect your car when it’s hailing already as hailstones can cause serious personal injury and even death.
1. Watch the Sky and Monitor the Weather
How can you avoid hail damage? The simplest thing to do is to stay alert when severe weather threatens by monitoring a weather app on your mobile phone.
When the National Weather Service issues warnings for severe thunderstorms, they will also provide alerts if there is potential for hail. We should mention that not all hail is necessarily destructive, though.
Golf ball sized hail can cause considerable damage to cars. (Image Credit: Pixabay
To break glass or dent the sheet metal of cars, hail needs to be bigger than the size of a quarter, while hail that is golf ball sized and larger will cause considerable damage.
The good news is that the majority of hail-producing storms create hail smaller than this, so the likelihood of being caught in such a storm without any warning is statistically low.
2. Invest in a Carport
If you don’t have a garage but have space and a few hundred dollars to spend, it’s smart to purchase a carport. They’re reasonably easy to set up and cost less than the deductible you’d have to pay for any hail damage.
There’s also the added benefit of keeping your car in the shade, which helps to keep it cooler on hot days and prevents UV damage to your paint and interior.
3. Get a Car Cover
Car covers can provide protection if you purchase the correct one. Standard car covers are typically nothing more than fabric. They are intended to protect your vehicle from damage due to UV light, rain, dust, and dirt so they will not adequately protect your car from hail.
Image Credit: desertcart
Amazon does sell a specialized inflatable hail protection cover which will provide the necessary protection. Unfortunately, it’s quite expensive so other options may make more sense for you especially if you don’t live in a particularly hail-prone area.
4. Cover Your Car with Blankets
A poor man’s option to the inflatable car cover might be blankets, which may help to cushion the blow of unusually large hailstones. Make sure you are covering the entire car with blankets, and especially the side windows which are much more easily broken.
5. Place Your Floor Mats over Your Windshield
Another low-cost option that will at least save your windshield glass is using your floor mats to cover your windshield glass. While it won’t protect your side glass or your car’s body, it may keep the windshield from cracking and/or breaking, allowing you to drive your car away after the hailstorm passes.
6. Take Cover in a Safe Location
If you know a hail producing storm is on its way, it’s a good idea to leave the area, or at least find some type of cover if you can’t get away from it.
Do not park your car under a tree—it does not provide adequate protection, and strong winds may bring down branches and/or the tree itself, potentially putting you at risk of injury or death.
Instead, think of things such as covered parking garages, underneath a sturdy gas station roof or bank drive-thru awning, or park on the side of buildings facing away from the direction which the storm is coming from. The key here is to find as much shielding as possible, both from the side and especially for the top of your car.
7. If You’re Caught Driving in a Hailstorm Slow Down and Find a Safe Place to Pull Over
Getting caught in a hailstorm while driving is frightening, but you need to act quickly and calmly. First, stay in your vehicle. Hailstorms can become quite dangerous, producing stones that fall at an exceptionally high speed, which can cause serious bodily harm. Use your car as protection.
Next, slow down. Racing through hail is not going to lessen the damage to your car, in fact, it might make it worse. The combination of you moving through the storm at a high rate of speed combined with the fast fall of the hail is a recipe for disaster.
Your car can also skid on an iced road when the hail starts to cover the ground, so drive safely and slowly.
Finally, look for a safe place to pull over, and find cover if possible by using the tips we just discussed.
Important: Do not stop on the road itself (this can cause a dangerous bottleneck and lead to more accidents). If the shoulder of the road is already filled with cars, you’ll have to find somewhere else to go.
If you cannot find a safe place to stop where shelter is available, angle your car so that the hail is hitting your windshield versus your side windows. The windshield glass is much thicker and can withstand larger hailstones without completely shattering compared to your side or rear windows.
If possible, cover your face and head with a blanket or coat and lie down with your face away from the windows to protect yourself from potential flying glass. Ford has produced a video on how to drive in hail with the above tips and more, which we highly recommend watching, so you know how to deal with hailstorms if you get caught driving in one.Does My Insurance Cover Hail Damage?
It depends. If you have registered for comprehensive coverage on your vehicle, chances are you’re covered for any repair costs after paying your deductible. If you lease or have a loan on your car, you’re required by law to carry both comprehensive and collision coverage.
Once you fully own your vehicle, you’re not required to carry comprehensive coverage, and in many states, you don’t need collision cover either.
At a minimum, you must carry liability insurance to cover the damage and injury of other drivers and property. If your insurance is liability only, then there is no hail damage coverage. For more specific information, check out this article to learn what’s covered, and what’s not.
Conclusion
While hail damage isn’t always preventable, we hope that the tips we’ve provided here will help you be better prepared to protect yourself and your car if you are faced with an impending hailstorm or are caught driving in one.
If you live in a hail-prone area, we’d love to hear any tips you may have to share with others based on your own experiences. Let us know in the comments below. For more information on driving in dangerous conditions, read our article about black ice.
My vehicle suffered hail damage, but the insurance won’t cover the body repairs. How can I hide the damage?
A more cost-effective way to hide hail damage is to have vehicle wrap installed. This is like commercial signage that you see on company vehicles, and it can be applied over any hail damage. The shrink wrap will cover dents and scratches, hiding them until you can afford to have your vehicle panel beaten.
What are some ways I can protect my property from hail damage?
There are a few ways to protect your property from hail damage. With a few strategies, you can prevent broken windows, cracked roof tiles, and damaged paint work. To prevent hail damage to your property:
– Ensure you do routine maintenance to eliminate stray branches that can fall on your roof or get thrown through windows during a storm.
– Close windows and draw curtains to prevent flying debris.
– In hail-prone areas, you can install hail shielding over windows to prevent hailstones striking window glass.
– Place outside furniture under cover to prevent these becoming projectiles.
– Maintain comprehensive homeowner’s insurance.
How can I protect my car’s paint from hail damage?
Providing some barrier between the hail and your car’s body can help lessen dents and prevent scratches to the paint work. Consider keeping a set of moving blankets and cargo straps in your car to cover the bodywork and windows if you are away from home and notice a hailstorm is inbound.
You can also use cardboard boxes or bubble wrap if you have nothing else at hand.