Step one: document it before you do anything else

Photograph the vehicle in good, directional light — early morning or late afternoon works well, or a garage with a long overhead fixture. Hail dents are shallow and nearly invisible in flat overcast light, which is exactly the light most people photograph them in.

  • Shoot each horizontal panel separately: hood, roof, trunk lid or tailgate.
  • Get low so a straight edge — a roofline, a garage door, a light bar — reflects across the panel. The distortion in that reflection is the damage.
  • Photograph any cracked paint close up. This changes the repair path.
  • Note the date and, if you know it, the storm. Insurers care about when.

Step two: decide whether to open a claim

This is your decision and it turns on your deductible, your premium, and the actual size of the repair. Hail is commonly handled under comprehensive coverage rather than collision — but whether that is true of your policy is a question for your insurer.

What helps you decide is knowing the real repair number first. A shop can scope the vehicle panel by panel and tell you what the work costs. Then you are comparing an actual figure against your deductible instead of guessing.

Step three: the adjuster's scope

Hail is scoped by counting. An adjuster works panel by panel and records how many dents there are and what size bracket they fall into, usually under a light or a board that makes the dents readable. That count drives the estimate.

Two things commonly get missed in a first scope: damage on vertical or near-vertical surfaces, which people forget to look at, and dents that only show up under proper directional light. A supplement — a revision to the estimate — is a normal part of hail claims when the repairing shop finds more than the initial scope captured. It is not an argument; it is how the process is designed to work.

Step four: why paintless repair is the default for hail

Hail damage is the ideal case for paintless dent repair. The dents are shallow, round, and sit in the middle of large flat panels with good access from behind. Worked properly, the metal returns to shape and the factory finish is never touched.

The alternative on a hail car is a lot of filler and a lot of repainted panels. That is slower, and it leaves the vehicle with refinish work recorded against it — which is a real cost at resale that does not appear on the repair invoice.

Where paintless repair stops

  • Cracked or chipped paint at an impact point needs refinish work.
  • Very large or sharp-edged hail can tear or stretch metal past recovery.
  • Dents on tight body lines or panel edges may not be fully correctable.
  • Damaged glass, trim, mirrors and lights are separate items on the estimate.

You choose the shop

In both Wisconsin and Minnesota, the repair facility is your choice, and this is written into statute rather than being a matter of custom. Wisconsin Statute 632.375 states that no insurer may require repairs to be made by a particular contractor or repair facility, and that a consumer has the right to select the repair facility of their choice.

Minnesota Statute 72A.201 treats requiring a particular shop as an unfair settlement practice, requires insurers to advise you of your right to choose, and directs them to stop trying to influence that choice once you have made it.

An insurer may still recommend a network shop, and that can be a perfectly good option. A recommendation is not an assignment. If you would rather have the work done somewhere else, say so.

A practical checklist

  • Photograph everything in directional light before you call anyone.
  • Get a real repair scope so you know the number.
  • Decide about the claim with that number in hand.
  • Ask any shop what percentage of the vehicle they expect to do paintless and what they expect to refinish.
  • Keep every document — scope sheets, photos, supplements.