Hail Damage and Collision Claims Process Explained

A) The unfortunate accident or act of nature damages your vehicle.

B) Customer calls insurance company and notifies them the incident and date of loss.

C) The insurance company shedules an appointment to come to the customers location or the insurance company's own brick and mortor claims drive thru to perform an initial estimate of covered damages. In the event of a extreme weather event such as a hail storm, the insurance company may direct the insured to a temporay structure ( tent or strusture usually centered near the event) called a claims drive thru to provide an initial estimate of repairing the insurds vehicle. Note: During an extreme weather event and proceeding insurance company response the estimate provided to the insured are almost never a true reflection of actual damages because of the nature of these types of events. Meaning the insurance companies main objective is to get an estimate in the insureds hands so they can take this estimate to the body shop or their choosing to begin the repair process. Initial insurance estimates often don't include a thurough review of the damages due to time constraints and the number of claims that the insurance company needs to write during these types of events. In short the estimate will be incomplete according to national averages and must be corrected by the repairer in the form of a supplement. The insurance company may also direct the insured to a "preferred shop", one that the insurance company has made arrangements with to provide the insurance company discounts on labor and/or parts to provide this initial estimate.These "preferred shops" often pose as representatives of the insurance company in an obvious effort to persuade you to leave you car at thier shop for the repairs. Your right to choose is protected by Texas Code, so any attempt at making you believe your car must be left at the place where your insurance company directed you to recieve your initial estimate for repairs is illegal. Be sure to ask your claims adjuster for a rental car authorization number if you are paying for it in your policy at this meeting. Your shop of choice will need it to arrange your rental car

D) Once you have recieved an intial estimate you may proceed to your shop of choice to begin the repair process.
     
     1. The auto body repairer will review the insurance companies estimate and make sure that all damage or repair operations are included in the initial estimate, National averages show that 80% of all intitial estimates provided by all insurance companies are supplemented. Meaning there are almost always missing repair operations that will have to be supplemented with you insurance company before those repairs or labor operations can begin.
   
     2. The body shop arranges for your rental vehicle for the estimated duration of your repairs if needed.

E) Repairs begin
   
     1) A body shop should update you frequently while your repairs are underway.

     2) You will be phoned or emailed when repairs are completed and your repaired vehicle is cleaned ready to be given back to you (delivery).

     3) You should inspect the repair area for repair quality before taking delivery of your vehicle

     4) At the delivery you should receive your final invoice and any warranties from your repaired and be on you way back to your busy life,

Two Veteran and Family owned Locations to serve you:

King of the Ding Auto Body
12307 Roxie Drive Suite 108
Austin, TX. 78729
(512) 257-8306

King of the Ding Auto Body
1523 Northwest Blvd. Suite 110
Georgetown, TX. 78628
(512) 688-5080

Google Reviews - Yelp Reviews

Mobile Auto Body Repair Scam Alert At Local Grocery Stores

Previously covered in white paste once removed revealed 4 drill holes and rust. 

Attempted to remove dent with crow bar cracked paint. 

Widened drain hole with crow bar to push out dent.

Scam Alert! Once again I am compelled to warn shoppers at local areas grocery stores to be weary of people who approach you in the parking lot offering to repair a dent in your vehicle. In the last two weeks, I have had two victims of this scam visit my shop to have their vehicles repaired. These SCAMMERS have no other objective but to remove cash from your pocket and place it in theirs. What they perform is an out right scam and they have no intention or ability to repair your car. I have posted some photos of their latest victim's minivan  in the hope that it will save the next innocent shopper a loss of capitol and further damage to their second most valuable purchase. It is our duty to share this info with friends, family and colleagues in addition to local law enforcement if possible. So please Tweet, Facebook or send up smoke signals but please get the word out and save a neighbor a headache. If it sounds to good to be true, it is! A wise man once said and I qoute," The sting of a poor repair far out last the satisfaction of a cheap price". Knowledge is power, I employ you to spread the word! 

Insurance companies approve and prefer the King of the Ding paintless dent repair process

Paintless dent repair or PDR has come a long way since it's infancy in the early 1990's. The process has evolved from repairing very small dents on flat sheet metal to very large dents and body line or design features. This evolution is due to ongoing training and education to include advancement in technology. In the last decade Insurance providers have come to embraced the process as the most effective method of repairing minor dents, door dings and hail damage. Conventional body shops have also come to accept and respect the process as a viable alternative method of repairing light hits and hail damage. Most body shops bring in outside paintless dent repair companies like ours to execute paintless dent repairs for vehicles damage by hail or minor door dings versus hiring and training there own employees. Body shops have discovered that there is an extreme learning curve to produce and top notch paintless dent repair technician and choose to forgo that process by hiring a professional paintless dent repair company like ours.

The general public however, is not as aware of the benefits and limitations of the PDR process. So we have included a few links below to aid in educating the public on the paintless dent repair process.

Farmers Insurance on Paintless dent repair (PDR) http://www.farmers.com/paintless_dent_repair.html

State Farm on Paintless dent repair (PDR) http://www.statefarm.com/insurance/claim-center/auto/paintless-dent-repair.asp

Progressive on Paintless dent repair (PDR) http://www.progressive.com/newsroom/2005/April/Hail-damage.aspx

Got a Ding? Call the King http://www.kingoftheding.biz/ (512) 257-8306 Reviews

You have the right to choose where you vehicle is repaired. If your insurance company steers you to one of there "preferred" facilities it my not be a shop that is consistently producing the best repairs. It's a good idea to  contact the Better Business Bureau or get referrals from friends. Reading reviews online will also reveal which shop is producing the best repairs. Don't forget to ask the shop that you choose how PDR works and how they access hard to reach areas to make the repair. The best method is to pull the dent from the outside rather than drilling holes to access the dent from beneath the panel in those hard to reach areas.

King of the Ding Business Review in Austin, TX - Central, Coastal, Southwest Texas and the Permian Basin BBB

King of the Ding Business Review in Austin, TX - Central, Coastal, Southwest Texas and the Permian Basin BBB

Hail chasers doing horrible paintless dent repair work in Austin Texas! Enough is Enough!

Roof rail- cracked paint (bad paintless dent repair) and attempt to hide it by sanding to a dull finish! Horrible!

A spent glue tab! Delivered to the customer just like you see here! Terrible! 

The biggest hole I've have ever seen on a hood. looks like he signed it.  Drill bit skipped across panel. No plug, no sealer.

Rusty drill hole also on hood. Not needed, no plug, no sealer! All of the above photos are on the same vehicle. 

As a matter of personal policy I rarely speak poorly of our industry as I never want to cast a bad light on our industry as a whole. But this has to STOP!  This blog is not for the local shops in Austin, TX. that are putting out top quality work, you know who you are.  I am very disappointed with some of these hail chaser's who come to town after a storm and perform cut rate "repairs" that leave local residents and dealers with ruined vehicles.  I've listened to countless stories from innocent customers seeking help for shoddy repairs that they have received at the hands of hail chasers that have long moved on to their next storm location. Customers who's vehicles where sometimes delivered to them at night time only to discovered at first light that half of their vehicle was repaired and the other half neglected. My heart goes out to the people I have spoken with and have helped with these bad repairs.

Today (02/24/2011) I received into my shop a  2007 Toyota Armada (MSRP of 46,000) which was "repaired" by a hail chaser. I spent more time repairing the old hail damage dents than the hail damage I was hired to repair. It was very frustrating for me to have to knock down so many improperly repaired dents. So I decided to relieve some stress and express myself here on our blog. Above are some photo's of the shoddy repairs, mostly huge drill holes, cracked paint, poor sanding to cover up poor workmanship and most impressive was the spent glue tab still stuck on the roof after a year and a half. My initial thought was that the customer was looking for repairs on the cheap and they got what they paid for, but then I resolved that nobody deserves this type of service no matter what they paid. There are lots on local paintless dent repair shops in Austin that will take the time to repair your vehicle correctly. King of the Ding employs a no drill policy for hail damage repair and only delivers perfect repairs. I employ you to seek out  local BBB accredited businesses, with plenty of references and user reviews. Know who you are doing business with, and please don't become another statistic who has to pay more to get it done right. Please visit our website at http://www.kingoftheding.biz or visit our location at 12307 Roxie Dr. Ste 108 Austin, TX 78759 or call 512-257-8306 for more information. IF YOU DON'T USE US, PLEASE ALLOW US TO RECOMMEND YOUR NEXT BEST OPTION. 

Beware of people who approach you in parking lots offering to "fix" your dents!

Bad dent repair. Cracked paint. This dent will now need to be repaired and repainted. It would have been an easy repair for a qualified paintless dent repair technician.

The economy is tough, and people are looking for the cheap" fix" but it can end up costing you more to undo that  cheap "fix". There are scam artist all over the country, cruising parking lots looking for dented vehicles and offering to repair your vehicle on the spot and on the cheap. This investigative report will give you insight into what to look for and hopefully help you make a good decision on where to have your vehicles dent and dings repaired. These tips should aid you in choosing a reputable repair provider.

1. Always use a company with a verifiable address
2. Never have work performed without an estimate or work order.
3. Write down the name and tag number of the person approaching you.( useful for police)
4. Call the phone number and verify that the individual you are speaking with is an actual employee of the company they are representing.
5. Use your good judgement. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.
6. If referred to a website by the individual, call any phone number listed and verify their identity.

If you are in Austin Texas, King of the Ding is located at 12307 Roxie Dr Austin, TX 78729. Call 512-257-8306 for a free estimate or just stop by, we are hear to help.

Filing an automotive hail damage claim will not increase your insurance premium!

Many Insurance policy holders are reluctant to file a claim for damages to their vehicles caused by hail storms Many of these policy holders never even file a claim for fear of their insurance company increasing their premium. This is an absolute falsehood no matter what anyone tells you. It is unlawful for any insurance company to raise, or threaten to raise any single individuals insurance premium due to an "Act of God". Hail damage is considered an "Act of nature", and is covered under the comprehensive section of your policy. King of the Ding of Austin is an approved provider for all major insurance companies and is able to handle every aspect of your claim to ensure that your vehicle is repaired to pre-damaged condition. We are locally owned and operated at 12307 Roxie Dr Ste 108 Austin, TX 78759 .  Got a ding? Call the King!