Hail Damage? You Might Want to Call Your Car Insurance Company for Reimbursement

For many, dealing with an incident involving your home or auto insurance can be a hard one. It can be difficult to find funds to cover the out-of-pocket cost when you decide to pay yourself, or figuring out if it's worth it to save a few bucks upfront while shelling out more money in the long term. Overall, deciding how to proceed can be a tough decision to make.

Thanks to a rise in both the frequency and the intensity of hailstorms across the U.S. — even hailstones themselves are getting larger thanks to climate change — people may find themselves weighing these options even more as they wonder whether they should be claiming their car's hail damage through their insurance.

Here's what you need to know about hailstorms and the rising toll they're taking on insurance carriers nationwide.

Hail is a stunning phenomenon that happens within the updraft of a powerful thunderstorm. According to the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NOAA), hailstones are produced when those updrafts suck rain into pockets of the Earth's atmosphere where temperatures are near the freezing mark.

The water drops then turn ice inside the updraft, adding to their size as other water droplets get sucked into the updraft and collide with the growing hailstones.

Once the stones become heavier than the force of the storm's updraft, they can escape those pockets of cold air and fall to the ground. And while they sometimes land harmlessly in fields or empty areas, sometimes those ice balls can plummet to the earth and crash down on homes, cars, and other pieces of personal property, leaving a swath of damage in their wake. 

When it comes to cars, that can mean everything from dented hoods to busted windows.

And for those with busted windows or major dents, getting your car fixed can quickly become a top priority. Depending on what type of insurance policy you have, you may actually be able to get your insurance company to cover at least some of the cost of the repair.

Whether or not you can get your insurance company to pay for that new windshield or some body work all depends on the type of coverage you carry on your car. For example, Progressive insurance says that hail damage is only covered for those who pay for comprehensive coverage.

Even then, they'll only pay for the cost of the repair that exceeds your deductible. For example, if your comprehensive plan has a $500 deductible, and you get a quote saying that it will cost $700 to repair the damage caused by a recent hailstorm, then your insurance company will only cut a check for the $200 difference between your deductible and the price of the repair.

Of course, all insurance policies are different, so if you have questions about what is covered by your policy, you'll want to call your insurance company directly for more information.

Deciding whether to spend the money to fix the damage done to your car will not only depend on your budget but the damage and whether or not it renders your car unfit to drive. 

Hailstorms are one of the most expensive weather events in the U.S., and that doesn't seem like it will change anytime soon. 

That's because climate change is helping to create the perfect recipe for creating super-sized hail, according to a study out of Northern Illinois University, which predicts that hailstones will continue to grow in both size and frequency if something isn't done to limit the amount of greenhouse gas being released into the atmosphere.

The hairy-sounding weather event happens when hailstones reach the size of a grapefruit, which has been popping up in locations across the country.

In the case of extreme damage — or these super-sized stones — you may have no other choice but to fix the damage to your car if you want to be able to continue to drive it.