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Hail and other damage: lessons learned, and protection question...

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by MrPete, Jul 30, 2014.

  1. MrPete

    MrPete Active Member

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    My 2011 Prius got whacked -- three times! -- this summer. I've learned several lessons from this that I share below.

    I also have a question I've not seen answered anywhere: do any of the good car covers (eg Covercraft Evolution 4) protect from real hail? Let's say 1/2 to 3/4 inch. I have no illusions about the really big stuff.

    On to lessons, beginning with what happened to my car:

    * It was outdoors during a significant hail storm, lots of 1/2 to 3/4 inch hail. Dings on every horizontal surface and more.

    * (While waiting for the hail repair appointment) someone backed into my car while parked in a parking lot. Busted the front bumper. Fortunately they felt guilty and left a note!

    * The day before the repair appointment, while parked at WalMart someone bashed in the right-rear door. No note.

    Lessons Learned

    1) I reported the WalMart accident to the police and called WalMart, asking them to preserve any video evidence (they have very good parking lot cams!) Got a call back a few minutes later: "Sir, no car hit you. It was a windy day and a whole line of shopping carts from more than three rows away aimed at your car, bashed in the door and kept going. If you will stop by to fill out some paperwork, WalMart will be happy to pay for all the damage." WOW!

    Lesson learned: Definitely worth following through on a parking lot accident if there's any chance a security cam may have seen somethign. I never would have guessed.

    2) All modern Prii doors have a "skin" made of low-weight/high-strength steel. It can not be heated without losing its protective qualities. The skin was non-repairable and had to be replaced. $1700+

    Lesson learned: the high tech surface is great but adds significant cost to repairs.

    3) The front end being bashed in... turns out the "bumper" we see is not the bumper. It is what they call a "bumper cover" made of plastic. There's a real bumper hiding behind the pretty bit, with real protective capability. In my case, the bumper cover had an issue but not the bumper. Unfortunately, they managed to ding it badly enough that it had to be replaced. Can't PDR (Paintless Dent Removal) a plastic panel. Even worse, I have a clear bra, which was punctured and non-repairable. Clear bra on the front is one big, expensive sheet. Total cost for being backed into: $1400.

    Lesson learned: clear bras are great but costly to replace
    Lesson learned: yes these cars DO have a real bumper
    Lesson learned: however, the bumper cover can be costly to repair

    4) All that hail damage... they PDR'd as much as they could, but on a Prius that's not cheap. In general, proper PDR requires removing the item from the car, or gaining access from the other side. So the roof repair required dropping the ceiling panel (over four hours of labor!)... plus a few hundred dents... $2500 just for the roof. The hood is often not repairable: they make it lightweight by using welded on braces (look under your hood)... which make access from the backside almost impossible in many situations. New hood required (and more clear bra replacement.) The body shop guy had a yelling match with insurance, because insurance rates them on how much repair work they can do (vs replace.) His statement: "tell Toyota to go back to more repairable materials and methods, if you want repairable cars." Total hail repair cost: $4500.

    Lesson learned: PDR in simple cases is valuable, but it still can be very costly.
    Lesson learned: Clear bra absolutely protects my car from rocks etc... it also adds to the cost of any repair.
    Lesson learned: still more specialized construction that's optimized for weight, etc... but not for low cost repairability.

    Hope my pain helps someone! And I hope someone knows something about Car Covers and Hail protection.
     
    Tideland Prius and ftl like this.
  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Good to know. I'm just outside of Hailstone Alley and I've been lucky so far - just one hit from a 15-20mm hailstone on the roof somewhere (either the moonroof or the solar panel, I think it was the solar panel) (I was at the edge of the storm, moving 90° from its motion. That storm eventually dropped quarter to loonie size hail downtown)
     
  3. adamace1

    adamace1 Senior Member

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    The hood is not made of steel so I think that's why PDR wont work.
     
  4. phoenixgreg

    phoenixgreg Senior member

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    Wow, talk about a run of bad luck! Maybe your Prius is jinxed! I hope you have calmer parking days ahead after all these repairs.