Chop the Roof?

S

SA Bill

Not what you might think.

Our poor CX-5 was pummeled by a bad hail storm in San Antonio Texas last week. The insurance adjuster looked at the car today and basically they are going to pay to replace the hood, lift gate and the roof! Soooo...cut off the hail damaged roof and weld on a new roof? Is that how it's done? Concerned also about color matching since our CX-5 is soul red metallic. Can three large new-to-the-vehicle pieces be made to match the doors? I have a vision of a two tone look that isn't good!

Total repair allowance is just over $6K USD. Other than the plethora of dents the only other repairs are to replace the tail lights which were both broken by the hail. At least none of the glass was broken. Two of our other cars had broken windshields.

Soooo...anybody ever had a roof replaced after a hail event? How did it turn out? Any long tern issues?
Curious & Thx,
Bill
 
WOW! You're talking about this much major surgery and your only concern in the paint match? You'd better make damned sure you use a body shop that knows what they're doing. Personally, I would want the car totaled. But then I don't live in Texas where this kind of thing is a fairly regular occurance.
 
In most cases, PDR (paintless dent repair) can remove dents from hail damage.

Do you have any pictures of the damage? if so please post them.
 
rsvinylgraphics said:
In most cases, PDR (paintless dent repair) can remove dents from hail damage.

Do you have any pictures of the damage? if so please post them.
Click to expand...
I've only seen one car with the kind of hail damage were talking about here (we don't get THAT kind of hail in Calif!), but I've had plenty of experience with PDR and I seriously doubt they can do justice to that kind of sheet metal mayhem.
 
We've had three major hail storms since March 17th this year in Dallas / Fort Worth area and two of them hit our area in north of Dallas. The worst hits were at north-east suburb of Wylie where some of the roof got punctured open by softball-sized hail TWICE! Many houses just had a new roof and now got totaled again! Our CX-5 parked outside got damaged by the second hail storm on March 23rd. The windshield was cracked (the only cracked windshield among all cars parked nearby) and cost us $828 to replace! The insurance estimated a total damage of $4,200, including a new hood as the PDR job would exceed the cost for the new hood and paint job. I'm still going to do the PDR on damaged hood with my own expense if the insurance money is not enough to cover it.

A friend of mind had a 2015 CX-5 got hit by large hail in Fort Worth on March 17th on the way to work. His severity was similar to yours, with broken tail lights, outside rearview mirrors. The roof, hood, and liftgate also needed replacement like yours. But his insurance paid him $10,000 for the damage! He didn't want to deal with all the hassles fixing the dents, and would be at least a month without a car, plus the question of roof integrity after the replacement, so he simply just traded in as is and got a brand new 2016.5 CX-5 GT. If I were him, I'd do the same!

I believe your insurance adjuster low-balled your damage comparing to my friend's case. Chopping off the roof is expensive and time consuming. With new hood, roof, and liftgate, your insurance should pay for the paint job for the entire car, not just the replacement parts. The only problem for me is the paint job by those body shop can never be the same as the factory paint, which is why I'd try the hardest to keep our factory paint, even with extra expense out of our own pocket.
 
I don't think that is a good idea because it is so difficult to do the job and also even they matched the paint, the roof strength is not the same. If I were you, send a complaint to your issuance company, see what they will do in your case. If they still insist to have it fix instead total it, let them fix it and sell it.
 
When they repainted one side of my previous car, it was looking like new.
After a few years, at the roof's edge of that new paint it started feeling. It wasn't nice anymore.
You may have a similar issue, after a few years.
How it will fit everything back together? Seals will seal properly? Car will be safe in case of an accident? These should be your main concern.
You should push the insurance company, to total the car.
How much would cost all this repair, it is even worth doing this job? I would assume, that it would be around $15k or more.
My VW, had a door skin replaced(it was screwed on), the glass in that door and it had to be repainted that side and the bill it was $6500.
 
hek8560 said:
I don't think that is a good idea because it is so difficult to do the job and also even they matched the paint, the roof strength is not the same. If I were you, send a complaint to your issuance company, see what they will do in your case. If they still insist to have it fix instead total it, let them fix it and sell it.
Click to expand...
The position of the insurance company is to fix your damaged car with the minimum cost. If a new roof with new paint is cheaper, they won't pay you more with Paintless Dent Repair (PDR). And there is no way to total OP's car as the damage (~$6,000) is a lot less than the book value ($10,000~$15,000?). Unless the car is older, it's hard to total the car with hail damage. Another friend of mine living in the same city had his 2010 Toyota Camry "totaled" with hail damage which requires roof replacement. He could get $10,000, but decided to keep the car with a lesser $5,000 check and paying off the car loan by insurance company.

Unfortunately most states, including Texas, don't accept diminished value claim from damaged cars although we all know the value of the car is diminished even if the car gets fixed.
 
The guy who cleans my furnace had a section of his roof cut out and replaced after his SUV was T-Boned. It wasn't pretty. Had all kinds of problems with door alignment and water leaks. Kind of like getting your chassis bent after an accident. Nothing was the same after that. Should've been totaled. Then there's the resale/trade in value to consider when/if this winds up on a car fax report.
 
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Put the check in you pocket and enjoy your improved, more aerodynamic car!

 
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Roof should be a skin panel, like the door panels. Replacement of these isn't unusual especially in hail country. I doubt you'll lose strength or safety.

Re: Paint. They should repaint the entire car.

I had a car with a lot of hail damage go through all this.
 
They should be able to peel back the head liner and pop the roof dents out manually. If necessary the roof and all other metal body panels are essentially skins and can be replaced. Its really not that major either way.
 
madar said:
The guy who cleans my furnace had a section of his roof cut out and replaced after his SUV was T-Boned. It wasn't pretty. Had all kinds of problems with door alignment and water leaks. Kind of like getting your chassis bent after an accident. Nothing was the same after that. Should've been totaled. Then there's the resale/trade in value to consider when/if this winds up on a car fax report.
Click to expand...

Getting t-boned would result in all kinds of chassis warp that hail can't do.
 
I would strongly recommend totaling the car. Here's the reason: 3 years back went for outdoor trail in Jeep Wrangler. Branches, etc. damaged hood and post insurance did everything (total cost $3000) drove car normally until time to sell it used. Every time potential user came and checked and ran few reports on the car (using VIN) got damages. Did not get a good value for the car. By making these repairs you're effectively loosing more on trade-in value or used car value. Out here, every potential buyer runs such reports... prior to buying used.
 
purplengold said:
They should be able to peel back the head liner and pop the roof dents out manually. If necessary the roof and all other metal body panels are essentially skins and can be replaced. Its really not that major either way.
Click to expand...
(crazy)
 
paris1 said:
I've only seen one car with the kind of hail damage were talking about here (we don't get THAT kind of hail in Calif!), but I've had plenty of experience with PDR and I seriously doubt they can do justice to that kind of sheet metal mayhem.
Click to expand...

Yeah...hood has like 30+ dents so repair would be major to pop them all out and have it look right.
 
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