Hail Damage to Your Car in Michigan: What Insurance Covers and What to Do Next

Is hail damage covered by car insurance in Michigan?

Yes — if you carry comprehensive coverage.

Hail is not a collision. Comprehensive coverage handles damage that isn't caused by a collision, including storm damage, animal strikes, and falling objects — hail included. That covers dents in your sheet metal, cracked or shattered glass, and interior water damage if hail broke a window and rain got in.

What does not cover it:

• Liability only. Liability covers damage you cause to other people and their property. It does nothing for your own vehicle. If you dropped comprehensive to save money on the premium, hail repair comes out of your pocket.
• Collision coverage. Different coverage, different trigger. Collision is for impacts with another vehicle or object.

Comprehensive isn't required by Michigan law. It's usually required by your lender if you're financing or leasing, which is why most drivers with a car payment already have it. Pull up your declarations page and look for a comprehensive line with a deductible next to it — that's your answer.

Will filing a hail claim raise my rates?

Usually not, and that's the part most people get wrong.

Comprehensive claims for weather events aren't rated against you the way an at-fault accident is, because the damage was outside your control — most insurers treat them as non-chargeable. Hail didn't happen because of anything you did.

The nuance: your overall claims history still matters, and stacking several claims in a short window can flag you as higher risk in some insurers' systems. If you've filed twice already this year, ask your agent directly what a third claim does at renewal before you open it.

Should you file at all? Do the deductible math first.

Two numbers decide this: the repair estimate and your comprehensive deductible.

If your deductible is $1,000 and the damage is a handful of shallow dents on the hood, you may come out ahead paying cash and skipping the claim entirely. If hail cracked the windshield, dented six panels, and creased the roof, the estimate is going to clear your deductible several times over and filing is the obvious move. The average auto hail claim runs roughly $4,000 to $5,000 according to State Farm data, and severe storms with large stones can push a repair past $10,000.

You can't do this math without a real estimate. That's the whole reason to get one before you call the adjuster — not after.

One more thing worth checking: some policies carry a separate glass provision with a lower or zero deductible. If hail only got your windshield and nothing else, that's a cheaper path than a full comprehensive claim.

What to do after a hailstorm

1. 1
   Wait until it's safe, then document everything.

   Photograph the car from every angle in good light — wide shots that show the whole panel, then close-ups of individual dents. Dents in flat metal are hard to see in photos; shoot at a low angle so the light rakes across the surface and throws shadows. Get the glass, the mirrors, the roof, and the trunk lid.

2. 2
   Note the date, time, and where the car was parked.

   Insurers cross-reference storm reports. "Parked in my driveway on Oakley Park Road, evening of the 14th" is a stronger claim file than "sometime last week."

3. 3
   Get a repair estimate from a body shop.

   Before you talk numbers with anyone. A shop estimate tells you whether the damage clears your deductible and gives you a real figure to compare against whatever the insurer's adjuster comes back with.

4. 4
   Open the claim with your insurer.

   File under comprehensive. Do it promptly — waiting makes it harder for the insurer to separate hail damage from pre-existing or accident-related damage, which complicates the claim.

5. 5
   Tell them which shop is doing the work.

   You name the shop. They don't. More on that below.

6. 6
   Let the shop and the adjuster settle the estimate.

   Hail claims are frequently written low on the first pass. A shop that does this regularly will document what got missed and supplement the claim.

How hail damage actually gets repaired

Hail is a strange kind of damage — dozens of small impacts spread across horizontal panels, usually with the paint still intact. That opens up repair methods that a normal collision doesn't.

• Dent removal without repainting. When the paint surface isn't broken, many hail dents can be worked out from behind and the original factory finish stays on the car. This is the preferred outcome: it's faster, it's cheaper, and the panel keeps its factory paint, which matters at resale.
• Conventional body and paint work. Deep dents, creased edges, and any spot where the paint cracked need filling, sanding, and refinishing. Panels get blended into adjacent panels so the color match is invisible.
• Glass. Hail cracks windshields, side glass, and sunroofs. Glass usually gets replaced rather than repaired when hail is the cause, because the impact points are numerous rather than a single star break.
• Total loss. It happens with hail more than people expect. If repair costs exceed a set percentage of the vehicle's value, the insurer may declare a total loss and pay the actual cash value minus your deductible. A ten-year-old sedan with a $3,000 book value and $4,500 in hail damage is going to get totaled. If your car is headed that direction, you want a shop that will tell you before you're three weeks into a repair.

Commerce Collision handles all four — dent removal, paint refinishing, auto glass, and total loss evaluations — on all makes and models, domestic, imported, and luxury.

In Michigan, you pick the shop. Not your insurance company.

This is the single most useful thing to know about any insurance claim in this state.

Michigan law prohibits an auto insurer, its employees, agents, and adjusters from unreasonably restricting an insured from using a particular shop for repair work covered by the policy (MCL 500.2110b). The law also requires an insurer to disclose whether it has an agreement with any repair facility, and to inform the insured of the right to choose.

What that means in practice when you call in a hail claim:

• Your insurer may hand you a list of "preferred" or "direct repair program" shops. That's a recommendation, not a requirement.
• You are not obligated to collect multiple estimates or take the lowest one.
• Choosing a shop off their list does not void your claim.

Those shops are in a network because they've agreed to the insurer's pricing and process. That arrangement exists to control the insurer's cost. It isn't inherently bad work — but the shop's first relationship is with the company writing the check, and it's worth knowing that before you hand over the keys.

Hail is nobody's fault. You still get to pick the shop.

Why hail estimates get written light

Hail damage hides. A dent census on a hood can turn up forty impacts under proper lighting and eight in a parking lot on an overcast afternoon. Roofs get skipped. Sunroof surrounds and the tops of door frames get skipped. Damage on a silver or white car is nearly invisible without the right light angle.

That's why the first estimate on a hail claim is so often lower than the actual repair — and why the estimate should come from a body shop that pulls the car inside and inspects it properly, not from a phone photo. If additional damage turns up once work starts, the shop supplements the claim with the insurer. That process is normal and it's the shop's job, not yours.

Hail damage repair in Commerce Township

Commerce Collision is a full-service collision shop on Oakley Park Road, working with all major insurance carriers. Repairs are overseen by Wesam "Sam" Behnam, a Michigan State Certified Master Auto Mechanic certified in every category the state issues, including unitized body structural repairs and collision-related mechanical repair.

We handle the claim side so you don't have to — estimate, documentation, supplements, and direct communication with your adjuster. Towing is available 24/7 if the car isn't safe to drive, and we can coordinate a rental while yours is in the shop.

We're open six days a week, including Saturday, which most shops around here aren't.

Frequently asked questions