Hail Damage on a Lease - Advice Needed

[oilerfan4lyfe]

I have a 2017 TLX that I’m leasing until next year. I got caught in the nasty hail storm in the Brentwood area earlier today and have several dents on my car. I’m not too sure what to do about this. I’ve reviewed my lease agreement and it says small dents up to 4 per panel are acceptable. That should cover me but I have way more than 4 on my hood including one that breaks the paint. It does also say that up to 15 rock chips on the hood are acceptable so I wonder if they’ll treat the hail damage the same as a rock chip.

Anyone have ideas on what to do? Do I report to insurance and get the car repaired? Is it feasible to cover them all up with a touch up pen since they’re just small white spots? Compounding to this are scuffs on both rear doors that I’ll need to get fixed regardless but I was going to pay out of pocket instead of going through insurance for them. One of them is rub off from a post and the other looks like someone used a large fork and decided to run it against my door.

I have no interest in keeping the car once the lease comes up.

[shakalaka]

Why wouldn't you go through insurance as it is a not at fault claim and they will fix it for you. The hit will be registered against the car but who cares if you're just giving it back?

[88CRX]

Insurance claim it and get it fixed.

[oilerfan4lyfe]

Wasn’t sure if the hike in insurance would be worth it but it’s also my first time leasing so I’m not sure on this stuff. Thanks for the advice. Am I better off waiting until closer to my lease return date (June 2020) in case my car gets hit again or is it better to just get it over with now/do I have a limited time window for reporting it?

[vtec4life]

Your insurance should not increase from a hail claim, you were not at fault

[shakalaka]

Wasn’t sure if the hike in insurance would be worth it but it’s also my first time leasing so I’m not sure on this stuff. Thanks for the advice. Am I better off waiting until closer to my lease return date (June 2020) in case my car gets hit again or is it better to just get it over with now/do I have a limited time window for reporting it?

It's not at fault and as long as you have full coverage insurance will cover it and it won't impact your rates. For when to repair, really doesn't matter. Hail is the only thing that is going to be covered by insurance so waiting doesn't matter even if you get more damage later unless it's hail again they won't fix it.

[lilmira]

Don't forget your deductible. If the repair cost is comparable to your deductible then there is no point claiming insurance. If it's really just several easy to fix dents, it may be close.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Your insurance should not increase from a hail claim, you were not at fault

It SHOULD not, but let's not forget that this is insurance. I'm nearly positive that it will.

Edit - replace most of those "you" with "The OP" above.
From the insurer's perspective, you have bad luck and many of their other customers don't. If your car is repeatedly vandalized, it's obviously not your fault... But, it keeps happening to YOU so they penalize you for it. They have thousands of customers who magically avoided hail damage today, but you didn't.
Insurance is always there for you... Until you need it.

Edit - I mean The OP, not "you".

[Aleks]

Mine went up when I made a hail claim due to the "no claim discount" going away. Took 3 years of no claims to get that discount back I believe.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Get it fixed for the minimum possible cost (probably just your deductible unless it's higher than repair cost) and having a car that nobody will want unless you give it a way is now the dealer's problem. Huge perk of leasing.

Also if you only have a few dents, find out what the damage threshold of your lease is - you may not even have to do anything at all.

Regarding the other damage, do the bare minimum to get it acceptable.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I recommend taking the car to Ecodentworks and explaining to them your situation and getting a quote.

[oilerfan4lyfe]

Thanks for the advice all. I’ll check out ecodentworks. I only have a 250 deductible so the repairs will easily be much more than that.

[Xtrema]

Your insurance should not increase from a hail claim, you were not at fault

You will have claim history which will impact your ability to leave your insurer and shop for cheaper rate. So while technically not an increase, it will reduce your future options .

OP, your car will be evaluated before lease return and see what they say if you don't want to make a claim.