In Texas, it’s officially time to start getting prepared for the most dreaded time of year – hail season. The best way to ensure you’re covered is with comprehensive car insurance, however, there are more ways to protect your precious vehicle and your policy rates – at the same time!
From March to May, we all sit around anticipating if and when the hail will hit.
In the insurance industry, we all gear up for hail season. We get the claims phone numbers ready, we speak with our carriers about national catastrophe claims procedures, and so on, in order to prepare for the influx of clients that need to report a hail claim.
Just like the insurance industry, car owners should gear up for hail season also.
Comprehensive Car Insurance
When it comes to covering your car, we’re always happy to write you a policy, but keeping your vehicle adequately protected goes beyond just purchasing an insurance policy.
Filing a claim on your comprehensive car insurance should be a last resort, and you should take measures to avoid having to do so. If you want to keep your insurance rates down, then it’s a good idea to do everything you can to avoid a hail claim.
You won’t find comprehensive coverage the day before a hail storm hits, so it’s important that you have that coverage prior to hail season.
Preparing for Hail Season
We’re going to share six ways that you can better prepare for the hail season and keep your cars, and rates, protected. Your comprehensive car insurance will thank you for it!
Having a garage and keeping your car in it is the best-case scenario for avoiding hail damage, but we understand that not everyone has a garage.
6 Car Tips for Hail Season
- Stay up-to-date on the weather – Keep your car close, and your weather radar closer! It’s always best to have access to a weather radar at all times. Before going out, check the radar to ensure you know when to protect your car if/when a hail storm hits.
- Purchase or rent covered parking – If you don’t have a garage, the next best thing is to purchase, or rent, covered parking, like a carport.
- If driving: safely, and quickly, find covered shelter – Great places to find public, covered shelter: overpasses, gas stations, and parking garages.
- Use hail car covers or blankets – If you don’t have access to ANY covered parking, then do your best to cover your car with a hail car cover specific to your car, or cover it with as many blankets as possible to reduce hail damage.
- Move your car close to a building – If all else fails, park your car close to the side of a building to attempt to shelter it from the storm. If you notice the storm coming from a certain direction, park your car to the opposite side to do your best to avoid it.
- Make sure you have secured adequate comprehensive car insurance prior to the hail season.
We recommend preparing for the hail season and having ready access to covered parking, hail car covers, etc. prior to the hail storm occurring. During a hail storm, it’s important that you stay put in your vehicle, or in a safe shelter. Hail can cause serious bodily injury.
What If You Were Caught In A Hail Storm?
The six tips given are great ways to avoid hail damage, but unfortunately, they don’t guarantee that you won’t end up with hail damage. Mother nature stops for no one and she can come out of nowhere!
A hail claim isn’t the end of the world, especially if you did your due diligence to avoid the hail claim in the first place. If you’re lucky, you may only incur a couple of hail dents and be able to pay for it out of pocket without the use of your insurance.
However, things happen, and it’s important that you have comprehensive car insurance when they do.
If you found yourself in a hail storm and now have hail damage, then first asses how much it would cost to get it repaired. If the cost to repair is over your deductible and you don’t want to pay for the repairs out of pocket, then you can file a claim with your insurance company.
Hail Storms and Insurance Rates
Ultimately, when these catastrophic hail storms hit us and cause thousands of people to file claims, it only makes sense that insurance rates increase. A great way to combat rate increases is to only file claims absolutely necessary. If you can protect your vehicle from hail season and avoid filing claims, then everyone benefits from it, including you!
If you want to know more about how to protect your vehicle and keep your comprehensive car insurance rates down, give us a call!
