I thought that I would share some of the pictures that Austin Body works just emailed me. When they were giving me an estimate, they went around the car and put a little piece of masking tape on every dent on the car. That way they can see what kind of damage there is in a photograph. By the way, they didn't put any tape on the hood because it was so bad the whole thing would have been one piece of tape. All I want out of this whole ordeal is front lip, mazdaspeed sides, and the rear under spoiler pieces.

CanaryRX8.....were your bumpers dented? My front and rear bumpers are the only things that didn't sustain any damage since they're somewhat compliant. Just wondering if yours are okay.

Holy Cow y'all!

We had some nasty weather, but not like that! Hope you can "make lemonade outta lemons" as someone wrote-

Derek

holy crap, they accidentally painted mine gray and put tape all over it! lol Seriously though, my bumpers didn't get dinged up either, they were the only thing (and the glass) that survived. My hood was awful as well, you can kinda' see it in my pictures (I'm in dire need of a new camera, but looks like all my "fun" money is going towards these repairs) and it appears to me to have suffered the most out of the whole car, with the roof coming in a close second. Last I heard in the news the dollar amount from everything is over 100 million (yikes!). I would have loved to get a kit etc.. out of this but with my divorce and all that going on, I just don't have the funds, I will be getting shaved emblems though so I'm stoked on that, plus a brand new paint job will be nice too! just wish I could have it back sooner, May 10th is a lonnnng way off :p

you're not getting it back until may 10th? Wow. Maybe I should take my car back to Houston where my parents are since they won't have so many people trying to get the same thing fixed. Eitherway, i guess it's going to be a while. Did you already pick up an insurance check?

no check as when i talked to the guy yesterday he mentioned that the guy that came out left a lot of stuff out of the estimate, it sounded like he more or less compensated for parts, but he left a lot R&I time out (time to take apart stuff before you paint it basically) so last I heard I was at 8500 bucks, now it looks like it's going to shoot up more.

damn... that really sucks to get your 8 all bumped like that, hrmmm i live in houston and i hail did come that one time and i think god i didnt buy my 8 at the time.

thing is when the hailstorm hit, my dad told me to pull out my mom's expedition and put in the rx-7 so it wouldnt dent it

hopefully you got a laught out of that

*praying your 8 is ok*

dang, your dad has his priorities straight! lol I'm pretty optimistic it will all turn out ok, just going to take a lot of patience and a small chunk o' change to boot :)

Man was I thinking about this thread as I drove from Lincoln to Minnestota yesterday!! We went through at least 4 stretches of hail in Iowa and even pulled off under an overpass at one time. It must have been soft and never exceeded more than marble size and I don't see any damage today.

the smaller stuuf usually doesn't do anything, particularly the smaller, perfectly round stuff. From my experience, the damage comes when the pieces sitck together as they are falling forming these giant "ice-cube balls" with sharp edges, weight etc.. they look like crystal tocks by the time they reach their target. That's when you get thrashed, and to anyone who has ever gotten caught outside with the little stuff and you know how much that stuff hurts when it hits, the bigger stuff can really do damage. I'm very glad we were indoors and safe when all this happened, as we could have been serioulsy hurt if we got caught outside in it. is it May yet?

got the check today for 8201.00, going to have to call the body shop on Monday as they were telling me they were up to 8500.00 etc.. dang I mis my 8, I really forgot how great it is to have such a fun car :p

Your check should be minus your deductible so it seems you made out alright. Happy to hear things are going smoothly thus far.

yup, glad i got it in the shop as quickly as I did, from what I hear May is pretty quick as far as getting it back

Just a quick insurance question. Did they write the check to you because you own the car outright? I was under the impression that when you dont own the car completely, that they write the check directly to the body shop.

I don't think that has anything to do with it. Under normal circumstances, if you have picked a shop to do the work AND they are "approved" by your insurance you usually never see a check. They pay the body shop direct, you pay the deductible (if any) to the shop when you get your car back. If they don't work with the shop, they will usually give you a check made out to you and them both. So it does neither any good without both signing it.

Back in the day, you would get 3 estimates from the highest price shops in town. Then get a check and take your car to a good, but much cheaper shop. The extra helped cover your deductible. They are trying to eliminate this "waste" in the system - but also if you work with an approved shop then any hidden damage, etc is no big deal.

With the special teams they bring in - like for tornadoes or hail wide-spread. They mad give you a check made out to you and let you pick a shop and get the work done. If you need more you call them back. They do this since they have so many claims the normal practices get in the way - it also makes folks feel better to be handed a check right away.

BTW, the difference between the estimate and the check could be a deductible - but I was thinking an "Act of God" like hail would have no deductible.

Dennis

Well it's interesting as the check is made out to me and the body shop, I can't do anything with it without their signature, which is probably a good thing since I could easily see that money disappear in my account while I use it for bills etc. not remembering I still have a car to pick up later, the guy I spoke to yesterday said they are waiting for the insurance guy to come back out or cut another check as he was saying they missed a bunch of stuff (like labor costs etc.) Unfortunately my comprehensive has a deductible so there goes that, I don't mind that so much as I'm just glad I had it in the first place :)

Everytime ive gotten checks from insurance claims i make sure they make it out to just me. My friend works at a body shop so i usually keep a big chunk. Ching Ching$$$$$$$$

Wow... it really hurts to look at these.

He got it back today. I can't wait to see how it looks now. We have a meet this weekend.

wow, this thread really gave me a new perspective on my situation. last friday i hit a HUGE pothole and bent both rims on the passenger side. to make a long story short, my car has been in the shop for a week and i was supposed to get it back today, but they didnt have it finished yet. i was pissed because i was so excited to get it back today and now i have to wait another day. my rims are NOTHING in comparison to the damage you guys have sustained. i thought i had it bad being without my car for a week, let alone a month. i guess i should be thankful that i only had a minor incident. sorry about your guys' cars.

GOD DAMN!! sorry about that man.

new pics can be seen here :)

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-multimedia-photo-gallery-6/happy-ending-60669/

Any Advice?
 

Canary,

I've got a winning blue 8 that had somewhat-minor (thankfully!) damage on the hood from the same storm. I've got an apointment with Beasley's body shop on Wednesday the 11th, so how would you rate their service? Any advice on how to deal with them for a cynical person who hates someone else touching his car? When I talked to them on the phone it went from "we'll need it freshly washed and for for several hours" to "Just bring it in and we'll do everything for you" when I brought up my insurance company. Strange, eh :)

Does anyone else have any recommendations? Are there any other good body or paintless removal shops? Thank goodness my damage is all hood except for one ding on each front wheel well. Nobody will give me a straight-up price for a new hood, but I guess new equipment means painting, etc.

I'll drink a beer for your car tonight.... and maybe another since it came back to you so well judging by the other thread.

EDIT: I found this thread with a different search string: https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ht=hail+damage

I'm still interested in your experience with Beasley though...

man that really sucks, i'm sorry to hear it :(

i read the whole thread, nice to hear you got it back

Sorry to hear about the damage but did you try the car to see if it went any faster or increased your mpg? Maybe the aerodynamics were better, as on a golf ball. If so, you should patent the idea and anyone else who gets hail damage would have to pay you a royalty! Seriously, I hope you get good results from the body shop.