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Consistently in most hailstorms, there are vulnerable parts that are found broken and require to be ordered more frequently than other parts. A familiarity of these parts is recommended given you should check for these thoroughly. Most commonly, parts that are damaged or broken that need replacement are windscreens and back windows, front and rear lights.  Furthermore, other parts damaged and requiring replacement are window moulds and chrome strips on either side. It is not feasible to repair such parts with paintless dent repair and it is a normal process even under insurance to have these replaced.

Not only can parts be damaged, there is also the possibility of workmanship from other companies in the not so distant past that can cause concern and needs to be noted or the car avoided altogether. Never be surprised about the fact that other PDR companies may have worked previously on a car and especially look out for previous repairs in areas that had experienced hailstorms within the past year or two. A classic example is the Melbourne hailstorms of March 2010 and December 2011. MOre recently, Brisbane was hit by a hailstorm with damage to 1 billion dollars. Unfortunately whilst all the repairs were ongoing, another less significant hailstorm hit again within two months but the same regions were impacted. Many cars would have been in the intersect zones of these two or somehow been unlucky to have been affected by both events. In that case, you certainly need to check for damage from previous events! Unfortunately, given the lack of regulations in this industry, and sometimes irrelevant of this, there will be technicians or companies out there that are not as quality driven. Some PDR technicians who are not experienced in working in hailstorms or driven by profit rather than quality may not have repaired a vehicle in a reasonable manner. Thus arises the issue of old damage or previously work repairs! Remember, once you take on a vehicle and do not take note of the previous damage, you are honouring the whole car’s warranty work! So avoid the vehicle if no agreement is made prior.

The following table is a list of parts that more frequently are replaced due to damage. This of course depends on the intensity of the hailstorms and the style of vehicle, metal gauge and so on. The coloured diagram showing the sections where these parts can be found are listed here. The most common parts are the chromed or plastic moulds as these are very thin and hail dents cannot be repaired effectively and due to pricing not worth the effort anyway.