I've been visiting this forum for sometime now but haven't ever contributed. Well I have a question now that my pickup has bad hail dents in the hood and roof. This is the nicest pickup I've had the pleasure of owning and we have had one of the worst summers for thunderstorms producing hail. I've managed to dodge most of it, but last tuesday my luck ran out and the golf ball sized ice cubes from the sky really messed up my hood. I was curious if I could get my insurance company to pay for an aftermarket hood instead of a stock replacement? anyone tried this before? and if so what hood should i look at getting??? I really like the cowl or ram air hoods.

 

It's not the insurance company that will be doing the repairs; they will pay out whatever the cost is to bring the vehicle back to factory (or pre-damage) specs, then hand you the check or pay the body shop directly.

It's when you select the shop, tell them what changes you want, and so long as it's reasonable, they will perform those modifications with you having to pay for any cost overruns out of pocket.

My front end was damaged due to collision (not my fault) so this was the perfect time for me to switch to the HD/Ltd front bumper assembly. Got the different part number's needed from the dealer and brought that with my truck to the body shop and they will just charge me whatever goes beyond the insurance adjuster's repair estimate, if there is any overage.

Now, in your case, since you want to swap out the entire hood, if the damage only requires "body work" to the hood, well most likely you will have a higher out-of-pocket expense over a "totaled" hood.

The key is to interview for the right body shop that will work with you to accomplish your ultimate goals.

 

If the paint is not cracked or chipped, they most likely will pay for paintless dent repair, which is less money than replacement and painting.

 

Mine had the roof cut off and everything else PDR'd except for a few spots when we got golf ball sized hail here. I could have opted for aftermarket stuff, but insurance would pay no more than what a stock part cost and what it cost for that stock part to be prepped/painted and reinstalled which was not near enough to cover certain aftermarket parts; the rest was all on me.

 

I once had a Jeep GC that was almost totaled from hail-- they ended up cutting and re paneling the whole car. It happened out of state and I'm happy that I don't live where the hail gets that bad. The above posters are right though-- the insurance company takes the quote from the repair shop and they haggle it out. At the end of the repair I got a check from the repair shop for the difference they saved me.

 

UPDATE>>
So after meeting with the adjuster last Monday I have already received his report on what needs fixed on my pickup and there is alot more damager than I thought there was...... The hood needs replaced and the roof may need re skinned depending on what the body shop thinks. The dents that I didn't see were the ones that are on the drivers side where the hail stones put small creases going down the fenders and doors. He said those are easily fixed. But my question now is where can I buy an aftermarket cowl hood and grille? The hail around here has been bad enough this year that the local body shops are booked out 8-12 months right now. So I'm thinking about ordering the parts I want on my pickup and then taking it to a shop about an hour north of here to have everything installed. I did find one steel cowl for about $400. and they allowed me 800 for a hood replacement so that gives me $400 to have it painted still. this is one like i'm looking at. http://www.gcustoms.com/ref707700-20...b9ad24921c1329


thanks

 

The link isn't working for me, maybe it's the iPhone..

The only cowl hood I know of for the 09-11's is the reflexxions hood. Then again I haven't looked much into them..

 

that's the hood! Wish I could find someone that has put that hood on their pickup to hear how it fits compared to the stock ones. I just want to put something on other than stock.

 

A long time ago I found some pictures of it on a silver truck over on F150 forum. Try googling it and searching through the images, I think that is how I came across it.

I wish they would just make it a straight cowl without the stupid cut out/indention in the middle. Why can't it just be smooth?

 

hood is on order and pickup is scheduled to be in the body shop on the 26th. Turns out roof is going to need replaced also from hail damage so it might be in the shop for a couple more weeks than expected.

 

Depending on how good the shop is skinning the roof off and putting a new one one is just a couple days process, or less. Mine was cut off the day I dropped it off, and it had a new one on top the third day.

The hood should look good!

 

We have lots of trucks with hail damage in tornado alley, its sad to see such nice trucks get messed up.

 

i live around dayton ohio and we have had several severe hail storms this year. I have an insurance agency and i have had probably 100 or more hail claims so far. One thing to be careful about is to make sure that the repairs are ALL done. If you skip some of the damage(that may be negligable to you) that they have paid you for in order to spend the money on a mod then your vehicle could be noted as having "unrepaired damage" and the amount that was paid to you for damage that wasnt repaired would be deducted from any future claim. It doesnt sound like that is your intent but thought I would just mention that to you.