How a North Texas hail claim actually goes
A North Texas hail claim runs in four steps: a free ten-minute inspection, a written panel-by-panel dent map and paintless dent repair estimate built before the claim is filed, the claim filed by the vehicle owner with that documentation in hand, and the repair placed with a vetted PDR facility. North Texas Hail Guy prepares the documentation and estimate and can attend the insurer's inspection as the repair shop's estimator; the owner files and controls the claim. Typical PDR repair time is one day for light damage and up to five days or more for extensive damage.
Nothing here is complicated. It is just that most of it does not get done, and that is where the money goes missing.
Plain disclosure
Lance Rankin is not a licensed public insurance adjuster and is not an attorney. North Texas Hail Guy does not file, adjust, negotiate or settle insurance claims and does not represent you in dealings with your insurance company. What I do is inspect and document hail damage and prepare a written paintless dent repair estimate. I am paid a commission by the repair facility when a vehicle is repaired there.
The four steps
In order, with what actually happens in each one.
Free 10-minute inspection
I come to you, or you meet me in Roanoke. I go over the vehicle panel by panel in the right light and count the dents. If the damage is not worth filing on, I say so and that is the end of it.
Every dent documented
Hail claims get underpaid when panels get missed. I build a written dent map - panel by panel, dent count, size - photograph it, and turn it into a line-by-line paintless dent repair estimate. Those documents are yours to keep, whether or not you repair with us.
You file. I hand you the evidence
You call your insurance company and open the claim yourself - it is about a ten-minute call - and you go into it holding photographs and a written estimate. If you want, we go through the documents together first so you know exactly what you are describing. If your policy includes rental reimbursement, we arrange the rental as part of the claim.
I meet your adjuster, then the repair
When your insurer sends someone to look at the vehicle, you are welcome to have me there as your shop's estimator, to walk the panels and answer questions about my estimate. Then your vehicle goes to a paintless dent repair facility I have vetted, and I check the finished work before you collect it.
Step one: the inspection, and why it is free
Hail damage is genuinely hard to see. It hides in reflections. A roof that looks clean from six feet away can have sixty dents in it under a PDR light board, and a hood that looks destroyed in a parking lot can turn out to be forty shallow dents that a technician moves in an afternoon. Neither of us can guess.
So I look at it properly, in the right light, panel by panel. Then I tell you one of three things: there is not enough damage here to be worth a claim; there is damage and it is close to your deductible so here is the math; or there is real damage and you should file. The first answer is the one nobody expects to hear from someone in this business, and it is the reason the inspection is free.
Step two: the dent map, and why it is the whole job
An adjuster writing a hail estimate is working fast, often outdoors, often on a vehicle that is one of dozens that week. Panels get missed. Dent counts get rounded down. The roof gets written as light when it is moderate. None of that is malice; it is the conditions.
The counter to it is a document. Before anything gets filed, I write down every panel, the dent count on it, and the size band, and I photograph it. When the carrier estimate comes back short a panel, we are not arguing about memory. We are comparing two documents.
Where claims usually go wrong
Roofs and hoods, because they take the most impacts and are hardest to see. Aluminum panels, because they cost more to repair and get written as steel. And supplements that nobody ever files, because the owner did not know a supplement was a thing.
Step three: you file, holding the evidence
You open the claim. It is a phone call or a few taps in your carrier's app and it takes about ten minutes — and you make it holding photographs and a written repair estimate, which is a different conversation from the one most people have. If you want, we sit down and go through the documents first so you know exactly what you are describing. What I will not do is call them for you or speak for you: under Texas law a person paid on the repair cannot act as your representative with your insurer, and I would rather tell you that than pretend otherwise.
Texas puts real deadlines on your carrier once you file: acknowledge the claim and begin investigating within 15 days, accept or reject in writing within 15 business days of receiving everything requested, pay within 5 business days of agreeing to pay. Miss those by enough and statutory interest attaches. Knowing that changes the tone of a phone call, which is why it is on this site. Rental reimbursement, if you carry it, is arranged through your carrier — it is an optional coverage, and anyone promising you a free rental without first asking what you carry is telling you something they do not know yet.
Step four: I meet your adjuster, then the repair
When your insurance company sends someone to look at the vehicle, you are welcome to have me there as your repair shop's estimator. I walk the panels with them, point out what I documented, and answer factual questions about what my estimate covers and why paintless dent repair takes the hours it takes. Texas explicitly allows a repair shop to do that. What it does not allow is me arguing your coverage or negotiating your settlement, so I do not.
Then the repair. Paintless dent repair is a craft skill — the same vehicle comes back flawless or comes back with high spots depending entirely on who worked it. I place vehicles with facilities I have watched, and I check the finished work before you collect it. If a shop's work slips I stop sending vehicles there, which is a freedom I only have because I do not own one.
This page is general information about how hail claims work in Texas, not legal or insurance advice. Your policy controls your claim. For questions about Texas insurance rules, the Texas Department of Insurance publishes free consumer guides.
Questions people actually ask
How long does the inspection take?
About ten minutes for a car, a little longer for a crew-cab truck. Most of that is the roof and hood, which is where the dent count actually lives.
Do I need to file the claim before I call you?
Ideally not. Call me the same week, let me document the vehicle, then file — once a claim is open the carrier's estimate becomes the anchor, and it is far easier to get the damage counted before that number exists than to revisit it afterwards. Do not let that turn into waiting, though. Your policy requires prompt notice of loss, so this is a matter of days, not weeks.
What if I already filed and the estimate looks low?
Call me anyway. Supplemental estimates exist precisely for this, and a written dent map with photographs is what supports one. I prepare the supplement and give it to you; you decide whether to send it. If the disagreement is about the amount rather than about coverage, Texas policies now carry a mandatory appraisal clause — either side can demand appraisal in writing, and the umpire's decision on the amount is binding.
Where does my vehicle actually go?
To a paintless dent repair facility in North Texas that I have vetted and use regularly. I do not name my partner shops on this site, for the simple reason that I want to be free to stop using one the day the work stops being good. You will know exactly where your car is going before you hand over the keys. And whichever shop it is, Texas Insurance Code section 1952.301 says the choice is yours, not your insurer's.
Start with the inspection
Free inspection, no obligation. If your vehicle does not have a claimable hail loss, I will tell you that and you will not hear from me again.