Hail Broke My Car Window: What Should I Do?

Hail does not always hit evenly. It can smash a back window and leave the side glass alone, or dent the roof and hood and spare the windows. Back and side windows are tempered glass, so when a stone breaks one, it crumbles into small pebbles instead of a single crack. Windshields are laminated, and a hit usually leaves a crack or a chip. In a bad storm, you may have several pieces of damage at once, so look over the whole car, not just the pane you noticed.

First, get safe and get covered. Wait until the hail stops. Move the car under a roof if you can, since a second round will do more damage to a broken window. Wear shoes and gloves around glass. Cover the broken opening from outside with heavy plastic sheeting and strong tape, applied along the frame, so rain does not soak the seat and the electronics. Do not clean up the interior until you have photographed it.

Second, document. Take wide photos of the car from all four sides, then close-ups of every window, dent and crack. Photograph the glass inside the car and the weather outside if you can. If you have a photo of the hail itself, or a weather alert on your phone, keep it. Photos are what your insurer needs, and they are what we need for a quote. You can text us a photo of the damage, and we reply within an hour during business hours.

Third, check your coverage. Hail damage is generally a comprehensive claim, not a collision claim, and liability-only policies do not cover it. That means your comprehensive deductible applies. Georgia is not a zero-deductible glass state, so you pay your deductible on a glass claim unless your own policy says otherwise. If a hailstorm damaged the body of the car as well as a window, the claim may be bigger than the glass, and you will likely want the whole thing handled in one claim. Ask your insurer how it wants it filed.

Here is where we come in. We replace the broken back glass, door glass and quarter glass, and we come to your home or office. We do not do body repair or dent work, so if hail hit the roof and panels too, that is a separate shop. We need your VIN to match the glass. We install OEM, OEE and aftermarket glass, we are a preferred insurance vendor for all major insurance companies, and our workmanship is warranted for the life of the vehicle. After a big storm there can be many cars in line for glass, so reach out early and we will tell you where we stand.