Local Guides · 7 min read
Plenty of Arvada housing predates the era of oversized garages, which means a lot of vehicles live in driveways and on the street year round. That is the practical reality behind most of the hail work we do for the city: uncovered vehicles, multiple seasons of exposure, and owners who want to know whether it is worth fixing.
First, read the panels properly
Take the car into open daylight. Sight along the roof, hood and trunk or tailgate from a low angle so light travels across the surface. Then work around the upper edges of doors, fenders and quarter panels. Note anything with broken paint separately from plain dents, because those two things are handled differently.
Layered damage from multiple seasons
Vehicles parked outside for years often carry dents from more than one storm. This matters in two ways. For a claim, insurers assess damage from a reported event, and older unrelated damage is a separate matter. For a direct-pay repair, it simply means the panel count is higher than the last storm alone would suggest.
Either way, an accurate read of the panels is the starting point.
What the repair involves
Where the paint is intact, hail is corrected with paintless dent repair: access is created behind each panel, and the dents are worked out in small increments while a light board shows the reflection change. Roofs often require headliner work, which is why they take longer than a hood.
Nothing is painted, so the vehicle can be washed and driven straight away. Details are on our Arvada hail damage repair page.
Scheduling during storm season
After a major Front Range event, every PDR shop in the north-west metro takes on weeks of work within days. Booking early holds your place while you sort out the insurance side, and it costs nothing to do. Light damage on one or two panels is generally a day of work. A heavily hit vehicle runs several days.
Claim or pay directly?
Compare the assessed repair to your comprehensive deductible. Above it, a claim usually makes sense. Below it, the claim produces no payment and direct-pay repair is the practical route. See what happens when hail damage is less than your deductible.
Booking from Arvada
Send daylight photographs of each panel through the assessment form, including the roof if you can photograph it safely. We will come back with which panels need work. Vehicle pickup and return is available if you would rather not make the trip. General city information is on the Arvada dent repair page.