Well guys,Was not a good week last week in Phoenix. We had a massive hail storm here, dropping hail up to tennis ball sized. Truck was where it always is, out in the drive. My garage is too small for the truck. The entire truck is now peppered with small to medium sized dents. Glass made it fine but all the rest of the sheet metal, especially on the left hand side is peppered. House as well, with almost $5000 in damage there.They are now offering me to total it out and take the truck and give me $11.5k cash. Other option is to total the truck and put a "salvage title" on it with me keeping the truck and giving me about $7.5k in hand. First off I like the truck and really do not want to lose it. Could care less about the dents but again it would look better fixed. As well I have finally debugged the truck, putting a drawstraw, Edge-Juice w/Attitude, Airdog and TransferFlow tank/tool box on the truck, so do not want to lose all of that. Has anyone else been through this and have any suggestions? I would be a lot happier keeping the truck if they did not force me to "salvage title" the puppy. A new hood, paintless dent repair on the roof would go a long way and just do not see its being a salvage vehicle with this type of damage. That said, I am planning on keeping the truck so have to factor that into the mix as well.Thanks,Joe

I drowned a car (long story, got stopped in an underpass when it flooded) many years ago. They did not change my title but paid me for the damages & let me keep it. I think I'd try to negociate with them to avoid the title change.

Russ,Already tried and they said that it was a state requirement. Evidently after the flooding in Florida and Katrina along the gulf, loads of cars were sold that had been flooded. This caused a lot of problems and laws were changed. Thanks for the input though and had wondered about that as well. Joe

Wow! That's got to suck big time to have a truck damaged heavily from hail... Would you possibly post up some pics of the damage maybe someone has a idea on how to help repair your truck.

eeek I just moved to Tempe. No cover for truck or RV.what the heck.yeah - post pics - sorry man

Mike,Will do when I get a chance. To tell the truth, if someone stands 15 feet away from the truck you cannot see a thing.The hood and roof took most of it, and they say that this is $3500 to fix, then the bed rails are all dented and so on.A question for the group.Which hood fits a 2002 2500 series trucks? Assuming that a 3500 hood is the same but how about a 1500 series? What year ranges are the same as this one? Am prolly going to get a new hood, use the "paintless dent repair" guys to fix the roof as best as possible then live with the rest. Thx,Joe

Heh Heh Now it looks like about 25% of the vehicles on the road in ND and SD. We get hit with several Hail storms a year. My Pontoon got $3600 in damage to one whole side this summer. It was the only thing sitting outside that day, luckily I saw it coming and high tailed it back to the house and got the pickup inside about 1 minute before the hard water hit sideways at 70MPH. You can buy brand new vehicles off the dealer lots with huge discounts and they come with the hail damage at no extra charge.

From what I remember a lot of that could be done by yourself with a suction cup. I'm pretty sure NAPA or simular part stores carry them.

Paintless dent repair only works on small dents nickel to quarter size is about max depending on the depth of them,if the metal is kinked its out of the question at that point also. They may come out some but when the sheet metal gets stretched to a point it will not get them out totally and then you will also have paint spiders if you try to get the bad ones out. It also depends on how many dents and how close together they are too.

Yall might laugh but take a heat gun and heat it up then try some dry ice. As long as the dents are not kinked some of them will come out.

Yall might laugh but take a heat gun and heat it up then try some dry ice. As long as the dents are not kinked some of them will come out.

If the temps are in the 80-90 degree range sit it in the sun and then ice them. The small shallow one May pop out. But you described tennis ball sized hail so I Know from experience the depth of the dents, Did it come straight down or did it come with strong wind?

Depending on how deep the dents are heating the affected area with a hair dryer and rubbing dry ice on it can get some of them. However this would be a long tedious process and you run the risk of burning yourself with the dry ice.I feel your pain though we just had our roof replaced last year due to hail damage.

I happened by a garage when a tech from Audi place worked on some dents from hail... an assortment of suction cup devises from the outside & shaped bars to get inside the hood & trunk frames. Oh, yes, and the touch of an artist... Russ

Suggestion... Since the truck doesn't fit in a garage... Do you have any large tree(s) or other covering structure like a barn? Like out here every vehicle has a place of cover. Like the 2 daily driver pickups are in the garages and the older cars even though they are not use are parked under trees with tarps on them. The hail still makes it down to the cars but... The rate of fall is slowed considerably...

A) Take a little less so you don't have to get a salvage title. Salvage is usually determined by percentage of total value (ie 50% in some states). A $3000 car can be totaled by a little insignificant bump. Pay a paintless dent guy to straighten it out. Dents in bed can be hidden by a liner.B) Take your goodies off, give truck ti insurance carrier, get another truck. (Good excuse to get rid of the VP.

Wow! Really sorry to hear about your truck. I think I would keep the truck, take the $7500 and keep on driving it. Later on you may be able to replace the fenders and panels that are removable and body work the rest. Even with the body work, paint, and all, I think you would come out ahead. You may even come across a donor truck that has a blow engine or similar problem that you can either swap into or salvidge parts. My truck got caught in a bad hail storm last summer and got a few dings in it too. Not near as bad as yours, I just kept on driving it. Like you, I have a LOT of work and time in mods on my truck and love it. A few dents just add some charactor I suppose.

Any suggestions on which year body panels and hood to be on the lookout for? Have decided to keep it, replace the hood and live with the rest. Can use the extra funds for upgrades on the truck! :)Joe

Any suggestions on which year body panels and hood to be on the lookout for? Have decided to keep it, replace the hood and live with the rest. Can use the extra funds for upgrades on the truck! Joe

That sounds like a plan. If you can get most major dents out for $2k ..........then you have $5500 in pocket for "play toys". Dumb question - I know the salvage title impacts your abity to sell in future ...... was that the concern ?? As I would think if you sold salvage ......... and take all your goodies out ...... you'd still get $4-$5k. ........ SO that would mean when you do decide to sell you would have ~$12k PLUS all your goodies to pu in new truck. ??

Any suggestions on which year body panels and hood to be on the lookout for? Have decided to keep it, replace the hood and live with the rest. Can use the extra funds for upgrades on the truck! Joe

I am quite sure tha dodge changed the body style on the 1500 in 2002 but not on the 2500 & 3500, they later changed the 2500 & 3500 in 2003 models.. so cab/body/parts for a 2001 or earlier 1500 would work as well as 2002 or eariler 2500 & 3500 series

Richie:thumbup2:

Richie,Thanks much.Well kids, the hole gets deeper! Now find out from the AZ DMV that once any vehicle is titled salvage that it cannot be driven in this status!Trick to it is that you have to get a "phase 3 inspection" to put it into a "repaired salvage" catagory then you are allowed to drive it. Can be done at the same time but just another hoop (and $8 processing fee) to jump over.Hey Mike, I am not getting any notifications when a new post is made on this thread. Before you ask, I have "instantly using email" selected below.Thx,Joe

Since you said you dont plan on selling it then dont worry about a slavage title, its just a piece of paper. I would find a new hood and be happy with the bonus from the insurance company.