A hail damage claim under comprehensive cover usually goes through seven steps: the customer reports the claim to the insurer, the workshop takes in the car, the inspection takes place, an estimate is prepared, the insurer approves it (in full, partially, or declares a total loss), the workshop repairs the car and settles with the customer or the insurer. From the workshop's perspective, the key is keeping track of every transition between stages, because that is where jobs get stuck.
First: is it a comprehensive cover claim at all
Hail damage is usually covered by comprehensive cover, not by third-party liability — nobody “caused” the damage. Before you start planning the repair, however, confirm with the customer that:
- they have a valid comprehensive policy and hail is not excluded from it — the details are in the policy terms;
- the claim has already been reported and has a number;
- they know how the policy is settled (direct settlement with the workshop or a payout based on the estimate).
Who your client is and whom you invoice depends on the settlement method. Agree on this at the start, not when the car is collected.
The claim process step by step
1. Reporting the claim and taking in the car
The customer reports the claim to the insurer and books in with the workshop. At intake, you collect the vehicle and owner details, the claim number, an authorisation (if you settle directly with the insurer) and you record the condition of the vehicle. You will find the full list in the article on hail damage claim documents.
2. Inspection
The inspection can be carried out by the insurer's claims handler or assessor, by you as the workshop, or by both parties. Whoever is looking, you need your own reliable documentation: panels, number and size of dents, material, paintwork, photos. That will be your argument if your estimate differs from the insurer's.
3. Estimate
Based on the inspection, you prepare the repair estimate: the PDR repair, surcharges for dents of 41–70 mm and above 70 mm, aluminium, paintwork, removals and any part replacements. How to calculate this step by step is described in the article how to estimate hail damage.
At this point it is also worth checking what percentage of the vehicle's value the repair represents. If you are approaching the total loss threshold, it is better to know before you send the estimate than after.
4. Sending the estimate to the insurer
The estimate goes to the insurer together with the technical assessment and photos. Make a note of what you sent and when. With dozens of jobs at once, without this note you will not be able to answer the customer's simple question: “is anything happening with my car?”
5. The insurer's decision
Here the job can go in several directions:
| Decision | What the workshop does |
|---|---|
| Full approval | Orders parts (if needed) and schedules the repair. |
| Partial approval | Agrees the disputed scope, supplements the documentation or revises the estimate. |
| Request for more information | Sends the missing photos, description or a supplementary estimate. |
| Total loss | Puts the repair on hold and agrees the next steps with the customer. |
| Customer withdraws from the repair | Closes the job and settles any work carried out, if there was any. |
Keep the approved estimate separate from working versions. It is the basis for settlement.
6. Parts and repair
After approval, you order parts, schedule a date and repair the car. During the repair, especially after disassembly, damage that was not visible during the inspection may come to light. You then prepare a supplement to the estimate and wait for the insurer's decision on that part — before you repair it.
7. Handover and settlement
After the repair, you take “after” photos, let the customer know the car is ready, sign the handover report and issue the invoice to the appropriate client.
Total loss after hail — what then
After a severe hailstorm, the repair cost can approach the value of the car. The insurer may then declare a total loss. The threshold at which this happens differs between insurers and policies — there is no single number you can assume in advance.
In workshop practice, an internal warning scale is useful. In WE-PDR, the repair cost is shown as a percentage of the vehicle's value in colours: 0–50%, 51–60%, 61–69% and 70% and above. These are warning thresholds in the app, not a rule or an insurer's policy — they are only meant to prompt you when to talk to the customer and the insurer before you start work. More on this in the article total loss after hail.
Once a total loss is declared, the customer usually has the choice of closing the claim or having a repair of a different scope carried out on their own terms. Agree this in writing and record it in the job history.
Where jobs most often get stuck
From the workshop's perspective, the problem is rarely the repair itself. It is the transitions between stages that get stuck:
- the estimate is ready but not sent, because it is waiting for missing photos;
- sent, but no reply, and nobody chases the insurer;
- the approval arrived in the inbox of someone who is on holiday;
- parts ordered without approval, or there is approval but nobody ordered the parts;
- the car is ready, but the customer does not know.
You can prevent most of these bottlenecks with a few decisions at the start of the job:
- Who on the customer's side is responsible for contact and decisions — the owner, the driver or the company.
- Who the invoice is to be issued to and whether the customer covers any part of the costs themselves.
- Who in the workshop handles the job and keeps track of the insurer's replies.
- How the customer wants to be updated on progress — phone, text message or email.
One more thing helps: a shared list of jobs with the stage of each one clearly marked. If at any moment you can see which cars are waiting for insurer approval and which for parts, it is easy to spot a job that has been sitting too long.
How WE-PDR supports this process
In WE-PDR, every job has a progress bar with stages — from reporting, through inspection, estimate and insurer approval, to parts, repair, handover and invoicing. At the approval stage you record the insurer's decision (including partial approval, requests for more information and total loss), and the job history shows who did what and when. You will find a description in the feature jobs and repair stages.
You calculate the estimate in the hail damage calculator using the inspection data, and send the technical assessment and calculation to the insurer from the job, together with a link to the photo gallery. Whatever tool you use, the principle is the same: every stage of the claim should have an owner, a date and a trace in the documents.