Does Car Insurance Cover Hail Damage?
Yes, if you carry comprehensive. The more useful questions are what it costs you to claim, what it does to a policy that has already claimed, and when paying for the repair yourself is the better move.
Short Answer
Yes, if you carry comprehensive coverage. Hail is a comprehensive loss rather than a collision one, so it is covered minus your deductible — and a liability-only policy pays nothing toward your own vehicle. Comprehensive is optional in Arkansas, and any lender will require it. A hail claim is no-fault, so it carries no at-fault surcharge.
The short version is settled in a sentence, so this page spends its length on the part that actually costs people money: what filing does to a policy, and how to tell a claim worth making from one that is not.
Hail Is Comprehensive, Not Collision
That single distinction decides everything. Comprehensive covers what happens to your vehicle without a collision — weather, theft, fire, falling limbs, animal strikes. Hail sits squarely inside it.
| What you carry | Hail damage to your car |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive | Covered, minus your comprehensive deductible |
| Collision only | Not covered. Collision is for hitting something |
| Liability only | Not covered. Liability pays other people, never your own vehicle |
| Full coverage | Covered, because full coverage includes comprehensive |
If the vehicle is financed or leased, the lender almost certainly requires comprehensive, so you are probably covered whether or not you had thought about it. If you own the car outright and dropped comprehensive at some point, hail is on you.
This is the auto side of a question the site answers twice
Hail on a roof and hail on a car are different claims with different rules. The vehicle version has no filed settlement schedule behind it, no separate wind and hail deductible, and no age band — it is your comprehensive deductible and the cost of the repair. The building version is a different page entirely, and the same storm often produces both.
Why It Matters Here
Arkansas sits in an active hail corridor, and the risk is strongly seasonal: spring into early summer carries the overwhelming majority of it, with April the busiest month of the year. If you park outside anywhere in Benton or Washington County, hail finds the vehicle eventually. The only question is whether it finds a policy with comprehensive on it.
How the Claim Works
- Report it promptly. Tell your insurer as soon as you find the damage. Delay makes it harder to attach the damage to a specific storm, which is the thing the claim rests on.
- Photograph before anything is touched. Dents, glass and paint from several angles, plus the date of the storm. Hail damage photographs badly in flat light, so shoot it in raking sun if you can.
- Get a written estimate. Paintless dent repair is the usual route for hail and it preserves the factory finish, which matters to the value of the car later.
- File under comprehensive. Not collision. If the claim is opened under the wrong coverage the deductible may be wrong too.
- Pay the deductible, and check the glass separately. Cracked or chipped glass may fall under a different and often lower glass deductible depending on the policy and any endorsement, so it is worth asking rather than assuming it sits with the rest.
Will Filing Raise My Rate?
This is the question that stops people filing, and the honest answer is more interesting than yes or no.
What is true: a comprehensive claim is generally not chargeable the way an at-fault collision is. Carriers do not apply an at-fault surcharge to a hailstorm, because you did not cause it. A single hail claim usually will not produce the direct rate increase people are picturing.
What is also true, and usually left out: not chargeable is not the same as no effect.
- Claims-free discounts. Filing can end one, which raises what you pay without anything being called a surcharge.
- Frequency. Several claims in a short window, comprehensive included, can lead a carrier to re-rate or non-renew at the anniversary. Frequency does work that fault does not.
- Loss history and scoring. Comprehensive claims still enter the models carriers use to price and to decide appetite, which affects what other companies will offer you later as much as what yours does now.
- Regional pricing. Area-wide hail losses lift premiums across a region over time, entirely separately from your own record. That one happens whether you file or not, which is worth remembering before deciding a claim caused it.
The test for a borderline claim
If the repair is only modestly above your deductible, set the recovery against what you would lose: the claims-free discount, the frequency entry on the record, and the effect on what other carriers will quote you in a year. A large hail loss is exactly what comprehensive is for and should be claimed without hesitation. A small one frequently costs more than it collects, and a short conversation before you open the file is the cheapest part of the whole process.
Deductibles, Repairs and Total Losses
Hail is subject to your comprehensive deductible, which is a separate figure from your collision deductible and is on the declarations page. Most hail damage is cosmetic and repairable, and paintless dent repair handles the majority of it without repainting panels.
On whether hail can total a car
It can, on a severe enough storm with large enough stones, but the threshold is not a number anyone should quote at you. Total loss is determined by the carrier’s own formula against the vehicle’s actual cash value, and it varies between companies. Arkansas does have a widely cited percentage in circulation on this subject, but it relates to salvage title branding rather than to whether a first-party claim is settled as a total loss, and the two get conflated constantly. If a total loss is on the table, the figure that matters is the one in the carrier’s offer, and how it was reached is a fair question to ask.
A totaled vehicle settles at actual cash value — what the car was worth immediately before the storm, minus the deductible. That is correct for autos and it is not the same rule that governs roofs.
Before the Next Storm
- Know whether you have comprehensive at all, and what the deductible on it is. Both are one line on the declarations page and most drivers cannot say either from memory.
- Watch the forecast through spring and early summer, which is when the risk is concentrated.
- Park under cover when you can. A garage, a carport, a parking deck. This is the only preventive measure that reliably works.
- Photograph the car while it is undamaged, once a year. It costs two minutes and it settles arguments about pre-existing dents later.
Ask Cribby about hail coverage
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does car insurance cover hail damage?
Yes, if you carry comprehensive coverage. Hail is a comprehensive loss rather than a collision one, so comprehensive pays for the repair minus your deductible. Liability-only policies and collision-only policies pay nothing toward hail damage to your own vehicle. Comprehensive is optional under Arkansas law and required by essentially every lender.
Will a hail claim raise my rate?
Not through an at-fault surcharge, because hail is a no-fault comprehensive claim and you did not cause it. But not chargeable is not the same as no effect: filing can cost you a claims-free discount, several claims in a short window can lead a carrier to re-rate or non-renew, and comprehensive claims still enter the loss-history models that other carriers will look at when you shop.
Should I file if the damage is small?
Weigh the recovery against what filing costs. If the repair is only modestly above your deductible, the discount you lose and the entry on your loss history can be worth more than the payment. A large hail loss should be claimed without hesitation; a marginal one deserves a conversation first.
What deductible applies to hail?
Your comprehensive deductible, which is a separate figure from your collision deductible and appears on the declarations page. Glass is worth asking about separately, because cracked or chipped glass may fall under a different and often lower glass deductible depending on the policy and any endorsement.
Can hail total my car?
On a severe enough storm, yes, though most hail damage is cosmetic and repairable with paintless dent repair. Whether a vehicle is totaled is decided by the carrier’s own formula against its actual cash value and varies between companies. A percentage figure circulates on this subject in Arkansas, but it relates to salvage title branding rather than to first-party total-loss settlement, and the two are frequently confused.
Is hail on my car the same claim as hail on my roof?
No, and the same storm often produces both. The vehicle claim is comprehensive, subject to one deductible, with no settlement schedule behind it. The building claim runs on the homeowners policy, may carry a separate wind and hail deductible, and may settle on a filed schedule depending on the age of the roof. They are handled by different policies and, usually, different adjusters.
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Send us the declarations page and we will tell you whether comprehensive is on there, what the deductible is, and whether that structure still makes sense for a vehicle parked outside in this part of the state. If you are weighing a claim right now, call before you file rather than after — that conversation is worth more than the one afterward.
Disclaimer: This article is general information and is not insurance, legal, tax or financial advice, and it is not a substitute for the terms of your own agreements or policies. Whether a particular loss is covered depends on the coverages, deductibles, endorsements and exclusions of the policy actually issued to you, which controls in every case. Total-loss determination methods, glass provisions and deductible structures vary between carriers. Nothing here is a coverage determination or a prediction of any claim outcome, and nothing here is guidance on vehicle repair, which is a matter for a qualified shop. Coverage is set by the insurance company and is subject to the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued to you, which controls in every case. Cribb Insurance Group Inc is an independent insurance agency licensed in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas. Reviewed 2026-08-09; insurance law and carrier filings change, and this article may not describe the current position after that date. Cribb Insurance Group Inc, 1601 SW Regional Airport Blvd, Bentonville, AR 72713 · (479) 286-1066 · service@cribbinsurance.com.