How much does hail damage repair cost?

Hail damage repair usually costs about $500 to $1,500 for light damage, $1,500 to $3,500 for moderate and $3,500 to $7,000 or more for severe, and insurers report average hail claims of roughly $2,800 to $5,000.

Written by Todd Whittington, Editor·Last reviewed October 19, 2026

What hail damage repair costs Typical ranges, not quotes

Most hail damage is fixed with paintless dent repair. When hailstones crack the paint or break glass, those panels need conventional body work instead, which costs more.

What hail damage repair costs, by vehicle class
Damage	Sedan	SUV	Pickup	Luxury or EV
Light: about a dozen small dentsOur sample rangeShould you claim it? →	$500–$1,500	$530–$1,580	$550–$1,650	$650–$1,950
Moderate: dozens of dentsOur sample range; Liberty Mutual: about $2,500Should you claim it? →	$1,500–$3,500	$1,580–$3,680	$1,650–$3,850	$1,950–$4,550
Severe: dents across the whole carOur sample range; the worst cases run higherShould you claim it? →	$3,500–$7,000	$3,680–$7,350	$3,850–$7,700	$4,550–$9,100
Dozens of dents with cracked paint (repainted panels)Conventional repair at our multiple-panel rangeShould you claim it? →	$2,500–$6,000	$2,630–$6,300	$2,750–$6,600	$3,250–$7,800

Sedan is the base range. The other columns are our factors: SUV ×1.05 and pickup ×1.10, from the Highway Loss Data Institute's collision claim severity by vehicle class (2022–24 models, all collision claims, not bumpers alone), and luxury or EV ×1.30, between Mitchell's EV figure (about 15% more than gas cars in 2026) and HLDI's large luxury cars (about 70% more). Rounded to $10. Download this table (CSV).

Where these numbers come from

The rows are our sample ranges, the ones the hail damage calculator uses. Insurers' own averages bracket them: Erie about $2,800 per car, State Farm about $5,000 per auto hail claim in 2021, and Nationwide $3,000 to $13,000. CCC reports hail claims cost about 21.7% more than the average comprehensive claim. A badly damaged car can be totaled instead.

“On average, he estimated the amount of damage to a car after a hailstorm is $2,800.” — Erie Insurance, Does Car Insurance Cover Hail Damage?

“In 2021, the average homeowner claim totaled more than $12,000 and the average auto claim came in right at $5,000.” — State Farm Newsroom, Oh hail, we go again

“Nationwide claims data reveals that the average cost of repairing hail-damaged cars ranges from $3,000 to $13,000,” — Nationwide, Help protect your clients from vehicle and property hail damage

What moves the price

Dent size and count. Dent repair is priced by how many dents a panel has and how big they are. Insurer price lists sort dents from dime to half-dollar size and charge extra for anything bigger. (State Farm PDR matrix)
Whether paintless repair works. Paintless dent repair is out when the paint is damaged, a dent is too large, or the panel is creased; then it's conventional body work at panel prices. (AAA Mid States)
Reaching the back of the panel. Double-layer panels and the roofs of big vehicles are harder to reach from behind. State Farm's dent repair price list adds 25% for them. (State Farm PDR matrix)
Aluminum or composite panels. They need special prep and paint, and dent repair on them costs more: State Farm's dent repair price list adds 25% for an aluminum panel. (Kelley Blue Book; State Farm PDR matrix)
Paint. Anything that needs repainting costs more than a buff-out or a paintless dent repair, and a repaint has to match the panels around it.

Does insurance pay for this?

Hail damage is covered by comprehensive coverage, and because hail is nobody's fault, many insurers raise rates little or not at all for one claim. For light damage under your deductible, paying the shop wins; for a car full of dents, filing usually does. The calculator does the math with your insurer and your state.

File a hail claim or pay the shop?

The hail damage calculator weighs your deductible and any rate increase against the repair.

Run the hail damage calculator →

Frequently asked

Is hail damage worth claiming?

Often, yes, when the damage is well beyond your deductible: hail is a comprehensive claim and nobody's fault. Light damage under your deductible isn't worth a claim. Run the numbers.

Can a car be totaled by hail?

Yes. When the repair would cost close to the car's value, the insurer can declare it a total loss. Nationwide says 20% of hail-damaged cars are declared a total loss after a hail event.

What if the shop finds more damage once it starts?

That's common with hail. Tell your insurer about the extra damage before the shop does the extra work, and get it added to the claim in writing.

Sources

Erie Insurance, Does Car Insurance Cover Hail Damage?. Source.
State Farm Newsroom, Oh hail, we go again (2022-03-11). Source.
Nationwide, Help protect your clients from vehicle and property hail damage (2025-05-22). Source.
CCC Intelligent Solutions, Crash Course Q2 2024 release (2024-06-25). Source.
Liberty Mutual, Does car insurance cover hail damage?. Source.
Colorado Division of Insurance, consumer advisory after a severe hailstorm (2024-05-22). Source.

We read every source on October 19, 2026. Ranges marked as our sample data are our own estimates, checked against these sources; they are not quotes. Data: hail-damage-repair-cost.csv, auto-cost-pages.json. Free to cite with attribution to Should I Claim It? (CC BY 4.0). Please link back to this page.