Nature does what nature wants, and as such, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and hail can deal significant amounts of damage to cars, buildings, crops, and whatnot. However, if you take care of your car properly, some of these can be avoided.
A great way to keep your car safe from the elements is to invest in covered parking. Hail is more than capable of breaking windows and destroying paint, but if you park inside a garage, you are completely safe from a hail storm.
If you don’t have access to a personal garage parking spot, you can always find temporary shelter inside a mall parking lot for example, but make sure you do so before the storm hits. Temporarily storing your car under any type of cover is a good idea.
A dedicated car cover or even a blanket should be your last resort if you don’t have the time to do any of the aforementioned methods. Besides these, make sure you get special insurance coverages that include hail storm damage and other weather-related damages.
Covered personal parking – The very best way of keeping your car safe
Sometimes, hail storms can be frightening. They can appear out of nowhere and they can grow up to be 6-8 inches in diameter. As such, it’s always best to avoid them no matter the size or duration, because you never know what is truly coming until it eventually does.
Therefore, covered parking seems to be the best possible option to opt for when such weather conditions form. Whether it be your own small personal garage as a part of your property or a large multistore residential parking garage, both of these should easily remain intact during a hail storm.
It’s always a good idea to invest in covered parking because it keeps your car safe from all the weather elements, but it also protects against car thefts. If your area is known to get lots of hailstorms during the year, then it’s even more advisable to do so.
Covered car parking is the very best way of keeping your car clean, safe, and always readily available whenever you need to go anywhere. The second-hand market also values garaged cars a lot more compared to street parked cars.
Temporary shelter – Gas stations, underpasses, and mall parking garages
If you don’t have access to a personal covered parking spot, you ought to take your car to the nearest possible temporary shelter. This can very well be the fastest way to protect your car from a hail storm if you live in an urban environment and there are lots of potential shelters nearby.
One of the most popular ones is a shopping mall garage which can easily provide shelter for dozens if not hundreds of cars, just make sure that the garage in question is actually opened. Besides mall garages, gas stations are everywhere, and they are almost always covered.
During a big hail storm, gas stations can become overcrowded in an instant, so be sure to go to your nearest one as soon as possible. Another great option is to find an underpass, or even an overpass if possible.
No matter where you decide to take your car, be sure that all the other safety aspects are also decent. Underpasses are prone to mugging and car theft, so don’t park your car in a dimly lit and secluded underpass.
Dedicated car covers and blankets – the last resort
The fastest way to protect your car from a hail storm is to cover it with a dedicated car cover capable of withstanding hail storms. These are not your typical indoor car covers, they are a lot thicker and they should cover the entirety of your car.
Furthermore, these should also be capable of withstanding heavy winds which can occur during a hail storm. If you use a regular car cover, wind can easily rip the cover off and fully expose your car to the elements.
A regular blanket can also be used in a pinch, but make sure you duck tape the blanket to the car. This can leave glue marks on your car which can in theory damage your paint. If you clean the residue with dedicated glue residue cleaners, you can avoid that.
FAQ Section
Is it worth getting a comprehensive insurance policy that covers weather damages?
It depends on where you live, the car in question, and the insurance policy itself. Cheaper, already damaged cars aren’t often covered with such insurance policies for obvious reasons. On the other hand, if you drive a newer car, opting for such a policy is a good idea.
The most important deciding factor is the place you live. If you rarely ever encounter any hail storms or other extreme weather conditions, opting for such a policy might be unnecessary. Especially so if you do own a covered personal parking spot.
What should I do before a storm kicks?
Keep your car fueled up at any time. You never know what might happen when a storm hits, and if you don’t have any fuel in your car, that might be a huge problem. Make sure that all of your car windows are sealed, and try to take your car somewhere safe.
It’s best to always have the right insurance coverages no matter what happens, and this is highly dependant on the area you live in. Go ahead and investigate all the regularly occurring extreme weather conditions and try to tailor your insurance policy according to that.
What will happen if I leave my car out during a hail storm?
Sometimes, you can’t do anything but leave your car out there completely exposed. More often than not, no significant damage will occur. If the hail storm is a bit more intense, you might be looking at broken or even shattered windows.
Bodywork damage occurs extremely rarely because it takes quite a bit of force to damage the metal. Another huge issue with such storms is the wind because there are lots of flying debris around, and these can damage the bodywork sometimes.