Fleet Hail Repair in Kansas City

The morning after

The storm passed overnight. By seven, your drivers are walking past vans with dimpled roofs and hoods that catch the light wrong. The routes still need running.

You need answers fast. Which units took damage, how much each one took and which can stay on the road. The last one is your call. The first two come from a count.

Hailsmith comes to the yard, the shop lot or wherever the vehicles park. Each unit gets counted panel by panel. You hear which dents will not come out, vehicle by vehicle, before any work is agreed.

A fleet spread across the metro can take hail in several places on the same day. On May 8, 2024, NOAA's Storm Prediction Center logged hail of 1 inch or larger near 14 of the 20 metro cities. A report counted for a city when it was logged within 10 miles of the city's center point. Near Kansas City, Missouri, 15 reports were logged that day alone. The Kansas City hail history page lists that day with the rest.

One list per vehicle

Every unit gets its own list. It starts with the unit number or the plate, then runs through the panels one at a time. Each panel line shows the dent count, the sizes and any dent that may not come out fully, with the reason beside it.

That last part matters more on a fleet than on one car. A van with cracked paint on the hood is a different job from a van with clean, round dents. You want to know which is which before you plan a single repair.

The lists also make units easy to compare. Put them side by side and you can see which vehicles took the worst of it. Lights, glass, mirrors and trim go on each list as well. They are storm damage even though they are not dents.

Keep each list with that unit's records. If another storm hits before the repair, the lists show what every vehicle already carried from this one.

What work vehicles add

Fleet vehicles are not shaped like a family sedan, and that changes the count.

Tall roofs. A high roof van carries a lot of flat metal facing the sky. Expect the roof to hold the most dents on the unit.

Racks and ladders. Roof racks and ladder racks can shield some dents and hide others. Where a rack is bolted through the roof, it can also block access from inside.

Shelving and upfits. Shelving bolted inside a cargo area can sit right behind a side panel. A dent behind a shelf is harder to reach, and that gets noted on the list.

Lettering and wraps. Vinyl on a panel adds a question. Glue pulling can lift the film, so dents under a wrap or lettering get a closer look. It is worth a word with whoever installed the graphics, too.

Hoods and beds. Work trucks take hail on the hood, the roof and the bed rails. Some truck bodies are aluminum, which takes more care to work.

Your call on each unit

Hail on a fleet is a business decision. No single answer fits every vehicle, and nobody should push you toward one.

Some owners repair every unit. Some repair the vehicles that face customers and leave yard trucks as they are. Some file under the fleet's coverage, and some pay directly. Some sell or trade a dented unit instead of fixing it.

Each of those choices is easier with the count in front of you. You can see which units carry a few dents and which carry a roof full of them. A unit with a handful of small dents and one with cracked paint across the hood should not get the same plan.

Safety comes first in any plan. Dents do not change how a van drives. Broken glass and dead lights do, so those units get sorted before anything cosmetic.

Coverage, leases and lenders

A fleet policy works like a personal one in one key way. Hail falls under physical damage coverage, usually comprehensive, and only the units that carry it are covered for hail. Some fleets carry their own risk on physical damage instead.

Your policy sets the deductible. It may apply to each vehicle, which changes the math on a lot full of dents. Your carrier decides how it handles many units hit by one storm. If units sit on different policies or belong to different companies, each one follows its own terms. Ask your agent before you file anything.

Leased and financed units can carry their own terms about repair and return condition. Read those agreements before you leave a dented unit as it is. For how comprehensive works in general, see does insurance cover hail damage.

Repairs where the vans park

The crew works where your vehicles sit. A fenced yard works. So does a shop lot, a covered bay or an office lot with the owner's okay.

Every panel gets read by reflected light under a lit board. Shade or a roof overhead makes that easier, so mention any covered space on the call. A row with room to walk around each unit helps too.

You decide which units come off the road and when. Say which ones sit idle and where they will be. Hailsmith covers both sides of the state line, and the cities are listed on service areas.

PDR has the same limits on a work van as on a car. Cracked paint, stretched metal and dents with no access from behind may not come out fully. The full list sits on what PDR cannot fix.

Get every unit counted

Call for a free assessment and say where the vehicles park. Every unit gets counted panel by panel, and you hear which dents will not come out. Then you decide what happens to each vehicle, with the numbers in hand.