It's important to get the auto body shop involved early. When I had hail damage in 2006, I went straight to my insurance and they did an estimate, then I called the body shop I wanted to use to schedule the repair. Once they got the truck, their estimate was much higher than the insurance estimate so the insurance company had to get involved again to approve the difference. It took a week to do a 2 day job.

What I would do is find a good, reputable body shop that is 'pre-approved' by your insurance company and have them prepare an estimate for regular repairs. Make sure your insurance is in agreement with the estimate. Once all that is lined up, tell the body shop what you want done, pay your deductible plus the overage and you should be good to go.

And finally... HAIL DAMAGE SUCKS. Now, when they 'forecast' hail, I sit up watching radars and weather reports and if anything damaging is headed my way, I head to a parking garage.

 

I got mine replaced with the hail damage thing. I took it to a body shop, got an estimate for repair, had insurance write me the check for the repairs. It had my name and my credit unions name on it. I ordered the hood online prepainted. I put the hood on and took it to the credit union so they could approve the repairs visually. Check was deposited. I ended up getting twice the amount of what the hood cost..... just worked out that way because of the insurance companies "approved" body shop, they are the highest priced place in town......

 

Thanks for the reply's. On further inspection after a good wash, looks like it got both front fenders as well as the hood and roof. Thinking about doing an '06 and up front end with the big headlights now as well. We'll see how it goes.

 

If the damage is that light , don`t be suprised if they only do paintless-dent-repair. Most of those guys are GREAT , and you keep your orig. paint...no need to worry about mis-matched paint , paint lines in jams , body filler,etc..

The person I use has got out DENTS , not just small dings

I`m pretty sure the 06 conversion requires the rad. support , and the wiring is also different , on top of needing the sheetmetal , grille , bumper and pad ,and new brackets.....