Your adjuster hands you a list and the shop at the top is usually a body shop. Before you take that recommendation, it is worth knowing that the two shops fix hail in completely different ways, and only one of them keeps the paint your car left the factory with.
426 Miami St, Leavenworth, KS 66048 · (913) 907-5180
A body shop fixes hail the old way: sand the panel, fill it, prime it, spray it, cure it, then block and polish it back to a shine. Your factory paint comes off and a new coat goes on.
Every one of those steps is a queue. The panel waits for the booth, the booth waits for the color, the color waits to cure. That is not a shop being slow. It is what repainting a car takes, and it is why CARSTAR quotes the job publicly at “anywhere between 2 days and a whole month.”
Paintless repair never touches your paint. A tech works behind the panel and pushes each dent back to flat from the inside. Same metal. Same paint. No filler, no sanding, no color match, no booth.
Nothing is added to hold the metal in place, which is why a dent worked properly does not come back when the panel gets hot. It is also why every panel we repair carries a lifetime warranty. A repaint cannot be warranted the same way.
Time without your car. About three weeks at a body shop. 5-7 days here, with a free loaner while yours is in.
Your paint. Sanded, filled and resprayed there. Untouched here.
Resale and trade-in. A repaint reads on a dealer's paint-depth gauge and follows the car. Original factory finish has nothing to find.
The claim. Either way it is a comprehensive claim and it pays the same. We bill your insurer direct and write the supplement if the first estimate came in light.
The estimate itself. Most shops walk around your car with a light. We put it through the Argus 3D scanner, which maps every panel in one pass and documents every impact with depth, so nothing gets left off the claim in the first place.
The list you were handed is a recommendation. The decision is yours, and the claim pays out the same whichever repair facility you choose.
That matters most on hail, because hail is the one kind of damage where the cheaper, faster method is also the one that protects what your car is worth later.
No. That list is a recommendation, not a requirement. You choose the repair facility and the claim pays the same either way.
Usually, because there is no paint, no materials and no booth time. On a claim that often matters less to you than to your insurer, but it is one reason carriers are comfortable with paintless repair on hail.
A filed claim can appear. What will not appear is aftermarket paint, because there is none. That is the part a buyer's paint-depth gauge finds at trade-in.
Sharp creases, cracked paint and damage on a panel edge sometimes need conventional work. The scan tells you which panels are which before you commit, and you will hear it if that is the answer.
5-7 days on a typical hail job, with a free loaner while yours is in. A body shop repaint is usually about three weeks.
Free scan, free estimate, no claim required. Then choose whichever shop you like.
Or call (913) 907-5180 and talk to a dent tech, not a call center.