My 2015 Subaru Forester got hammered by hail last night. Looking it over, I'm concerned that insurance may total it.

I like this car, I've owned it since new, and it's very well maintained, and is only at 76,000 miles. Our plan is to send it with our daughter to college for the spring semester.

If insurance deems it totaled, is there a way I can keep it?

I believe you can buy it back from the insurance company after settlement.

Yes there is a retention value that insurance will deduct for you to keep vehicle. It's basically the amount they would recoup if it went to an auction.

Let's see a pic

Several pics here:

https://imgur.com/a/L6pCYgq

There are several panels that look too bad for PDR, and probably 30-50 PDR sized dents on other panels

aggiecody06 said:

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Yes there is a retention value that insurance will deduct for you to keep vehicle. It's basically the amount they would recoup if it went to an auction.

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I assume OP would get a salvage title at that point? May not matter if they plan to drive it till it dies.

The car would be a total loss on carfax but not salvaged.
Get a junkyard hood, new windshield and a check for the first semester of college.

Ive seen some crazy stuff done with PDR. Serious question, is that hood not fixable with PDR? The metal will be stretched so maybe not...

Sorry to hear this op. Best of luck

What size hail ? Baseball ?

aggiepaintrain said:

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The car would be a total loss on carfax but not salvaged.
Get a junkyard hood, new windshield and a check for the first semester of college.

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This or sell it to Reed Timmer for gorilla hail chasing.

yeah that's just a scratch for Reed

Those dents will be perfect camouflage for all the additional dents it will get bring a college car.

Also reduces the chances of theft.

HumpitPuryear said:

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Those dents will be perfect camouflage for all the additional dents it will get bring a college car.

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Yep. 3 years in CSTAT and the kid's car got hail damage(not totaled), a dented left rear bumper while parked on campus, then rear-ended on University, someone stole the wheel caps, a gallon of paint spilled in the cargo area during a school event and numerous door dings.

I'd say that Subie is ready to go! (Still, sorry about hail damage).

The moonroof survived all that?

Cromagnum said:

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The moonroof survived all that?

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Yah, this looks more like damage from an angry woman.

Negotiate a clean title and buy it back and like other have said. New hood. PDR the rest and rock on.

Damn, was it raining one hail stone at a time?

How was the windshield not broken?

water turkey said:

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Damn, was it raining one hail stone at a time?

How was the windshield not broken?

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The windshield was destroyed. Two hits, baseball sized hail, back to back right next to each other. It broke the interior pane also and there's glass all over the dash and front seats. I was just showing pictures of the hits that look too bad for PDR. It's pretty amazing that the moon roof didn't break, most of the hood and roof are covered with little dents. The hail was strong enough to destroy most of our solar panels.

Here's the video of the windshield hits, both just by the registration sticker.

https://odysee.com/@kb2001:5/hail-damage-windshield:4

If they total it, I'm probably going with the buy back option. New windshield, bang the hood back, touch up paint where metal is exposed, and hand it off to the kid.

I appreciate the feedback from everyone.

kb2001 said:

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water turkey said:

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Damn, was it raining one hail stone at a time?

How was the windshield not broken?

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The windshield was destroyed. Two hits, baseball sized hail, back to back right next to each other. It broke the interior pane also and there's glass all over the dash and front seats. I was just showing pictures of the hits that look too bad for PDR. It's pretty amazing that the moon roof didn't break, most of the hood and roof are covered with little dents. The hail was strong enough to destroy most of our solar panels.

Here's the video of the windshield hits, both just by the registration sticker.

https://odysee.com/@kb2001:5/hail-damage-windshield:4

If they total it, I'm probably going with the buy back option. New windshield, bang the hood back, touch up paint where metal is exposed, and hand it off to the kid.

I appreciate the feedback from everyone.

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