Hail Damaged Windshields

A hail damaged windshield in Broken Arrow is almost always a replacement, almost always part of a comprehensive claim, and almost always damaged in spring. Tulsa-area records put the monthly chance of hail at 64 percent in April and 57 percent in May, measured across 1950 to 1997, and there have been 169 hail reports within ten miles of Tulsa since 2004. Oklahoma as a whole ranks third in the country for hail-related auto claim frequency, at 18.4 across 2008 to 2014.

The most expensive mistake after a storm is splitting the claim. Glass, roof, hood and fenders all sit under comprehensive coverage. One storm is one event and one deductible, so tell the adjuster about the windshield at the first inspection, not three weeks later.

Oklahoma law also puts your insurer on a clock. Under 36 O.S. 1250.7 it has 60 days after receiving proof of loss to accept, deny, or tell you it needs more time, and a denial has to be in writing and name the policy provision it relies on. After a weather catastrophe declared by the Governor, the Insurance Commissioner can add 20 days. You also pick the glass shop, not your insurer. The auto glass insurance claims page walks through the whole call. If the storm left only one or two small pits, chip repair may be all you need.

Hail damage to glass is different from a rock chip

A stone off a truck gives you one break in one place. Hail gives you a scatter.

That changes the answer to the repair question. Resin repair works on a single break at a time, and it is genuinely good at it. Once a windshield carries more than roughly three separate pits, repairing each one stops making economic sense and starts producing a windshield with several faint marks in it.

There is a second problem that people underestimate until they drive at night. Pitting scatters light. A windshield with a dozen small hail marks throws halos around oncoming headlights and turns low winter sun into glare. A repair restores strength. It does not restore optical clarity across a pitted face.

So most hail windshields are replacements. Which one yours is gets settled by someone looking at the glass, not by guessing from a photo.

The morning after, in order

Photograph the glass before you drive anywhere. Outside and from the driver’s seat, with the date showing on your phone. Adjusters ask, and a crack that runs overnight is harder to tie to the storm.

Write down when the storm hit. Date and rough time. That is the date of loss on the claim.

Put the windshield on the same claim as the body damage. People routinely handle the roof and hood through insurance and then deal with the glass separately weeks later, and discover they are into a second deductible for the same storm.

Check it against the law’s size limits. Pitting low on the passenger side is a nuisance. Oklahoma’s windshield statute, 47 O.S. 12-404, draws its lines in the critical area, the part the driver’s wiper sweeps: no star break 3 inches or more across there, no two or more hairline cracks totaling 12 inches or more there, and no outright breakage anywhere in the windshield.

The Oklahoma insurance answer

You will find auto glass sites serving Tulsa claiming that Oklahoma law bans a deductible on glass, usually citing 36 O.S. 3636. That statute is Oklahoma’s uninsured motorist coverage law and says nothing about glass. Oklahoma is not a free-windshield state. Comprehensive pays and your deductible applies, unless you specifically bought a full-glass endorsement.

Move quickly, for a practical reason

After a significant cell, supply tightens fast in this metro. Glass for common vehicles goes on backorder, body shops book out weeks, and mobile calendars fill.

None of that is dramatic and none of it is a scare tactic. It is just how a regional weather event moves through a supply chain. The people who call in the first few days get seen in the first few days.

If your windshield is cracked rather than only pitted, there is a second reason not to wait. Cracks run when the glass flexes and when temperature swings, and an Oklahoma spring gives you both in the same week.

What it costs

The range on this page is wide, from about $250 to $1,500 by national figures, because hail does not care what you drive.

A plain windshield on an older vehicle with no camera sits at the bottom. A newer vehicle needing manufacturer glass, a heated wiper park area and both static and dynamic camera recalibration sits at the top. Most 2018-or-newer vehicles land somewhere in the middle, around $450 to $900.

If your car has a forward-facing camera behind the mirror, recalibration is part of the job rather than a second appointment. On a hail claim that matters, because you want the whole number in front of the adjuster once, not in two pieces.

When to do less, or nothing

If it is only a couple of pits and they are outside your sightline, you may not need anything done at all. Small marks low on the passenger side that are not spreading are cosmetic.

If the pits are few and repairable, two resin repairs cost far less than a windshield.

If your deductible eats the whole thing and nothing else was damaged, do not file. Pay for it or leave it, but do not put a comprehensive claim on your record for no benefit.

What matters for this in Broken Arrow

• Under 36 O.S. 1250.7, a property and casualty insurer must tell you within 60 days of receiving proof of loss whether it accepts or denies the claim or needs more time, any denial must be in writing and name the policy provision, and after a weather-related catastrophe declared by the Governor the Insurance Commissioner may extend that deadline by 20 days.
• Oklahoma ranks third among US states for hail-related automotive claim frequency, at a frequency of 18.4 measured across the period 2008 to 2014.
• Tulsa area hail is concentrated in spring, with a 64 percent monthly chance in April and 57 percent in May measured across 1950 to 1997, and there have been 169 hail reports within ten miles of Tulsa city centre since 2004.
• Glass damage is covered under comprehensive rather than collision, which is the same coverage that pays for hail damage to the roof, hood and panels, so windshield and bodywork usually sit on one claim.
• Oklahoma has no statute requiring insurers to waive a deductible on glass. 36 O.S. 3636, cited by several Tulsa auto glass sites as a free-windshield law, is Oklahoma's uninsured motorist coverage statute and does not mention glass.

Common questions