Expert: Ron Cercone - 10/1/2009

Question
It hailed in May 09 and left a few visible dents in my black ford explore. In Sept. 09 I noticed small cracks in my clear coat paint. Insurance adjuster says it is the paint failing, Body shop approved by insurance co., says it is too much paint. when I asked them to use a dry mill gauge on the paint and check the mils thickness they couldn't find the gauge. Yeah! I say it is the hail that damaged the clear coat and the sun stretch the paint where it was damage and it appears as small cracks in the paint. The paint is ok except where it was exposed to the hail and of course the sun also. I have no where to go and would like to know if there is a professional paint company who could examine the cuts from the hail and determine the cracks are related.

Answer
Hello Gerald,

This is very unusual and most insurance adjusters would not know of a "professional paint company" to call. Most adjusters would try to find an expert, either an engineer or try to get a lead from a body shop. Try calling BSK engineering to see if they have such an engineer or referral. Call a paint shop in your town that supplies paint supplies to body shops. Call "Vail Tech" labs to see if they have any research on this type of claim and damage. Vail Tech does research for insurance companies on all kinds of damages to automobiles.

Common sense answer if you can't find an engineer: if the cracking is only over the dents, then the clear coat was obviously cracked by the hail, thick paint or not. Take it to small claims court if you have to.