The honest answer is that it depends on the car, not the calendar. Here is what the number is built from.
What drives the timeline
Dent count. This is the main one. A hundred shallow dents is a different job from six hundred.
Panel difficulty. Roofs are slow because of headliner access. Hoods with bracing underneath are slow. Doors are usually fast.
Access. Some panels need trim, liners or the headliner dropped before a technician can reach the back of the metal. That is time before any dent is touched.
Whether paint is involved. Once a panel needs refinishing, add booth time and cure time. This is the single biggest schedule multiplier.
Parts. Glass, trim and lamp lenses have to arrive. On a common vehicle that is same-week. On something unusual it can be the longest item on the job.
Realistic ranges
- Light hail, PDR only: one to three days
- Moderate hail, PDR only: three to seven days
- Heavy hail with glass: one to two weeks
- Hail requiring paint on multiple panels: two weeks and up
Why catastrophe season changes everything
After a major event, thousands of vehicles need the same work in the same week. Queue time becomes the dominant factor, and it can exceed repair time several times over.
This is the argument for moving early. The owners who called in the first forty-eight hours are the ones being worked on while everyone else waits.
How to move faster
1. Open your claim immediately. The claim number unlocks everything else. 2. Get the scope written early, even if repair is scheduled later. 3. Ask about rental coverage before you need it, not after. 4. Be reachable. Supplements need approval, and an unreachable owner is the most common source of dead time on a job.
We travel to hail-affected regions rather than working from a fixed shop, so capacity moves with the storm. Schedule an in-person estimate and we will tell you where the nearest crew is working and what the realistic timeline looks like.