Does Car Insurance Cover Hail Damage?

Heavy rains, floods, and hail have hit some areas of Spain hard, causing damage to homes, infrastructure, and vehicles.

Except for hail damage, which is gradually becoming part of the coverage of major insurance companies, damages caused to cars by weather phenomena are not covered by car insurance, even if it is comprehensive.

Neither does the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (CCS), the state body to which part of the money from subscribed policies is allocated, cover hail damage. It only deals with natural phenomena such as floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis, as well as incidents caused by political or social reasons.

For an event to be considered extraordinary, it must be certified as such by the competent official bodies, and hail is not among the possible compensations. The website of the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros explicitly mentions that the Consortium "does not cover hail damage as it is not legally considered an extraordinary risk."

According to Mapfre insurance, when a vehicle is damaged by hail, there is only one option: the affected person must have a car policy that includes hail damage coverage. Generally, comprehensive car insurance for own damage usually includes compensation for damage caused by such weather phenomena, such as impact or collision with objects. Additionally, many third-party insurances offer glass coverage, so if there is breakage – one of the damages hail can cause – the repair would be covered.

If your car suffers the consequences of a hailstorm, review the conditions in your contract and report it immediately to the insurance company.

In any case, to claim compensation for damages from the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros, you must have a civil liability car insurance policy in Spain. The extraordinary risks for which compensation will be provided are natural phenomena.

The Consortium will compensate for damages to cars with third-party insurance in the event of earthquakes and tsunamis; extraordinary floods (including those caused by sea surges or when the land is flooded by rainwater and river overflow, not by overflow caused by dams, canals, sewers, and other man-made underground channels when they burst, break, or fail).

It also covers damage from volcanic eruptions, atypical cyclonic storms (including extraordinary winds with gusts over 120 km/h and tornadoes); and falls of celestial bodies and meteorites. Hail is not covered.

It also covers damage caused violently, as a result of terrorism, rebellion, sedition, riot, and popular tumult. As well as for acts or actions of the Armed Forces or Security Forces in peacetime that have caused any damage or destruction to the vehicle.

To claim compensation, the first thing to do is to report it to the insurance company. In such situations, companies usually advance the money and then claim it from the Consortium. If the vehicle is insured comprehensively with a deductible, you can go directly to the Consortium. The process is the same as going to the insurer: after notifying the problem, within approximately a week, an expert will visit to assess the vehicle's damage using data from companies specialized in car repair like Audatex.

Both the company and the Consortium, which has a limit of 21,035 euros per claim, will pay the amount as stipulated in the policy. Insurers like Mapfre, Mutua, or Allianz will pay the amount for a new car if it is less than two years old. After that period, payment is made according to the market price, using the valuation tables of the multinational Eurotax Glass-s.