Hail can do serious damage to RVs. Don’t believe us? Well, then, read what Gail Marsh had to say about the egg-sized hail she encountered. Or watch this video of hail damaging an RV in action. Not pretty!
If you’ve never experienced hail damage, it might seem like one of those “it won’t happen to me” scenarios. But don’t be so sure—hailstorms can happen almost anywhere and often strike with little warning. Even small hailstones can wreak havoc on your RV’s roof, windows, and awnings. Egg-sized hail? That’s a nightmare.
In fact, seasoned RVers often take extra precautions during hail season, like checking the forecast regularly or parking under covered areas when possible. Some even invest in specialized RV covers to protect their rigs during storms. But let’s face it: When you’re out on the road, avoiding every storm isn’t always realistic.
If this is something that has never happened to you, consider yourself lucky! Try your best to avoid driving through or parking your RV during a hailstorm so it never does.
If you know what we’re talking about, it probably means you’re not one of the lucky ones. Was your RV damaged by hail? If so, was it serious and costly damage? Tell us more!
If this has ever happened to you, please leave a comment after you vote and tell us about your experiences.
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Back in the eighties, there was a severe hail storm, around here, a lot of trailers were damaged by it. Trailer was 6 month old. We are 120 miles from Indiana, the factory set up an assembly line situation where they reskinned all the damaged one in a designated week. The dealer made all the arrangements, worked out quite well.
Never had anything damaged by Hail.
Only came close living in NM. TT was under a car port, but my truck and boat and house took a beating. That’s when I learned dry ice can remove most dents. Hail the size of baseballs.
Never heard of this.
But Google has: “Search Labs | AI Overview
Learn more
No, dry ice is generally not considered an effective way to remove dents from cars; most experts consider it a myth and using it can potentially damage the paint and not actually fix the dent, making it best to seek professional paintless dent repair instead.”
Roof, skylights, vent covers, and awning. Progressive took care of all of it.
We got into a hailstorm while parked in a municipal lot in Deadwood SD. It put holes in the aluminum TT roof, broke roof vents, A/C shroud, windows, sidewall and also severely damaged my truck hood, roof, and put holes in my aluminum truck cap. We were glad we were on our way back to IN because it sure ruined the end of our vacation. Insurance covered everything.
Got caught in hail storm in the Black Hills. Trailer had a couple dozen dents and never claimed it. The truck required over $7,000 in dent repair. Also a hail storm in Zion. Thought the trailer was going to get blown over.
Our larger TT stays outside in south-central Texas year-round (we use it seasonally). 8-years with no hail damage. Suppose it is only a matter of time…
Between the time we reserved our TT and the time we paid for it and picked it up, a severe hailstorm hit the dealership. They had 64 damaged RV’s. The insurance company issued them a check for $3500 for our rig, and the dealership gave us a choice of repairing it or taking the $$ as a discount. After we determined that the damage was only cosmetic (and not that ugly) we took the discount. We’ve had no leaks or other issues, and you’d have to be looking for the damage to see it, so it worked out well.
PECO,TEXAS, staying one night when we got hit with a hail storm. No warning at all, took about 10minutes and caused about 12,000.dollars in damage to truck and trailer. Trailer skylights(2), vent covers(2); damage to side, truck ,both back window and windshield dents all over(200+), it was so hard to be inside while it all happened. Hail and water pouring in from broken skylights. We taped up skylights and cleaned up glass and made it to New Mexico where both windshield and back window on truck were fixed right away. After getting back home to AZ, insurance got me in touch with repair shop that could fix both dents on truck and skylights and dents on trailer at same time. 2wks cost 12,000.
My damage was not costly because I repaired it myself. However it was somewhat serious. The hail damaged the coils on the roof AC units. I was parked and the hail was blowing sideways into the back of the units, passing through the openings and flattening the fins on the coils.
We live in Texas where hail storms are common. This storm lasted 3 minutes with marble size hail that came down extremely hard and fast. The ground was covered completely like snow. Damaged our roof and vent covers, ac cover and a got a few dimples on front of trailer. Horace Mann replaced the roof and covers and paid for everything. We chose a lifetime warranty Flex Armor roof that we love. The dimples on front were barely noticeable so we did not repair it. Trailer was in shop for 2 weeks, but we did have to wait 2 weeks to get an appointment.
Hail raises h*** with cracker box tin walls …better to get an RV with fiberglass walls .
Where I live, insurance is quite a bit less if your rv is not tin sided.
We haven’t sustained storm damage, but only by luck. We have had tornados and very large hail (baseball size) miss us by only a mile or two.
I keep close tabs on the weather and if really serious weather is imminent, we pull in slides, window awnings, etc. The main awning never stays out unless we’re using it. Also, having vent covers over the vent lids help protect those breakable areas.
Last summer we narrowly missed massive hail in the Nebraska panhandle. Less than a mile west, the dangerous storm cell drastically changed course heading to the North and all we got was pea-sized hail while a local airport just a mile away sustained heavy damage.
No hail but have been in 2 different tornadoes with damage!
Rapid City. Broke the vents, skylight and roof plywood dented so bad it needed replacing.
October of 2018 in Gold Canyon, AZ. A hailstorm took out our sky light, vent covers and damaged siding on 3 sides of out trailer. $3,700 worth of damage!
Should be an option for not-so-serious hail damage. I had that.
We lucked out while in TX, but my son who lives there said that if you’re driving while that happens to try to find a bridge to drive under and pull over and stay under until it stops. Thought it was good advice!
You didn’t ask how many times. Thrice for me.
1988 got caught up in the far north of Texas near the NM border. Hail side ways. I was in a 1957 schoolie custom the damage to my rig was about 1000. But the other rigs and semi’s were destroyed
In August 2023, about 20 miles from Devils Tower in Wyoming we got caught in 1/2” hail for about 10 minutes. Our fifth wheel had damage to the plastic vent and the main awning. About $1800 damage in all. The aluminum skirting on the lower right side of the trailer also had dents.