I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this.
I'm in the US.
I just got hail damage on my 2014 Toyota Corolla. As far as I can tell, it's all cosmetic. No damage to the windows, but a lot of dents on the top side of the car and a few on the right doors.
I owe about 8k on the car which I can pay off comfortably. It's a 0% interest loan, so I haven't yet. The initial cost was 22k. My insurance gave me a check for 7k for the hail damage.
I'm planning to just keep the money. Should I repair it instead? The worker said that if I don't get the repairs, they won't give me a payout next time there is hail damage. Will I also get nothing if I total the car later? If I go to a shop that does the repairs for 4k, will they deduct 3k from my insurance payout next time there is damage? In light of the previous discussion, should I drop comprehensive coverage if I keep the money? It seems like I should keep it for theft and other issues, but will they ask for the receipt for the hail damage later, even if the claim is for theft?
Also, more hail is expected tomorrow and the next day. If I get hail damage then, do they give me a payout because I didn't have a reasonable amount of time to get the repairs done?
I plan to keep the car for another 8 years hopefully. 7k is a third of the starting value of the car. Sinking that into cosmetic repairs when I don't care at all about how my car looks seems like a poor decision to me.