would you buy Hail Damaged?

according to an ad, a brand new hail damaged car is being sold at $8000 off
MSRP. It normally sells for $3000 off. I have no idea what hail damaged
vehicles look like. Are they worth it? How much to fix such a damage?

 

There is no "what hail damaged vehicles look like". They'll all be
different. It's up to you, on a car by car basis, to determine whether
the price you pay is enough to offset whatever damage a car has.

It could be a perfectly fine deal.

 

It would be the best if the car could be repaired without repainting....If
you need to repaint, you risk the chance of bad color matching (If you're
like me that's the first thing you'll notice when you look at your car).
Also, if they have to disassemble the car's interior to pop the dents, you
might notice more squeaks and noises later on. By the way, what is the car?

 

As others have said, the condition of a hail damaged car can vary
tremendously. I purchased a hail damaged Dodge Caravan in 1989. They'd
replaced the hood, so the only real area was the roof which is high on
the van. The dealer also agreed to install a luggage rack that
included rubber strips that hid even more of the damage. I noticed it
a lot the first month or so, and then never thought about it again.
However, if it were on the top of a car roof which is prominent every
time you approach the car, it might bother me more. It's all just your
reactions / taste.

I think it also matters if you plan to keep the car forever or trade
it in in a few years. The former, of course, you save the money since
by the time you do part with the car, something like hail damage will
have little impact on the value. However, if you plan to keep the car
only a few years, I would think the hail damage would depress the
resale value a lot meaning that you really didn't save as much as you
thought with the original discount.

 

In 1999 we had a hail storm to end all hail storms. Thousands of
roofs had to replaced, and thousands of autos were damaged. Both of
ours were out 15 minutes before it started. We were very lucky.
These dents in cars could be seen 100 feet away. Serious damage.
Insurance adjusters came from around the country and set up tents to
evaluate car damage. Also a number of dentless paint repair shops set
up on every corner. This process is amazing. In most cases, you
can't tell anything ever happened. And the price was reasonable. If
I could get a great price on a hail damaged car, I wouldn't hesitate
knowing what I do now.

Dick

 

Does it 'drive' straight or do you find it 'hooks' sometimes....
(Sorry, couldn't resist it)

Alex Devlin

 

Golf balls are dimpled for a reason - to fly further and
straighter - so perhaps a fuel consumption test is due.

Depending on the car, it might be a great deal - I assume
the top surfaces (hood, roof, trunk) are the worse off. The hood
and trunk can be replaced (perhaps more economically than
PDR). What kind of car is it?

 

The reason that the dimples allow the golf ball to fly further is that they
allow the backspin of the ball to catch the airstream around the ball,
moving the stagnation point (the place where the airstream splits) lower on
the ball which creates aerodynamic lift on the ball. When viewed from the
side, the path of the ball is considerably flattened from the normal
parabola, which allows the ball to stay in the air longer and fly further.

To apply the same effect to a car, the car would have to be round and have
considerable backspin!

If you don't care too much about the looks, but just intend to drive the car
for its entire life, it might be a deal. Fresh everything, and the dimples
make it less attractive to steal. You also don't have to worry about the
dreaded "first ding"!

George

 

By the way, what is the car?
'03 Nissan Altima.

 

Depending on the car, it might be a great deal - I assume

'03 Nissan Altima

 

go look at it, and bring a paintless dent repair guy with ya. chances are
itll take $5k to fix.

personally, if i just wanted transportation, and it was a really good deal,
i wouldnt care. might try to push some of the dents out in my spare time...
make a hobby or education out of it!

 

i woulda been tempted to take every pillow and blanket and towel i own, and
put it on the car

 

Wouldn't have helped in our hailstorm. It came so suddenly, you
wouldn't have had time to get to the car, and the tennis ball size
hail could have done some serious damage to you. And of course if you
were traveling down the freeway at the time, you were screwed anyway.
In our case we got the cars into the garage just in time.

Dick

 

I would get some pics... I dunno, if you said the surface looks like
a golf ball, that could cose $8,000 to fix.

 

I think that's "paintless dent repair" n'est pas? I can highly
recommend the process, it's unbelievable how big a ding they can
meassge back out. Anytime a panel has to painted or blown-in -
it's rarely perfect.

 

Actually, the car has a tendency to lift at about 70 MPH.

 

Once knew of a car that would lose time at 88 MPH.....

Alex Devlin

 

Yes, you are right. It's just the first thing that entered my
cluttered mind.

Dick

 

Until the CEO of that company got busted for buying heroin.

 

Cocaine.