7 Tips For Buying A Car With Hail Damage

Thinking about buying a hail damaged car? Use these 7 insider tips to get a deal!

Hail storms can be extremely destructive events, causing more than a billion dollars in damage to property each year in the U.S. Some of the most obvious victims of a hailstorm are cars, more specifically new cars, still sitting on the dealership's lot. 

Each year, in towns and cities all across the country, car dealerships have found a new sale gimmick to deploy, Mother Nature willing - The Hail Sale. Blinded by the illusion of getting a once in a lifetime deal, consumers flock to hail damaged car dealerships in droves looking to buy the vehicle of their dreams, only to find out afterwards that they've been duped. Thankfully, the guys at Dealer's Hail & Specialty, the nation's leading expert on dealer and fleet hail damage restoration, have put together these great tips for consumers thinking about buying a hail damaged car.

• Know how much the car you're looking at normally sells for, without hail damage. It doesn't do you any good to work a deal for a car with hail damage if you do not know what you could buy the car for without damage, its simply impossible to know if you're getting a deal. Try a website like TrueCar.com that shows what a particular vehicle has been selling for in your area to get an idea of what you'd normally pay. 
• Find out if any of the car's glass has been replaced. In a severe hailstorm, windshield, sunroofs, and rear window glass gets cracked, punctured, and even completely knocked in, meaning the car may have sustained water damage from the massive amount of rain that usually accompanies a hailstorm. If you look close enough, you can usually tell if a windshield was recently replaced.
• Ask to see the insurance estimate. All new car dealerships are required to carry open lot or floor plan insurance coverage to protect the vehicles on their lots. After a hailstorm, the insurance company sends a team of damage adjusters to inspect the damage, just like for a consumer insurance claim. Since the adjusters usually have to account for everything thats needed to restore a vehicle to its pre-loss condition, which is the amount they are going to compensate the dealership, this is the magic number that you need to know. Insurance companies aren't usually in the business of overcompensating claims, so if you don't know how much the dealership insurance company said the hail repair cost should be, its impossible to know if you are getting a good deal or not. If you ask to see the insurance estimate and the dealer refuses, its a sure sign they are trying to pocket some of the insurance money and hang you with a bad deal, don't take the bait, go to another dealership.
• Take the car to a reputable PDR hail repair service, paintless dent removal shop, or local body shop to get an auto hail repair estimate. Again, if you don't know how much damage the car has, how can you ever know if you're getting a good deal? Have them print you a copy of their PDR dent repair estimate and keep it with you, you may need to produce it later at the dealership to show how much the hail damaged car repair cost is, which will help you to negotiate the best deal.
• Call your insurance company. Many insurance companies will not allow you to carry comprehensive coverage, which is usually required if you finance, on new cars with hail damage that wasn't repaired. So if for example you were in an accident and your hood and fender, with hail dents on them, are damaged, the insurance company is not going to pay to repair those panels because they were already part of a hail damage insurance claim and were compensated for. Think about what would happen if another hail storm hits your area, if your car gets hit again, it will not be covered by insurance and cars that have been hit hail twice usually are not repairable with paintless dent removal, meaning it would need to go to the body shop, costing twice as much and leaving you without a vehicle to drive for a month or more. 
• Call your bank or finance company. If you were planning to lease your new hail damaged car, don't waste anymore of your time as leasing companies will not do a deal on a new car with hail damage. Similarly, many traditional lenders have their reservations about financing a new car with hail damage. New cars tend to experience pretty rapid depreciation on their own, without adding hail damage to the equation, so for a car covered in hail dents, don't be surprised if they require a larger down payment to offset the lowered value of the vehicle, or make you purchase additional GAP insurance coverage because they know you will probably be upside down, meaning you owe more on the car than its worth. For these reasons alone, you really should think twice about buying a new car with hail damage if you are planning to finance it, it is almost guaranteed that you will be very upside down in only a year or two. 
• Be careful if you're trading in a car with hail damage. Many dealers love to take hail damaged cars on trade in, usually requiring you to give them your insurance check as part of the process. Avoid doing this at all costs. It is much better to send the check in to your finance company to be applied toward the balance of your note, or to go ahead and get your hail damaged car fixed by a reputable paintless dent removal hail repair service before trading it in. When you trade in a car with hail damage, especially one with an open hail insurance claim, its impossible to know the amount the dealer is allotting for your trade in, and without knowing that key piece of information, you guessed it, it is impossible to know if you are getting a good deal or not on your new hail damaged car.

As you can see, their are some things to avoid when buying a new car with hail damage. Its all about getting real numbers on everything and removing the ambiguity and unknown that the hail damage creates. You can rest assured that the dealership knows how much damage is on their vehicles, how much they were paid by their insurance company, how much they can get their cars fixed for, how much you can get the car fixed for, if your insurance company paid you appropriately for the hail damage to your vehicle, or underpaid you, as well as any other variable in a deal they're making. You should expect to buy a new hail damaged car for the price that you would pay if the car wasn't damaged by hail, usually at least 10% off the sticker price including any rebates or incentives, minus as much as possible for the hail damage, but at least as much as it will cost you to have it repaired by a reputable paintless dent removal hail damage car repair shop. If you can find out how much the dealership got paid, or at least should have been paid, and refuse to buy the car for any less than that amount, you should be okay. Dealer's will usually come around at some point, usually near the end of the month when they need another unit or two to hit their monthly bonus. Stick to your guns and as with any occasion where you are car shopping, be prepared to walk away or to go to another dealership. Car dealers prey on uniformed buyers who make impulse decisions. You are no longer uninformed, now just stand your ground in the negotiation and you'll get a great deal!

If you are thinking about buying a new car with hail damage, call or bring the vehicle by any of Dealer's Hail & Specialty's auto dent repair and paintless hail damage removal shop's for a free hail damage paintless dent removal cost estimate. Also, to get a good idea of the cost to repair car hail damage, check out the instant Online Paintless Dent Repair Cost Calculator from Dealer's Hail & Specialty. Its totally free to use and will give you a good idea about the dent repair cost for the hail damaged car you are looking at buying. For more answers to frequently asked questions about paintless dent removal hail repair, or questions about the hail insurance claim process, check out the FAQ page at Dealer's Hail & Specialty's website.

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Dealer's Hail & Specialty

The nationwide leader in PDR dent removal and auto hail repair.