Hail Damaged Vehicles (dealerships)

cokewithvanilla

Ok, so apparently, in this hail storm we had recently dealerships got hit hard, as did enterprise (according to an employee, their whole inventory was damaged).

In a news article, a dealership manager said that customers are likely to come in to buy these vehicles if they get a 4-5000 discount...

Are these people crazy? You can get much more off than that by simply buying a used vehicle with less than 10k miles. Hell, when they do employee pricing or sell year old models, you get better than that. You can't really fix hail damage...and it's everywhere... would you drive around a car for years with that kind of damage just to save 5k?

kawizx9r

To each their own honestly.

Who's to say they'll drive the vehicle around long without getting it repaired? Maybe someone will do their own work, or knows of someone that can fix the issue for far less than it'd cost elsewhere.

Would I purchase one of those vehicles? Nope.

cokewithvanilla

kawizx9r wrote: »

To each their own honestly.

Who's to say they'll drive the vehicle around long without getting it repaired? Maybe someone will do their own work, or knows of someone that can fix the issue for far less than it'd cost elsewhere.

Would I purchase one of those vehicles? Nope.

I guess, but 5k? If you were good with bodywork, you could probably do it for under that, but how much? Then you'd have to have access to a paint shop. If you were able to do everything yourself, you'd save maybe 3-4k and have at least 10-20hrs work in. But if you disclose that upon sale, it will drastically reduce the value of the vehicle.

I just don't know how many people have access to those things and the skill to utilize them. And just the thought of bondo on my vehicle makes me cringe. But more than that, 5k off seems to me more like a Saturday special than a deal of a lifetime... nissan does 3.5k incentives all the time..

strider

Paint-less dent repair.

sucks2beme

Can't fix it? Are you kidding? There's about a zillion of those guys down here in Dallas. And business is booming. My 1998 truck got dinged up again.
Me, I'll take the check, drop some coverage off the truck, and keep driving it. It's beauty consists of having a 8' bed. Ugly just adds character. The wife wants to go buy a new car(not hail pinged). After multiple bouts with hail around DFW,If I ever get that new car, the one that stays outside the
garage gets a new hail blanket cover. But for now, it no longer matters.

treitz3

There are many auto lots around the area that had every car outside damaged from hail. Lancaster, Fort Mill, Gastonia and up the 321 corridor got hit pretty bad. It's not just the 5K off they are offering. Usually when this happens, dealers try to move the cars out quickly. So what they do is offer the consumer whatever amount off and the insurance deductible paid.

In other words, the cars will be fixed and the consumer does not have to pay for it BUT they [the consumer] will have to go through the hassle actually getting it fixed. There's more. Usually, the dealership will have an adjuster come out and give a certain vehicle a dollar amount to get it repaired. Whether or not the car can get fixed for that amount is now your problem if you purchased one of the hail damage cars. Anything over what dollar amount quoted by the insurance adjuster will come out of your pocket. I'm hearing many a story lately about low-balling adjusters from folks all over the area.

The dealers don't care at that point because they have already moved the car off the lot and as far as they are concerned, it's a done deal. If anybody is interested in getting a car with hail damage, you may want to have a couple of estimates done to get closer to the ACTUAL cost of repairs. One more thing...if dentless paint removal can not be done on the car you may be interested in, the re-paint quality usually is not on par with the original factory finish and may not include the same number of clear coats.

cokewithvanilla

strider wrote: »

Paint-less dent repair.

if someone can fix these dents, I would be highly surprised. I have a good hundred or so on my car... some hit creases.... no way that's coming out.... these cars are mad screwed. I have damage on all four doors, lights, front fenders, roof and hood... and I was parked under a tree.

I have looked at some dealer ads on craigslist that say "save a whole crap ton, then get it repaired for $500" what a load of crap... salesmen will say anything

treitz3 wrote: »

In other words, the cars will be fixed and the consumer does not have to pay for it BUT they [the consumer] will have to go through the hassle actually getting it fixed. There's more. Usually, the dealership will have an adjuster come out and give a certain vehicle a dollar amount to get it repaired. Whether or not the car can get fixed for that amount is now your problem if you purchased one of the hail damage cars. Anything over what dollar amount quoted by the insurance adjuster will come out of your pocket. I'm hearing many a story lately about low-balling adjusters from folks all over the area.

Is this what every dealer does? No advertisement I've seen mentions anything about allowing the customer to take it in for repair on the insurance companies dime. I'm sure the dealers could simply pocket the money or not file a claim... right?

treitz3

Most estimates for actual repair that I have heard from folks around here are averaging 4-5K. I was lucky, the truck is fine.

bigaudiofanatic

I have had paintless dent removal before works great. We have a guy that comes to our local honda dealer and does it.

treitz3

They are swarming over like hawks over dead prey around here.