Anyone with hail damage experience?

[VaSteve]

I had a 1995 Altima this happened to in 1997 or 1998. It even cracked the windshield. They had the car 2 weeks and had to repair every panel. The argued on the driver's door but I said it wouldn't match. I don't remember the cost, but the car was never the same....it later developed an electrical problem where the turn signal would short out the whole circuit. I think someone did a sloppy job on reassembly. I don't know why they didn't total it.

[Robert Adams]

I'm a little late joining in here, but I had a newish Sebring convert get over $5000 worth of hail damage when it weas about 2years old. Looked into the dent wizard guys; that was going to cost well over $9k; not realistic for the car even if it was only 2 years old.
I took the $5k insurance check and put it toward buying an beautiful 87 Targa!
I have heard form others and been told by body shop folks that dry ice will do wonders, but it has restricted sales so not that easy to buy. I know others here have suggested it and that is what I would do if I was motivated.

I was told to leave it in the sun and that might pop them out to, but over the last 6 years my daughters driving has fixed all but the rear deck lid and the drivers door due to accidents. So far I've had over $10,000 worth of work done to this car and the crazy insurance company keeps paying for the repairs, so I keep getting it fixed. Anyone want to buy a 2001 Sebring convert with 133k miles with all service receipts from new, slight hail damage and a a lot of new sheet metal and new paint? Not holding my breath, but it will probably make a good trade in when my daughter gives up banging into things or others into her. I figure no matter what they give me for it I'm ahead of the game and then some!

As for buying back a vehicle with salvage title, I would aviod that if at all possible. Work something out with the insurance company. It's bad enough they have hail damage adding salvage title to the mix, you will never be able to sell them later except for scrap or parts?
Just my 2cents
Good luck with your situation.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by motion

Joe, did you buy back the salvage and keep the truck? Did you get the dents removed with PDR?

Yes I did. They hemmed and hawed back and forth and finally totaled the truck. Dents were pretty bad but hey, its a frigging pickup truck.

I paid $12.5k for it two years ago and they gave me a check for $7600 and I kept the truck. Only difficult part was that they would not do anything until the title was marked "salvage."

Well here in AZ they force you to inspect the vehicle before doing anything (unless you do salvage it) and its then marked "salvage/repaired" and the insurance company finally accepted that.

Dents have been taken out of the roof, and will put a new or salvage hood and left front fender on the vehicle when I get time and find one for a reasonable price. Found a great guy who flies around the country removing dents. He did the truck roof and the Jag and you cannot see a thing on either where he worked. He is a 911 owner and was very happy with his work.

BTW, regarding the post above, I could care less about the salvage title. I do not plan on selling the vehicle, its got 133k miles on it now and a Cummins engine usually lasts 500k, so its a keeper for me.

[Laneco]

That's why the whole "salvage title" thing really bothers me. The vehicle has cosmetic only damage. It is now "salvage" because an insurance company made a payoff, that's the only reason.

Salvage title does kill you if you want to sell it - big hit. But you have the right attitude, drive it till it drops.

I drive a salvage title 911. I drive it everywhere. Damn fine car for $3,500.

angela

[Joeaksa]

Angela,

Same here but at least in Arizona we have "salvage/repaired" and when they see the date everyone around here knows that its hail damage and once its fixed you might lose 10% but not like a regular salvage vehicle.

[motion]

Numbers are in. $18K for a new roof for the house. Each of the F150s has $7K damage. I guess they decided to not total the trucks. I'm not really too excited about the local small shop doing this kind of repair, so I need to decide what to do from here.

[motion]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Yes I did. They hemmed and hawed back and forth and finally totaled the truck. Dents were pretty bad but hey, its a frigging pickup truck.

I paid $12.5k for it two years ago and they gave me a check for $7600 and I kept the truck. Only difficult part was that they would not do anything until the title was marked "salvage."

Well here in AZ they force you to inspect the vehicle before doing anything (unless you do salvage it) and its then marked "salvage/repaired" and the insurance company finally accepted that.

Dents have been taken out of the roof, and will put a new or salvage hood and left front fender on the vehicle when I get time and find one for a reasonable price. Found a great guy who flies around the country removing dents. He did the truck roof and the Jag and you cannot see a thing on either where he worked. He is a 911 owner and was very happy with his work.

BTW, regarding the post above, I could care less about the salvage title. I do not plan on selling the vehicle, its got 133k miles on it now and a Cummins engine usually lasts 500k, so its a keeper for me.

I think this is pretty much exactly what I'll do with my trucks, only they'll still have clear titles. They're only worth 10-12k each and I'll drive these things into the ground. They're just pickup trucks. Except now they'll have a bit more character.

[McLovin]

Speed Dimples!

[Joeaksa]

Just PM'ed you the contact info for my hail guy.

Joe A