Buying a car with hail damage...

[lendaddy]

Interested in you guys thoughts on the topic. I've been looking for some time for a nice commuter as I'm dropping $600+ a month in gas driving the Tundra. Anyway, a coworker mentioned they buy hail damaged cars all the time as they have a family bodyshop or something and the discount is fairly sizable.

Basically this means I could get a lot more car for the money and the only real sacrifice would be resale and vanity (neither of which I care too much about). I mean I might throw a new hood/trunk lid on it but the dents and dings really don't bother me really, I would pretty much just drive the golf balled bastard.

Discuss

To clarify, these are sold at insurance auctions and are salvage titled.

[stomachmonkey]

Both my GMC's are golf balled.

Did have the Mazda fixed.

Really depends on the car and the sheet metal.

The Mazda looked awful, thin sheet metal dented more but was easier to fix.

GMC's you don't notice nearly as much, thicker sheet metal so not as bad but harder for the dent less guys to deal with.

You had to see some of my former LI commuter cars, hail damage would have been the least of their issues.

[wdfifteen]

Salvage title for hail?

If the only problem truly is dents in the sheet metal I'd buy a fuel efficient commuter at a steep discount any day.

[Eric Coffey]

We had a nasty hail storm here in AZ a couple years back, and there were hail damaged cars everywhere. The guys that made a killing that year were the paintless dent removal guys.
I saw cars that looked like huge golf balls be transformed back to their former glory, all for $2k - $3K.

So, even if you wanted to make it pretty again, you would likely still come out on top buying a hail-damage car, and driving it directly to your nearest (good) PDR shop.

[lendaddy]

Thanks guys, some of them do have fairly light damage where as others look more like a Titleist than a Toyota. For example, a couple of the Lexus(Lexi?) that I looked at had damage estimated at $15k+ and they were fine by me.

[wdfifteen]

Len, what's the difference in price between a Lexus with $15k worth of hail damage and an undamaged one?

[lendaddy]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Len, what's the difference in price between a Lexus with $15k worth of hail damage and an undamaged one?

The stories I'm being told seem a touch ridiculous so I'm trying to confirm but 50-70% of normal value or less is what the claim is. There are auctions on Monday and I don't yet have access to prior data.

[aschen]

That huge discount comes with a salvage title I'm sure.

[lendaddy]

Originally Posted by aschen

That huge discount comes with a salvage title I'm sure.

Indeed, that's not a problem in my situation however.

[aschen]

If I thought I would drive it forever I would have no problem driving a new Lexus with hail damage for 60% off. I imagine civic s and the like don't take quite as big of a hit. I had a white car with an aluminum hood that got a few dings and they barely showed.

[id10t]

You get better gas milage with the dimples, just like a golf ball...

[vonsmog]

I picked up a 2011 Toyota corolla last year with ever so slight hail damage. You had to look real hard to see it. Maybe 10 tiny dents at most. Had a clear title and saved about $3k of what others were selling for. My daughter could not be happier with it, as it it the last car I plan on buying for her.

[widgeon13]

Originally Posted by id10t

you get better gas milage with the dimples, just like a golf ball...

+1:d

[onewhippedpuppy]

If you don't care about resale and could live with the dents, I don't see how you can really go wrong.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by id10t

You get better gas milage with the dimples, just like a golf ball...

+1
Another excellent reason to go for it.