BUYER BEWARE: The Downfalls of Purchasing A Vehicle With Hail Damage
So you purchased a new vehicle with hail damage. First off, congratulations! A newer vehicle is always an exciting time. That newer car smell. Something different to drive and more comfortable. We would like to discuss some items you should know for future reference.
Car Insurance
When you go to sign up for new insurance on this vehicle some insurance agents will want to see the vehicle in person or at least have pictures on file. If there is any indication that is has hail damage even in photos you may be denied for any future hail damage claims.
Future Accidents and Claims
We have even seen insurance companies subtract the damage amount for hail damage on a panel for a collision or accident. Lets say your hood for insurance has $500 in hail damage, please note this is NOT a lot of damage. You later get in a front end collision in your vehicle which damages the hood. Some insurance adjusters will then subtract the $500 in hail damage you have on the hood prior and not pay out that amount to have the vehicle fixed from its collision. This is rare and a complete headache for the vehicle owner and the repair shop. Even I myself cannot believe this is an issue but I have seen it myself first hand. So say it costs $1200 to have a body shop take the car apart, paint a new hood, install the new hood, blend the color into the fenders for a color match and put it all back together. The insurance company may only pay out $700.00 total because of the preexisting damages on the hood. Something to take note of.
The vehicle has a salvage title or damage disclosure is that the vehicle is now valued at a lesser amount. If the vehicle is then totaled out for damage again you will receive much less than the blue book value for the vehicle, often times using rough trade in for a value amount is in the ballpark.
CarFax History Report
Have you heard of Carfax? Its like a credit report for a vehicle. Whenever an insurance claim or accident is reported this information is then uploaded to Carfax to show the vehicle has some type of incident. Lets say this damage slips through the cracks and somehow is not recorded through Carfax. This vehicle gets to you with out any Carfax History Report. You then take the vehicle to a local body shop to have an estimate for your hail damage that you want repaired. Some body shop estimating systems and dealer computer systems report their info to Carfax. EVEN IF YOU DON’T HAVE A REPAIR DONE! So now your vehicle has been reported without your consent to Carfax and everyone from now on will know if they check the vehicles history, it had hail damage, or at least damage all over the vehicle. Some of these common body shop estimating systems include CCC One, Mitchell or Audatex. So be aware!
Often times we have people contact us asking “Should I buy a vehicle with hail damage?” They then send us photos of the damage or a web link to the vehicle on a website. Also they may have already purchased the vehicle. There are many considerations to take when purchasing a vehicle with hail damage and today we will cover those.
First off, Why Do You Want To Buy A Vehicle With Hail Damage?
People get attracted to hail damage vehicles because of the purchase price. After all the car is just cosmetically damaged. No frame damage or inner structures are damaged on the vehicle. Typically they have low miles and a very nice clean interior. The only downfall is the outside of the vehicle is full of dents and dings. To some buyers they are ok with the damage being there. They will drive the vehicle for years without a care in the world and not fix it. Others are looking to purchase the damaged vehicle cheaper than an equivalent vehicle without damage, then have it repaired later.
Does The Vehicle Have A Damage Disclosure or A Salvage Title?
These are very important questions that you will need to know. Even if the vehicle is fixed 100% correct a salvage title or damage disclosure may still haunt the vehicle for the rest of its life. Each state is different so check with your local state to see the requirements.
If it does have either of those on the title, was it added to the title because of hail damage specifically? The reason we ask is cause some vehicles have been repaired because of frame or other structural damage then these vehicles get hit with sometimes even light hail. The seller may then say something like, it has a damage disclosure or salvage title because of the hail. The will say this so you think oh its super simple damage, only a few dents per panel, no big deal. Later you may then find out it has previous frame or structural damage that was actually the cause of the bad title.
Extreme hail Damage – Sioux Falls South Dakota
How Does A Vehicle Get A Damage Disclosure or Salvage Title?
When a vehicle is damaged the total cost to repair the damage is assessed. The cost to repair the damage will be in excess of 60% to 80% of the total vehicles value. Each state is different but most states range from this percentage.
Did you know that for some insurance companies will “total out” a vehicle even into the fifty percentile just because the insurance company knows that the specific vehicle manufacture and model will bring a premium when later auctioned off for sale. That’s right, a vehicle that is deemed a total loss will then be purchased by the insurance company from the vehicle owner. The insurance company then takes the vehicle to an auction to then be auctioned off to the highest bidder. This is why car lots tend to have vehicles with hail damage, they buy them at auction.
So for easy math lets say you have a vehicle that is valued at $20,000.00 In order for a vehicle to be deemed a total loss, the total amount of damage the vehicle would have to have is somewhere between $12,000-$16,000.00 range. As stated in the previous paragraph it may even be as low as $10,000.00 in damage on extreme cases.
Extreme Hail Damage – Sioux Falls Dent Repair
How Much Are You Really Saving?
How much are you saving verses purchasing a vehicle with no damage and equal miles on it? Some save as little as a few hundred dollars and some save several thousand.
The Seller Said It Would Cost Less To Repair.
In some cases the new vehicle owner says the seller told them they had quotes for only some low amount to fix the damage. This happens with hail damage as well as collision style damage. When the vehicle is looked at by a facility like ourselves for an actual estimate we give them a through estimate on the actual repair costs. Remember this is what we specialize in specifically.
Often times moldings and trim pieces on the vehicle become damaged, if these are missed they can add several hundreds of dollars to the repair estimate. For instance lets say some of the trim around the rear quarter panel glass is missed and has damage, those windows can range from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars to replace and that is just one side! The reason being is the molding is bonded to the glass, the glass must be replaced with the molding since they are all one piece.
Also remember the person selling the vehicle is trying to get rid of it. They are a salesman! We see it time and time again of people being taken advantage of when buying a damaged vehicle. Unfortunately we end up becoming the ones to deliver the bad news that the vehicle will not actually cost as low of a price to repair, it will actually cost much more. We typically tell a person expect the ACTUAL repair costs to be double at least but probably closer to four times the amount mentioned by the vehicle seller. Remember, they are TRYING to sell the vehicle, not actually repair it!
Our Actual Experiences
All of the pictures featured in this article were either taken by us or sent to us by customers. All of these photos show damage that we will not be repairing.
The silver car, the Toyota was purchased by a customer then brought to us for an estimate. The entire top side of the vehicle needs to be replaced and taken to a body shop.
In 2018 we had a customer come to us with a newer BMW 7 series with hail damage. He purchased the vehicle out of Colorado and was shocked when he found out the cost of the repairs. Here he thought he had basically stole the vehicle. He was given over $7,000.00 off of the price! When we looked at the vehicle the cost to replace just the hood, roof and trunk lid and NOT counting any other damages was over his $7,000.00 savings. Its unfortunate but we hope to combat these dilemmas for future customers by informing them before hand!
Our Final Thoughts and Input
Think of it this way, with hail damage, there is a reason we ourselves do not typically buy hail damage cars and fix them ourselves. We can do these repairs for just the cost of our time and still choose not to. It is just not cost effective.
Want to read more about future insurance claims, future repairs, Carfax history reports and more?
Most hail damage dent repairs can be made in just a few days. Smaller and lighter hail damage repairs can be made in 1-3 business days. More extreme hail damage repairs are often made in 3-5 days. When parts are damaged from hail we must order new ones to be replaced. All parts are ordered once a final insurance approval is made. Often times parts can be delivered in 1-3 business days unless on back order. If this is the case you will be notified right away of any potential delays. We will update you daily on all hail damage repair claims unless otherwise discussed ahead of time.
Most often we schedule hail damage repairs to be dropped off on Monday. Most customers have their vehicles back by that Friday. This allows them to have their vehicle back DENT FREE for the week!
I Already Have an Insurance Hail Damage Estimate
Be sure to bring any copies of your insurance paperwork with you to better speed up the repair process. We will look the vehicle over for damage using our specialized lighting prior to doing any repairs. This lighting will almost every time find more damage than a person or Insurance adjuster will see in normal outside lighting or shop lighting. All additional damage that we find and added parts that need to be replaced will be added to our estimate and submitted to your insurance company.
This is called a supplement, a supplement is a request from a repair facility for the additional damage to be paid for by the insurance company to repair the additional damages found. Almost every single vehicle has additional damage that will be found by a Paintless Dent Repair Facility, the insurance companies are well aware of this and very aware of this whole process.
How Do You Submit A Supplement?
We contact your insurance company and inform them of additional damage or parts are needed to do your repair. From there it depends on what your specific insurance companies needs.
Some insurance companies will have one of their personal adjusters come to the repair shop and look at the vehicle in person, from there they take pictures of additional damage for documentation. They then update their estimate to match the repair facility and we can begin repairs. Often times this will take 1-3 business days for one of their own adjusters to come to the repair shop and then we can start repairs.
Other insurance companies hire independent adjusters to work for them. These adjusters are subcontracted by the insurance company when they need them, this is common in a catastrophic hail storm, where there is a huge need for adjusters and they hire on more for a short time to handle the influx of claims and damage.
Another option is an insurance company will contract an independent adjuster company. This company hires out multiple forms of adjusters for automotive, RV’s, home and commercial policies.
Every Claim Is Different
This is just a general overview of the options an insurance company uses. Some adjusters will come and look at the vehicle in person, some want just photos of the damage circled then submitted via email and all approvals are made online. Every company and claim is different. One may do it one way for one claim, then next week the same company may go through an entirely different process.
After an agreement is made with the insurance company about your vehicles damage most hail damage repairs can be made within just a few business days. If any parts are in need of replacement they will be ordered once the final insurance approval has been made.
Want to learn more about how long small and large non hail damage take to repair? Click Here To Learn More!
Do you have more questions about hail damage repairs or your insurance?
Will my dented area rust after paintless dent repairs are performed?
We have been asked this question multiple times from customers of ours. First off, does the damaged area have any paint damage, broken paint, a scratch of some kinda or cracked paint? If the answer is NO to those questions that’s great news! That means your damage is a perfect candidate for Paintless Dent Repair and your damage will not have any paint issues and no rust issues down the road.
What if my damaged area DOES have some paint damage?
One thing to clear up is often damaged areas may have minor paint damage, anything from a smaller light scuff to maybe even cracked or a chip in the paint. Now the dented areas can often still be repaired and smoothed out BUT the paint damage may remain if its severe.
Can you fix my paint damage?
Depending on the severity of the damage, YES. If your paint damage consists of a minor scuff or scrape we will wet sand, buff and polish the area to remove the paint damage. This paint damage will not be noticable at all after our repairs are done and the paint will look as if nothing ever happend.
What if I have a crack, chip or deep scratch in my paint?
We can do things like apply some touch up paint to the paint damaged areas or do some wet standing, buffing and polishing to removed scuffs and scrapes, but if the paint damage can not be removed with buffing. The paint damage WILL remain. Some people are ok with having us do touch up paint, others are not, that is strictly up to you, the customer. Everyone’s needs are different for each repair and we are willing to work with you on your needs. The best way to describe how touch up paint will look after applied is it will look like a black button up shirt WITH a black button. The button(paint damage) will be visible, you will be able to see it to a certain degree and really looking for it. You yourself, know EXACTLY where it is, others like friends, family members or the general public may not pick out the damage unless it is specifically pointed out. This is the best case scenario, touch up paint is often best suited for solid colors, black and white being the best. Colors with a high metallic paint, pearl colors and specialized colors may not look the best when touch up paint is applied. We would be happy to discuss all of these items, your needs and our personal suggestions for your situation. We have even suggestion people with severe paint damage that we are NOT the best course of action for their damage, we can then happily get you fixed up with a recommended body shop in the area
Want to see what a repair looks like when the paint IS DAMAGED? Here is an example of a repair we did on a vehicle that had a minor crack in the paint prior to our repairs: CLICK HERE
What is corrosion protection?
Often times people do not know that there has to be some kind of protection sprayed onto the backside of there dented area after we repair it. If we have to use any types of dent repair tools we are taking sometimes sharp metal tipped tools and pushing on the backside of the dented area. This pushing can cause small scratches in the coatings on the back side of your damaged area. Now these are very minimal but something needs to be done to protect this area. After a repair is made with dent tools we apply a corrosion protection spray like a 3m Cavity Wax spray. This is a very runny liquid that will run into all of the areas it is sprayed in. This spray stays soft and gooey like honey for instance. This spray will not harden and crack like some other products on the market. Now with glue pulling for example no harm is caused to the backside of the panel because we are gluing glue tabs to the OUTSIDE of the panel and pulling the damage out, no pushing on the dent is done so there is no need for the application of cavity wax.
Here is a video of us explaining the use of 3M Cavity Wax spray when performing dent repairs.
Hopefully this clears up any questions you may have had about rust and paintless dent repair.
If you are still curious about the paintless dent repair process or maybe you have some more questions on our methods of preventing rusting, feel free to call, text or email us!
Hail Damage Repair Access: How do we access the back side of hail damage dents to push them out with our tools?
Jack Bucknell with Sioux Falls Dent Repair shows you how we access areas on this 2010 Subaru for us to make hail damage repairs.We already took the door panels off, as well as the glass assemblies and all the necessary trim has been removed in order to gain access to this area of the tops of the door assemblies on the left passenger side.
This vehicle had hail damage and we had to access the damage from the backside in order to push this damage out. Even though access on this damage is not terrible we still do have to use the glue pull method in order to remove all of these dents. We use an Elmident Glue Gun fitted with a Dewalt battery for our glue supply. We use Hawg Glue from Anson PDR to glue our tabs to the vehicle to remove dents. We then use a combination of glue tabs from Black Plague PDR and Keco to do the pulling. To pull the tabs once they are glued on we use a slide hammer or a mini lifter available from multiple PDR suppliers, the ones we use are available from A-1 PDR Tools.
We then talk about access to other areas of the vehicle. Subaru’s are well known for having a high safety crash test ratings. How they go about doing this especially in the doors and side impact areas is those areas are heavily braced with internal bracing that you won’t see until you take the vehicle apart and inspect the structure. We show you a good example of how this bracing looks and how it can effect the dent repair process.
