Ever bought a vehicle in a hail/dent sale?

[jerp]

Several dealerships in Weatherford really got pounded last night - hundreds of cars with varying degrees of damage. Anybody ever made a deal on one of these? Just wondering if the dealerships mark them down enough to really make it worth your while to buy one and get the dents fixed.

[Mary]

If it has too many dents, it will be in need of replacement parts instead of repair.

The dents on my FJ are not deep, but there are too many to repair. The hood as well as the roof has to be replaced at a minimum of $6000. (They would know if it was more once they started the work.)

So... the point to this is... it may look like a good deal, but get your repair estimate first.

[Sean]

Hot Texas sun and dry ice does wonders on hail dents.

[Tommyh]

If the dents arent that bad, why not just get the deal and drive it around?

[DJM]

Just fix them yourself.I had hail damage several years ago.Found on the www how to fix it.I don't recall the site but if you did a search I'm sure something would come up.


DJ

[Fishndude]

Back in the day, I worked at a Honda store in Austin. We sold hail damaged units a couple of times and honestly, it was a great deal for the customer. Many of the dents will come out in the hot summer sun.

JS

[Tuffbroadhead]

Several dealerships in Weatherford really got pounded last night - hundreds of cars with varying degrees of damage. Anybody ever made a deal on one of these? Just wondering if the dealerships mark them down enough to really make it worth your while to buy one and get the dents fixed.

This morning by 8 oclock we had over 1100 cars located at JUST Jerry's Toyota.. That does not include his hyundai,suzuki,Cadillac,GMC/Chevy, And Southwest Ford, in all there will be well over 8000 units affected and totaled by insurance..

ITs really bad over there, not to mention Texas Motors ford on the loop got pounded also, we had a paint tech over there today and was amazed at the sheer damage to EVERY CAR on the lot..


As far as buying one, I got a Ford guy to drop the price on a hail unit...New price was 46,000 after hail....32,000...and that was very light hail, not anything as bad as what we are seeing around here...

[Tuffbroadhead]

Hot Texas sun and dry ice does wonders on hail dents.

DONT EVER put dry ice directly on a painted surface........but the Texas sun will help out on very small and shallow dents

[Dr. D]

So who's offering a deal on a truck? 4x4, extended cab.

[jerp]

So who's offering a deal on a truck? 4x4, extended cab.

It might be worth calling to check it out. Some of the big ones here are www.jerrysnissan.com www.jerrystoyota.com www.durantchevrolet.com and www.southwestford.com

[Tuffbroadhead]

It was a 2008 Ford F-250 Crew Cab Shortbed, 4x4 fully loaded, diesel... I got that price last month on a hail unit that a local dealer was wanting to unload..

[bulletpusher]

I test drove a VW beetle once that had a lot of hail dents. It kept slicing to the right like my golf shots.

[offroadodge]

Well just from a collision repair technicians stand point, If you do get an awesome deal on a car/truck its probly good. I work in a high end shop in austin and we have some guys that do PDR (paintless dent repair) and they can fix almost anything. A typical bodyshop will try and replace all the panels cause they make more money on parts and labor than they do having a PDR guy fix it (you see). I have seen them fix baseball sized dents to the point where the average person cant hardly tell. So my suggestion, when/if you buy a vehicle and want it repaired try calling around to some reputable PDR guys and get quotes, or ask the bodyshop to get a quote. They will however mark it up(the shop). Thats just a little tid bit from a guy that works in the industry. Hope i have shed some light on it. And Mary, TRY REALY HARD to see if the shop can PDR your ROOF, I have worked on a couple of them and if the tech doesnt seam seal it correctly it will leak water around the roof rack. Even if they can get 90% of them out it would be better than replacing the roof. FYI, not to be mean or anything.

[Mary]

And Mary, TRY REALY HARD to see if the shop can PDR your ROOF, I have worked on a couple of them and if the tech doesnt seam seal it correctly it will leak water around the roof rack. Even if they can get 90% of them out it would be better than replacing the roof. FYI, not to be mean or anything.

For that very reason, I went car shopping tonight. I'm thinking there will be a NEW, instead of repaired, vehicle in my future. I'm all for replacing a hood, but when they started talking cutting and replacing the roof.... it sent warning signals up everywhere!

I picked out a new FJ... just needed to convince myself to seal the deal

Thanks for confirming my "warning signals". I think you just made up my mind!

[WIKI]

Don't get sucked into hail damage deals. I assure you in most cases you can get the same deal on a non damaged truck. The dealer gets all the money. If you do buy one and have it fixed make sure they fix the top as well. Because it will kill the trade in if the appraiser sees it whenever you trade it later down the road. Dent remover companies follow strorms around to dealers setting up camp all over the country. They charge less than a thousand a vechicle and the dealers insurance pays close to 3k depending on what it is. They don't pass on the saving to you that is for sure. Beaware!!