Cars damaged in hailstorms are tempting to buy, as they often come with deep discounts. Plus, hail damage tends to be superficial, affecting only the body panels and glass, leaving the vehicle’s key functions intact. If you just need a way to get to work every day, a dimpled roof, trunk and hood may not matter. Before you seek out hail damaged cars for sale, though, you should take the following risks and drawbacks into account.
Why Dealerships Sell Hail-Damaged Cars
This is a great place to search for a new car. Dealers opt for fixing any damage they can. Fixing the damage helps the car find a new home. Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) specialists often fix hail damage at wholesale rates for dealers. Sometimes the figure to buy a car the salespeople may give you can be exaggeratedly low since they want you to buy the vehicle. This number should tip you off as to how bad the damage really is. Make repairing the car a condition to buying it. This is generally a good idea. Dealers may have a PDR specialist on site to make the repairs but these specialists don’t always have the necessary experience to fix dozens of hail dents.
Does it come with a Warranty
A warranty or money back guarantee should be given. If there is no warranty it may suggest the damage is worse than it looks. Additionally if you get a vehicle with a salvage title be sure that is has a “hail” designation to distinguish it from more severe damage such as floods or accidents.
What’s the Likely Resale Value
Resale value will be impacted if you buy a hail-damaged car. Buying a low cost damaged car initially may cost you the same as buying an undamaged new car. Make sure lenders cover hail-damaged cars if you plan to finance your purchase.
Inspect the car carefully before making a purchase. Taking care to avoid unwanted surprises. Get a background check to look for undisclosed damage as well. Sometimes a car may be already repaired before you see it, hiding the extend of the original damage. Using the vehicle identification number, plug it into Carfax, AutoCheck or similar site.
How Will Affect Your Insurance
Ask your insurance agent if the hail damage puts your comprehensive insurance at risk. If you don’t have the initial damage repaired, you won’t get the future damages covered or your insurance my deduct the damage from any claims. For example, you have a fender bender. It results in a $1000 claim, you might only receive $500 if you have $1500 in unreported damage.
Before Buying, Ask Yourself…
Never drop hard-earned money for a hail-damaged car before asking yourself: Who does this benefit the most, the dealer or you? Once a dealership suffers a hailstorm they have little or no choice but to sell their inventory at deeply reduced rates. Now you’re in a position to haggle more than ever. By the same token, could you sell that damaged car to someone in the future? Try to see through sales techniques to get the real value of the car.
A Good Option for Your First Car
For your first car, a hail-damaged one may be a good option. Basic transportation, students, folks who don’t drive much and tight budgets might benefit from hail sales.
Whats the Actual Cost of Fixing The Car
The average cost to repair hail-damage to a car is $2500. This cost can vary widely from shop to shop. Take the car to an independent shop for an estimate before you purchase. But remember, with every dealership discount there is usually a trade off. And that trade is…dealers are able to get their inventory repaired cheap because they have so many cars to repair. Often times it’s around 1/4 of the actual repair cost. And when you have someone who is repairing cars for 1/4 of the normal repair cost you will get a job that it reflects.
Summary
You can never do to much research when buying a hail-damaged car whether is new or used. If you don’t fix it you’ll probably always be upside down in it. Never sign on the dotted line before you thoroughly inspect it yourself and maybe by another PDR expert. An expert will spot missed dents. Check for “broken paint” along the edges. How they will repair the paint? Will they use a traditional body-shop or a “paint touch up vendor”? The difference is huge. So leave no stone turned. Your due diligence is mandatory.
Teslas are the future car, and they are such a fun car to drive and repair. Electric vehicles are becoming more and more prevalent. They are not like repairing any other vehicle. The Tesla is made of an all-aluminum body, and this makes it very difficult to repair.
Aluminum is eight times harder to move than steel, which is a typical metal used in manufacturing. Only the most skilled technicians can work on Teslas because of the difficulties of repairs. We here at Texarcana Dent Repair have years of experience and a lot of experience working on this specific brand of cars.
Unlike steel, which remembers its original position, aluminum does not. It needs to be reformed, which can take more time, patience, and skill. To repair and pull the damaged area, the panel must be heated to 400°F to allow the metal to soften. Aluminum dissipates heat very quickly but can become permanently changed if heated past a certain point, and that point is approximately 750°F. It’s a fine line of heat, pushing and ensuring that the metal is in the perfect condition to repair.
We are IMI certified to repair these cars, and what does that mean. To repair an electric vehicle, we have to power down the cater to ensure that we do not combust, start a fire, or damage the Tesla. The battery system moves through that car, and we do not want to cut or damage any system that controls the entire vehicle. We power the vehicle down for the safety of you, the tech, and your vehicle.
We work on all Tesla makes and models, including the Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model X, and the Tesla Model S.
Paintless dent repair on your Tesla can usually be finished on the same day as you drop it off, and in some cases, with minor repairs, it can be done while you wait in a few hours. We love repairing these cars! It is such a fun brand.
Our goal is always to get things done in a timely fashion so that you are back on the road enjoying your Tesla! We would love to take a look at your damage and get you an estimate. Swing by the shop or give us a call anytime.
If you have questions about the hail damage process, door dings, dents, creases, or damage to your vehicle, please reach out to us at the shop. We would love to help clear anything up and understand how you want to proceed with your car’s repair. We are here to make your repair easy, seamless, and we are here to help. We want to get you back on the road with your Teslas restored to their factory condition. Please give us a call or stop by the shop to estimate the damage. We want to explain the dent removal process to make things seamless and easy and get you back on the road and cruising. Call Us Today at 903-280-8190 or fill out our contact form here!
Well, you’ve done it. You managed to put a dent in your vehicle. Not just any dent though, it’s a crease.
You may think you are done for. After all, that will certainly require an extensive repair at the body shop where they might have to replace the whole door shell…right?
That’s what you may think! But the reality is, most minor creases can be removed using PDR!
PDR, or Paintless Dent Repair, is a minimally invasive procedure in which a technician removes dents, dings, and (like in our case) creases using specialized tools and techniques.
Unlike traditional repair, PDR does not require paint fillers (aka Bondo) to fix the damaged areas. It also doesn’t require extensive paintwork and blending afterward.
The process is fairly quick and inexpensive, with many repairs costing less than your insurance deductible and taking just a few hours to repair!
When it comes to creases, you really want to pick an experienced PDR technician to repair them. Crease dents can be tricky; It takes a Master PDR Technician with many years of experience a lot of time and effort to perfectly repair a sharp crease dent, especially in high metallic colors. It takes a lot of patience, cross-checking, and a pair of good eyes to see the small tiny lines and imperfections in a crease and to get your car back to pre-accident condition.
You must take your vehicle to someone that’s certified to perform the repair.
If you take it to an inexperienced technician, you run the risk of the repair being done wrong, and that’s never good. A bad PDR job can permanently damage the body panel the procedure was performed on, leaving you needing expensive traditional body repair to correct the issue; you may even need a whole new body panel!
As long as you have the right person for the job, you can expect the appearance of your vehicle to return to normal after the procedure, all without breaking the bank. Paintless Dent Removal is usually a lot less costly than a traditional body shop repair.
So don’t worry too much. As long as the crease is not very deep, the damage can be repaired with PDR, and you’ll be back up and running in your ride in no time.
If you have questions about the hail damage process, door dings, dents, creases, or damage to your vehicle, please reach out to us at the shop. We would love to help clear anything up and understand how you want to proceed with your car’s repair. We are here to make your repair easy, seamless, and we are here to help. We want to get you back on the road with a car restored to its factory condition. Please give us a call or stop by the shop to estimate the damage. We want to explain the dent removal process to make things seamless and easy and get you back on the road and cruising. Call Us Today at 903-280-8190 or fill out our contact form here!
You’ve run to the grocery store to run an errand and come back to a horror scene… a runaway cart that a careless person has haphazardly discarded has smashed into your brand new car and left a massive dent on your door. What are you to do?
There are two primary methods to repairing dents on a vehicle. You have traditional body repair, which includes the use of paint filler, and you have PDR, which requires the skills of a trained technician with specialized tools to pop the dent back into place.
So, which is better? Let’s look at both methods of repair in detail.
Traditional repair uses paint filler, a.k.a Bondo, to fill in dents, creases, and other damage on your vehicle to ‘restore’ the shape of the body panel. The vehicle is then sanded, painted, and buffed before being put back together.
Sure, your car looks as good as new, but is it?
The problems with paint fillers are numerous. Bondo will crack over time if not mixed correctly, leaving the repair looking worse than the original damage. Not only that, but the paint will fade differently over Bondo than it will over the rest of the vehicle, making the repair more noticeable after some time.
PDR, or Paintless Dent Repair, is a more conservative approach to fixing dents. Using specialized tools like dent rods and blending hammers, a certified technician will gently massage a dent back into its original shape, often in a matter of minutes, restoring the look of your car. No fillers or painting here!
Wait a minute, is it really that easy?
Well, yes! PDR is the simplest, easiest, most cost-effective way to get rid of a dent. In fact, it’s the preferred method by most insurance companies when it comes to repairing hail-damaged or dented vehicles. In the case of our shopping cart mishap, the customer can come out paying less than their insurance deductible if they choose the PDR route over the traditional repair!
In every possible case, it’s always beneficial to see if PDR is an option. Its ability to retain the integrity of the body panels and paint is a massive advantage to the vehicle owner over invasive body repair. It’s more cost-effective, and it retains the value of the vehicle better over time.
In this case, the answer is clear, chose PDR!
If you have questions about the hail damage process, door dings, dents, or damage to your vehicle, please reach out to us at the shop. We would love to help clear anything up and understand how you want to proceed with your car’s repair. We are here to make your repair easy, seamless, and we are here to help. We want to get you back on the road with a car restored to its factory condition. Please give us a call or stop by the shop to estimate the damage. We want to explain the dent removal process to make things seamless and easy and get you back on the road and cruising. Call Us Today at 903-280-8190 or fill out ourcontact form here!
Carfax is a useful tool for buying a used car, but will it show up if I use Paintless Dent Removal to repair my car? The quick answer is maybe. Read on, we will explain.
First, How does Carfax work and protect me? A Carfax report is your window into a vehicle past! CarFax gets its data from insurance companies, the DMVs, and even the police to tell you about a car’s background. They piece together a history on nearly every car out there, whether you want them to or not! Their data-gathering team in Virginia adds about 3.5 million records a day, with a compiled total of about 15 billion records. (That’s a lot of data!)
Second, When you go to a Paintless Dent Repair shop, we are NOT required to turn in any repair information to CARFAX.
CARFAX is great because, in extreme cases, it can save you from buying a lemon, something that was in an extreme accident, or just a tiny one to the car collector. It is important to know. We have even seen cars that have been involved in crime sprees, and it can show up on the report.
Here are some of the things you SHOULD see on a CARFAX.
Odometer readings and repair history
Number of past owners
Any accidents reported by DMVs, insurance companies, or police departments
Whether the car’s a lemon or been salvaged or junked
Whether a car was ever used as a fleet vehicle, autos used by businesses and often subject to lots of abuse
Lien and repossession history
Emission inspection statuses
Manufacturer recalls and buybacks
When does paintless dent removal show up on a carfax? Usually, we see this happen with hail damage or a large dent that you go through your insurance to repair. We are not mandated reporters, meaning there is no law to tell or report any damage to Carfax. The beauty of Paintless Dent Removal is that there really is no trace of repair or damage since the paint is intact, and we are just manipulating the metal back to its original shape.
You can fight hail damage repair on a CARFAX because, as of 2021, we haven’t seen the category of “Hail Damage or PDR” on a report. Usually, it is reported as structural damage on the report. This is why it’s important to pull and watch your CARFAX, so you can file a grievance if this does happen to you.
If you have questions about CARFAX Reports, door dings, dents, or damage to your vehicle, please reach out to us at the shop. We would love to help clear anything up and understand how you want to proceed with your car’s repair. We are here to make your repair easy, seamless, and we are here to help. We want to get you back on the road with a car restored to its factory condition. Please give us a call or stop by the shop to estimate the damage. We want to explain the dent removal process to make things seamless and easy and get you back on the road and cruising. Call Us Today at 903-280-8190 or fill out our contact form here!
Recent Comments