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.
When you need hail repair done quickly and flawlessly, look no further than Preferred Paintless Services. Our Genoa hail repair shop specializes in paintless dent removal, a non-invasive body repair technique with an emphasis on speed and affordability. We can handle a wide array of dents, and most importantly, hail damage! Our experts have been in the industry for years and have the knowledge to provide you with a personalized experience.
Dent Repair Is More Than A Profession
Driving a hail damaged car can be a real headache. It’s tough to see your precious vehicle in such a state, and ultimately hail is no good for it’s long term value. When you need repairs, our Genoa hail repair professionals will be the first to jump at the opportunity. To us, restoring a vehicle is a work of art. Before we begin any work, we will carefully review the canvas we are going to be working on. This is achieved with a set of professional lights that emphasize the imperfections in body panels.
PDR Is The Key To Maintaining Value
After we review the damage, the next step is to find the best way to access the dents. Generally, we start by approaching from the back of the body panel, lightly hammering out the dent until it’s contour matches the rest of the car. We can also use glue tabs and slide hammers to supplement the other steps by pulling at the dent from the top. Since we never break the paint or cover it with filler, there is no need for expensive repainting and you can keep your valuable factory finish!
Our Repairs Come To You
At Preferred Paintless Services we believe in strong customer service and the value of time. That’s why we’ve decided to bring our Genoa hail repair to you. If you need a few hail dents removed, or would like to schedule multiple appointments, we can meet at your garage or parking lot. Now you don’t need to miss those important meetings or family get-togethers.
Body shops are notorious for being pricey and time consuming. They use many steps in their process that simply aren’t necessary for paintless dent repair. This slows the entire procedure to a snails pace, often taking days to fix what PDR could have done in a few hours. Steps like filling, sanding, and painting have been omitted entirely, because we take a different approach to hail damage repair.
Hail Damage Repair
When it comes to hail damage repair we’re the best in Texarkana. We make quick work of all of the minor dings and dents accompanied by a severe storm. This is due to how effective paintless dent repair is. Once our technicians have determined how large the dent is, how many there are, and where they are located, it’s only a matter of carefully pressing them back into place without over extending the metal, or cracking the paint. While, on paper, the hail damage repair process seems easy, it requires a high level of skill, experience, and patience.
Run By a Certified Expert
Make sure your technician is a pro. The difference between a talented newbie and a certified expert is night and day. Here at Preferred Paintless Services we use high quality tools and the latest in innovative techniques to bring you the best repairs possible. But that alone isn’t enough to provide quality turnarounds on time every time. We believe that every car deserves the best results possible, so we are constantly trying to improve our skills. Everyday we push the boundaries of what PDR is capable of without compromising the quality you would expect from a master.
Mobile Catastrophe Response
Hail has a tendency to hit when we least expect it. It can strike in an instant, leaving your car cratered and unsightly. If you’ve been unfortunate enough to get caught in a hail storm unprepared, then call our mobile response team at (903) 280-8190. We’ll push out each dent until your car is as smooth and fresh as the day it left the factory. Also, check out our article on preparing for a hail storm. It might save you some stress down the road!
Nowadays there is no shortage of do it yourself techniques, life hacks, and home remedies flooding the internet. They can be found everywhere from obscure forums to the front page of your Facebook feed. In fact, there are websites completely dedicated to easy money saving methods. So they must be credible since they’re so popular right? Well maybe if you are looking for nifty ways to use your old jeans and paper towel rolls.
The Proof Is In The Pudding
In order to understand why so many people follow these tutorials we’ll have to take a look at one of them. Here we see someone applying hot water and a plunger to a very large dent on their back left door panel. The cheap tools and short video length are immediately appealing, but they should be raising red flags for every viewer. You’ll know why by the end.
Take note that he does not need to remove any panels or windows. Eventually, he manages to remove the huge dent. However, at the cost of several smaller dents near the edges of the panel and an obvious crease. These are far more difficult to repair than a large dent and now your Texarkana dent removal crew will have something to talk about over lunch.
So What Are They Missing?
To put it simply, do it yourself dent removal tutorials are missing two essential ingredients:
Tools
Knowledge
Every good technician has a solid set of tools and years of experience behind them. The industry hasn’t been running this long on $15 shelf kits handled by newbies. Now that’s not to say that do it yourself methods will never work, but there is a significant amount of risk involved if you care about the value of your car. Most of the successful DIY tutorials on YouTube are done by professionals with high end tools. The best solution will always be a reliable Texarkana dent removal company. Call Preferred Paintless Services today at (903) 280-8190 or text a picture of the damage so we can start you off with an estimate!
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