Buying a hail-damaged car?

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Greenman72
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Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by Greenman72 »

We had a pretty bad hailstorm out here last week. Golf-ball sized.

My car is a 15-year Mazda Tribute. 225k miles. It's still a good car, but I'm wondering how long it will last. (Yes, it got some dings last week too, but there's zero chance that I'll pay $1,000 to fix a $500 car.)

A coworker has a brand new Nissan Murano. She bought it five months ago. And she has 15k miles on it. (She drives a lot, but mostly highway miles.) Hers got banged up pretty good. Basically, every single panel needs to be replaced for it to look brand new again.

The insurance company has totalled her car. They are planning to give her a $23k check and take the car away. I'm debating on giving her the $23k and let me have the car. I'll probably try to get most of the dents out, but I'm fine with a few dings here and there.

Advice? Opinions? Does anybody have any experience with hail-damaged cars? Is it purely cosmetic, or does it lead to bad things later on? (For the record, I live in a dry area--West Texas.)
123
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by 123 »

Perhaps the friend can buy back the car from the insurance company as a salvage vehicle as part of the settlement. Instead of getting a check for $23K maybe she'll get $20K and get to keep the damaged car. You could still buy it from her for $23K then if you wish. Many insurance companies let you buy the car back in totaled situations since they don't have to have it towed away etc. Just a thought.

You could probably buy a used low mileage Nissan Murano without dents for $23K. But if it's got nice dents in all the right places, well I can see you point.
Last edited by 123 on Mon Apr 29, 2019 4:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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3504PIR
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by 3504PIR »

I would not buy what is essentially a salvage title during the salvage process.

I think your best bets are to a) contact her insurer and see if they are willing to sell it to you - I'd pay a lot less than $23,000 however. b) find out where it is being processed and get into their auction system (make and account) and place a bid once it comes up for auction.

The problem in general is that you are buying by definition a worthless asset in that you cannot sell it on without selling it as a salvage title. I assume you plan on driving it until it is worthless, but it is still a risky proposition.

To buy a salvage title in general, make an account with Copart and fund it. At some point you will find a vehicle at the right level of damage and the right level of function at a very good price, but it can take patience. Whatever you buy there will also be worthless, except to you so pay pennies on the dollar and do it right.
3504PIR
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by 3504PIR »

123 wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 4:03 pm Perhaps the friend can buy back the car from the insurance company as a salvage vehicle as part of the settlement. Instead of getting a check for $23K maybe she'll get $20K and get to keep the damaged car. You could still buy it from her for $23K then if you wish. Many insurance companies let you buy the car back in totaled situations since they don't have to have it towed away etc. Just a thought.

You could probably buy a used low mileage Nissan Murano without dents for $23K. But if it's got nice dents in all the right places, well I can see you point.
or this! She should be able to have the option of keeping the vehicle for less of a settlement and you pay her the difference.

To the moderators: I accidently hit the report this post button and typed my reply instead of the quote button. Apologies to the poster and the mod.
PluckyDucky
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by PluckyDucky »

Don't buy the car for $23k! That's bonkers. Then your friend will get $45k for the car from insurance and you combined.

If you want it, your friend should tell insurance she is keeping it. Insurance will pay her pre-damage value less salvage value.

Then you and your friend can negotiate a price for you to buy it.

I bought a brand new hail-damaged car for a discount. It's worked fine and I'm almost to 50k miles after 2 years.
Last edited by PluckyDucky on Mon Apr 29, 2019 4:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
DonIce
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by DonIce »

$23k sounds like way too much. You can get a decent used car for that in perfect condition, or even a new car. If 2 cars got damaged, there's a good chance that many other cars got damaged. There should be a high supply of such vehicles in your market right now. And the demand for such cars is usually low. If you're interested in hail damaged cars you should probably be able to get one for next to nothing at auction soon.
IMO
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by IMO »

Greenman72 wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 3:58 pm We had a pretty bad hailstorm out here last week. Golf-ball sized.

Advice? Opinions? Does anybody have any experience with hail-damaged cars? Is it purely cosmetic, or does it lead to bad things later on? (For the record, I live in a dry area--West Texas.)
Golf ball sized hail all over the car:
Mythbusters showed that like a dimpled golf ball, a car covered in dimples got significantly better gas mileage:

https://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/22/myt ... pling-mpg/
https://youtu.be/VUiGhyHC-1A

Too much car vanity in the real world to put this into practice I suppose.
Maybe aerospace engineers should consider trying it.
GT99
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by GT99 »

1. It's purely cosmetic.
2. Spending thousands of dollars to repair hail damage is crazy - you don't have to replace panels. There are companies like "Dent Wizard" pretty much everywhere that can return the panels to the point where even experts can't tell there was hail damage. I know because I've done it - I used to work for a luxury car manufacturer with a great employee car benefit, and part of it was getting a new car every 6 months. One of the few downsides was that they would go over the cars with a fine-toothed comb when you turned them in, and you were responsible for any damage (up to the insurance deductible, obviously). I had a car badly damaged by hail. Took it to a Dent Wizard type place on the advice of a coworker. They got all of the dents out and nobody could tell they'd even been there. I didn't have to pay a cent when I turned the car in.

The insurance company totalling her car is incomprehensible to me. I had another car (a Honda Civic) with major hail damage (before I worked for the car manufacturer), and the insurance company paid to have every panel replaced on a car that wasn't worth $10k at the time (this was 20 years ago) - total cost of repairs was like $3500.

I suspect they know they can fix the car cheaply, and want to low-ball her on the amount, take the car, fix it cheaply, and turn around and sell it for a profit.
ohai
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by ohai »

How much are you really saving by buying that car for $23k? I don't know what trim and features your coworker got, but there are tons of Muranos without body damage on the market for that price.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sal ... stRecord=0
H-Town
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by H-Town »

Greenman72 wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 3:58 pm We had a pretty bad hailstorm out here last week. Golf-ball sized.

My car is a 15-year Mazda Tribute. 225k miles. It's still a good car, but I'm wondering how long it will last. (Yes, it got some dings last week too, but there's zero chance that I'll pay $1,000 to fix a $500 car.)

A coworker has a brand new Nissan Murano. She bought it five months ago. And she has 15k miles on it. (She drives a lot, but mostly highway miles.) Hers got banged up pretty good. Basically, every single panel needs to be replaced for it to look brand new again.

The insurance company has totalled her car. They are planning to give her a $23k check and take the car away. I'm debating on giving her the $23k and let me have the car. I'll probably try to get most of the dents out, but I'm fine with a few dings here and there.

Advice? Opinions? Does anybody have any experience with hail-damaged cars? Is it purely cosmetic, or does it lead to bad things later on? (For the record, I live in a dry area--West Texas.)
With 23k, I can do a lot better than a totalled Murano and with a car that has a clean title.
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Greenman72
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by Greenman72 »

ohai wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 4:16 pm How much are you really saving by buying that car for $23k? I don't know what trim and features your coworker got, but there are tons of Muranos without body damage on the market for that price.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sal ... stRecord=0
She purchased the car in November (five months ago) for $38k. If I bought it, I would be giving her $23k.

Basically, I'm getting almost a new car with cosmetic damage for 60 cents on the dollar, plus the cost to repair the dents (if I decide to do so).
barnaclebob
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by barnaclebob »

The insurance should be paying her the fair market value of the car prior to getting dents. Why would you pay anywhere near that? You should be paying the salvage value or maybe a little more since you know the vehicles history and your friend needs a little extra to jump through the hoops of getting it back from the insurance company.
Greenman72 wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 4:23 pm She purchased the car in November (five months ago) for $38k. If I bought it, I would be giving her $23k.

Basically, I'm getting almost a new car with cosmetic damage for 60 cents on the dollar, plus the cost to repair the dents (if I decide to do so).
What she purchased the car for 5 months ago doesn't matter in the least. Most Nissans have pretty bad depreciation. I got my Altima that was a year old with 11k on the odometer for about 65% of the sticker price. It didn't have any dents.
Last edited by barnaclebob on Mon Apr 29, 2019 4:50 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Goal33
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by Goal33 »

As everybody else is saying... you let the coworker buy from the insurance and give her the difference between 23k and what they end up giving the coworker (probably 3-5k).
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by lthenderson »

Greenman72 wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 3:58 pm Advice? Opinions? Does anybody have any experience with hail-damaged cars? Is it purely cosmetic, or does it lead to bad things later on? (For the record, I live in a dry area--West Texas.)
A couple things you should be aware. 1. It may be difficult if not impossible to get comprehensive insurance on a salvage titled vehicle. This varies state to state. 2. If you go to trade it to a dealer in the future, most won't take salvaged titled cars. Having a salvage title also scares away many of the private sector as well. 3. The value of a car with a salvage title will probably be from 20 to 40% less than the market value of a clean titled vehicle. The range depends a lot on why it has a salvage title but I think with one from hail, you are probably looking closer to the 20% side of the range. So you should be looking to pay at most $18,400 for your friends car.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by psteinx »

Overall, the whole thing doesn't really add up, as others have said.

OP claims that friend has vehicle purchased new for $38K, now 5 months old with 15K miles on it (fwiw, that's a LOT of miles in 5 months). OP claims that insurance company wants to total the now hail damaged vehicle, paying friend $23K.

I assume Nissans depreciate quickly, but still, $15K of depreciation (39.5%) in 5 months seems extraordinarily high. Possibly, that $23K is the net, after allowing for, say, a $1K deductible. Even so, this seems unusual.

Anyways, for simplicity, let's assume $0 deductible, and that the insurance company really thought the vehicle was worth $23K, pre-hail. While I'm not an insurance expert and I don't know the details of the friend's policy, I suspect it implies that friend should be able to use that $23K check to replace the vehicle with a comparable used vehicle, presumably same make and model and rather similar trim. So the insurance company thinks one can buy a ~5 month old, ~15K Nissan of the same type, without hail damage, for ~$23K.

If so, and the OP wants to buy, instead a badly hail damaged vehicle for $23K, then OP is likely making a bad mistake. Even if OP doesn't care about cosmetic issues (and if OP is truly utterly uncaring about cosmetics, then OP is highly highly unusual in that regard), OP could presumably buy a cosmetically ugly vehicle comparable to the one in question for noticeably under $23K. In fact, as others have suggested, OP could potentially buy the specific, hail damaged vehicle for much less, in one of 2 ways:

1) OP's friend buys the vehicle from insurance company for salvage value, OP buys it from friend for that value, + say $500 or $1000.
2) OP buys it directly from the insurance company for something close to salvage value, or asks the insurance company who they resell this salvage vehicle (or others) too, and contacts that company about it.

Now, there's a slight simplification in that I've ignored the possible deductible here, but with typical deductible sizes, it's probably not a huge factor.
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Greenman72
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by Greenman72 »

^I should add that the owner is upside-down on the car by about $13k. That may have something to do with the payout. Maybe the "real" payout is $36k, 23 to the owner, and 13 for gap insurance.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by Goal33 »

Greenman72 wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 5:32 pm ^I should add that the owner is upside-down on the car by about $13k. That may have something to do with the payout. Maybe the "real" payout is $36k, 23 to the owner, and 13 for gap insurance.
I think you are missing information... if the owner was upside down, they'd get nothing.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by crumbgrabber »

What state are you in? In Colorado, hail damage does NOT require a salvage title for insurance to pay out. I'm happily driving my totaled vehicle with minor hail damage ($6000 payout). My insurer let me continue to carry comprehensive insurance but couldn't give me a good answer about what happens if the car is further damaged, so I dropped the coverage.

I would love to purchase a new vehicle with "pre-damage" for a discount! Then I wouldn't worry about hail storms.
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munemaker
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by munemaker »

We had a hail storm in our area a couple weeks ago. Local paper said EVERY car on the lots at local GM and Chrysler dealer was hail damaged. Said they had paintless dent removal people working on the cars and they would be sold at some discount; it was stated in a way implying not to expect a large discount. I don't know if they are branding the titles or not, but I am guessing not.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) my cars were garaged at the time.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by AkwardDoct@rd »

I had a car that got totaled via hail damage. I did NOT have a salvage title (dependent on the state). I bought the car back from the insurance company. It then got totaled again. It is the only car I actually made money on.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by random_walker_77 »

Our nearly-new, 6 month old minivan got caught out in a bad hailstorm. Less than 2K miles on the odometer. Golfball-to-softball size hail. It's amazing how big the dents can get on the A-frame. After the $1K deductible, insurance cut us a check for $7K. We declined to get the dents fixed, but there were a few dents where the paint cracked open, and those we did fix with touchup paint and clearcoat (to avoid rusting).

Your co-worker should inquire into how much the insurance company would charge to sell her the salvaged vehicle.
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Watty
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by Watty »

One thing I would be concerned about is that once the insurance company totals the car the manufacturers warranty may no longer apply so be sure to check on that. The car could be worth a lot less if the warranty is voided.
Last edited by Watty on Mon Apr 29, 2019 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by dwickenh »

Salvage value on a hail damaged vehicle is usually between 30-50% of it retail value depending on the size of the hail, glass damage, and the year of the vehicle. If they are paying her 23K, she can ask about retaining the salvage depending on Texas state laws. It appears that Texas does issue a salvage certificate on the hail total losses that follows the vehicle from owner to owner. This will reduce the sale value of the vehicle, but will not matter if are going to drive it til it drops. I handled hail and collision total losses in Illinois and Missouri for about 40 years. Texas laws are likely different than some other states.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by tdmp »

I would keep that mazda tribute. Drive it until you can't anymore or when you think that it is so unreliable it will leave you stranded.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by h82goslw »

To answer OP's original question about the longevity of a hail damaged car....I bought a 2003 Nissan Altima brand new that was damaged in a massive hail storm when sitting in the factory parking lot. Got $6K off sticker and then drove the car for 5 years and 175K miles, then sold it on craigslist in 2 hours for $1500. Car ran great and all those dimples gave it a nice patina on sunny days :D
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Doom&Gloom
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by Doom&Gloom »

Are you locked into that one vehicle? When we have large hailstorms in our area, there are many discounted cars to choose from. They range from brand new vehicles of every description to well-worn Boglemobiles.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by barnaclebob »

h82goslw wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 10:52 am Car ran great and all those dimples gave it a nice patina on sunny days :D
Probably better aerodynamics like a golf ball too.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by bloom2708 »

Hard pass on your plan.

I bought one "salvage title" car in the distant past. Never again. Couldn't trade it in with the marked title.

This is not the car. Have her let it go to insurance.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by MotoTrojan »

I just bought a brand new well equipped car for $19.6K OTD. I would never do this.
researcher
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by researcher »

random_walker_77 wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 9:16 pm Our nearly-new, 6 month old minivan got caught out in a bad hailstorm. Less than 2K miles on the odometer. Golfball-to-softball size hail. It's amazing how big the dents can get on the A-frame. After the $1K deductible, insurance cut us a check for $7K. We declined to get the dents fixed, but there were a few dents where the paint cracked open, and those we did fix with touchup paint and clearcoat (to avoid rusting).
I'm curious about your thought process.

You have a brand new $35K+ minivan that is severely damaged in a hail storm.
Insurance gives you money to pay for the damages.
Yet you don't have the vehicle fixed.
Instead, you plan to spend the next 10 years driving around in a car that appears to have been attacked by a sledgehammer wielding maniac?

I don't get it. Why not have it fixed?
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

If she paid $38k for this thing, she probably is too timid to negotiate and got a $32k car with wheel protection and nuclear proof paint coating plus the scotchguard interior treatment and don't forget the automatic, electric, self charging floor mats.

If the insurance co will give her $23k for the car, they'll likely sell it back for salvage value of around $10k. Tell her you'll give her salvage value plus $2k. She makes out, you make out.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by Fallible »

Greenman72 wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 3:58 pm ... Does anybody have any experience with hail-damaged cars? Is it purely cosmetic, or does it lead to bad things later on? ...
A car I had was totaled by hail damage and I continued to drive it for six more years with no problem. I did have a mechanic check it over and he said the damage was just superficial. The car was a dark blue and the dents, which were fairly deep and everywhere, were not obvious until you looked at the car up close.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by random_walker_77 »

researcher wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 11:39 am
I'm curious about your thought process.

You have a brand new $35K+ minivan that is severely damaged in a hail storm.
Insurance gives you money to pay for the damages.
Yet you don't have the vehicle fixed.
Instead, you plan to spend the next 10 years driving around in a car that appears to have been attacked by a sledgehammer wielding maniac?

I don't get it. Why not have it fixed?
This was over a decade ago, so I had "a brand new $25K minivan that had cosmetic damage" concentrated primarily on the roof and hood. The only severe damage was to the windshield, which was cracked in a dozen places, and which was obviously replaced. Some of the dents got smaller pressing on the edges. This aren't sledgehammer-type dents but a bunch of dimples and 3 or 4 large divots.

And I really didn't care that much how it looks, especially since the worst of it is seen only from an elevated vantage point at the top. At least I don't care to the tune of $7000. Plus, where I live, cars with hail damage aren't exactly rare...

Then again, I've often chosen the path less-taken. I don't care that much what other people think of me, and I'm in an occupation where it doesn't matter what I drive.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by stoptothink »

random_walker_77 wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:10 pm
researcher wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 11:39 am
I'm curious about your thought process.

You have a brand new $35K+ minivan that is severely damaged in a hail storm.
Insurance gives you money to pay for the damages.
Yet you don't have the vehicle fixed.
Instead, you plan to spend the next 10 years driving around in a car that appears to have been attacked by a sledgehammer wielding maniac?

I don't get it. Why not have it fixed?
This was over a decade ago, so I had "a brand new $25K minivan that had cosmetic damage" concentrated primarily on the roof and hood. The only severe damage was to the windshield, which was cracked in a dozen places, and which was obviously replaced. Some of the dents got smaller pressing on the edges. This aren't sledgehammer-type dents but a bunch of dimples and 3 or 4 large divots.

And I really didn't care that much how it looks, especially since the worst of it is seen only from an elevated vantage point at the top. At least I don't care to the tune of $7000. Plus, where I live, cars with hail damage aren't exactly rare...

Then again, I've often chosen the path less-taken. I don't care that much what other people think of me, and I'm in an occupation where it doesn't matter what I drive.
I wouldn't have fixed it either, for even half the insurance settlement. It's a minivan with some hood and roof hail damage, why would anybody care? This happened to my brother's new Outback recently; considering they are in the heart of "hail alley" he didn't even fix the cracked windshield because he figured it is just going to happen again.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by MnD »

crumbgrabber wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 5:53 pm What state are you in? In Colorado, hail damage does NOT require a salvage title for insurance to pay out. I'm happily driving my totaled vehicle with minor hail damage ($6000 payout). My insurer let me continue to carry comprehensive insurance but couldn't give me a good answer about what happens if the car is further damaged, so I dropped the coverage.
Texas and Colorado do not issue/require salvage titles for hail damage only totaled cars.
That said, the vehicle was deemed to be worth $23K prior to the hail damage and is now deemed to be worth $0, with the insurance company retaining the salvage value if they take the car. You friend should ask what the payout is to keep the car. Perhaps it's $19K. You might then offer your friend $5K or $6K on top of the $19K, providing your friend with a better overall deal than what the insurance company offered.

The extreme heating and cooling in direct sun in west Texas plus cash price negotiated paintless dent repair (once the rush of hail insurance work is over) will fix the large majority of dents. Also keep an eye for totaled from the rear or side junkyard same vehicles of same color for a "new" hood which might run $50 and is easy to swap.
Last edited by MnD on Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:53 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by HIinvestor »

I’d take a pass on this as well. I would probably look at other lightly used cars, including rentals that i had the mechanic inspect. You can buy a nice new ir gently used car for $23k.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by JGoneRiding »

123 wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 4:03 pm Perhaps the friend can buy back the car from the insurance company as a salvage vehicle as part of the settlement. Instead of getting a check for $23K maybe she'll get $20K and get to keep the damaged car. You could still buy it from her for $23K then if you wish. Many insurance companies let you buy the car back in totaled situations since they don't have to have it towed away etc. Just a thought.

You could probably buy a used low mileage Nissan Murano without dents for $23K. But if it's got nice dents in all the right places, well I can see you point.
For sure she can. They always give you that option. I have had 2 totaled cars. One i "bought" back one I did not. All she needs to do is ask how much they will reduce her payout if she keeps the car as "salvage" I doubt it will be more than 2k.
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by researcher »

random_walker_77 wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:10 pm This was over a decade ago, so I had "a brand new $25K minivan that had cosmetic damage" concentrated primarily on the roof and hood... Some of the dents got smaller pressing on the edges. This aren't sledgehammer-type dents but a bunch of dimples and 3 or 4 large divots.

And I really didn't care that much how it looks... At least I don't care to the tune of $7000. Plus, where I live, cars with hail damage aren't exactly rare...
Your description made the damage sound much worse...
- got caught out in a bad hailstorm
- softball size hail
- amazing how big the dents can get on the A-frame


If you don't care how it looks, and are more concerned with keeping the insurance settlement, I'm wondering why you spent a premium to purchase a brand new van to begin with.
THY4373
Posts: 2765
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:17 pm

Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by THY4373 »

I'll echo all the other comments here that you are crazy to buy a hail damaged car for the amount they are reimbursing their client for since that is the value of an undamaged car. Back when I was in graduate school I had a car totaled by hail it wasn't very valuable about $3k I think but the insurance company agreed to let me keep it for essentially $1k. In other words instead of paying me $3k and taking the car they agreed to pay me $2k and let me keep it. Thus I bought my car back for $1k which was ok for me because it drove fine and I was student who just needed transportation. I ended getting most of the $1k back a couple of years later when I sold to a friend. The only way I'd buy this car was if I was getting it at a steep discount from its undamaged market value.
Last edited by THY4373 on Wed May 01, 2019 10:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
jucor
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Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2015 8:35 am

Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by jucor »

researcher wrote: Wed May 01, 2019 7:44 am
random_walker_77 wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:10 pm This was over a decade ago, so I had "a brand new $25K minivan that had cosmetic damage" concentrated primarily on the roof and hood... Some of the dents got smaller pressing on the edges. This aren't sledgehammer-type dents but a bunch of dimples and 3 or 4 large divots.

And I really didn't care that much how it looks... At least I don't care to the tune of $7000. Plus, where I live, cars with hail damage aren't exactly rare...
Your description made the damage sound much worse...
- got caught out in a bad hailstorm
- softball size hail
- amazing how big the dents can get on the A-frame


If you don't care how it looks, and are more concerned with keeping the insurance settlement, I'm wondering why you spent a premium to purchase a brand new van to begin with.
I'm not random_walker, but cosmetics are really far down on my list for possibly buying a new car. Reliability and safety improvements would be tied for #1 for me. Neither of those are impacted by hail damage to the body of a car. Like R_W if someone effectively offered me 1/4 of the cost of my car when new for cosmetic issues I'd leap at the chance, especially if I planned on keeping it for 10 plus years...
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sunny_socal
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Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by sunny_socal »

I now live an an area where large hail actually happens. I haven't seen a single hail-damaged car driving around and I've been here a year!

Never in a million years would I pay 20k+ for such a vehicle. The insurance company totalled it for a reason. Maybe 5k as a starter car for a teenager but no self-respecting teen would be caught dead in such a car! :wink:
bloom2708
Posts: 9855
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:08 pm

Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by bloom2708 »

Get it for $7k and then cover it with one of those total car film covers with an advertisement for Wilson Blue Ridge golf balls. :wink:

I think they still make the Blue Ridge balls. Oh wait, it isn't 1992 any more. :oops:

The all over dimpled look would be perfect for a driving billboard.
mariezzz
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Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 11:02 pm

Re: Buying a hail-damaged car?

Post by mariezzz »

My sister had a car - 6-7 years old that got hail damage. Insurance paid her for the damage (probably wasn't totalled but check was significant - close to replacement cost). She drove it for at least another 6-7 years, no problems related to hair damage other than cosmetic. She didn't do anything to fix the hail damage. This was in a cold-weather area. Surprisingly, very little rust developed in the areas damaged by hail.

But I wouldn't pay $23K for such a car.
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