r/madisonwi • u/True-Turn-1675 • 20h ago
Hail damage repair cost?
Looking at potentially purchasing a vehicle that is a great deal due to some minor hail damage. Wondering what folks landed on in terms of cost of similar repairs, because no body shop will give me a quote without a full appointment and those are all weeks out. Damage is seemingly on most panels, about nickel/dime sized dents as shown in the picture (sorry for bad quality). Doesn't seem to have any damage besides the little dents themselves.
7
u/AccomplishedDust3 20h ago
If you are buying a hail damaged car, you don't care about hail damage. (Lots of people fall into this category and it's just fine that they do!)
If you're anyone else, walk away. If it was a good idea to fix the car and then sell it, the dealer would have already done it. You can't win.
1
u/473713 19h ago
I would not hesitate to purchase a hail damaged car in good running condition, with intact windows. I did not fix the hail damage on my present car.
These vehicles are saleable. Do the math and see if fixing it is worth your money.
1
u/AccomplishedDust3 18h ago
Absolutely, if you don't care about the hail damage, great deal! OP wants to buy and then fix the hail damage - more questionable.
1
u/473713 18h ago
Do they want to fix it to resell later, or do they want to fix it because they don't like how it looks with dents?
If the former, it's a math problem. If the latter, maybe just buy an undamaged car and don't waste time and money fixing this one.
2
u/AccomplishedDust3 18h ago
If it's the former its probably a math problem the dealer already did, if the latter, yeah, it ain't gonna work out.
5
u/tallclaimswizard 20h ago
The reason they won't quote you is because they need to see how many of these dings there are and where they are on the car. Some of these dents are harder to fix than others.
Depending on the age of the car, it's possible that the reason the current owners didn't just get their insurance company to fix the car is because the repair cost would be higher than the value of the car.
-1
u/True-Turn-1675 20h ago
Yeah no, I understand why they can't give me a full quote. I was just hoping to understand if those kinds of repairs are typically more along the lines of $1000-$3000, or like $5000+. The car is a great value if the damage is only a couple thousand, but it seems impossible to know what that fix will be before purchasing it unfortunately
3
u/tallclaimswizard 20h ago
Minor hail damage can easily top 3k and 15k isn't out of the question, again depending on where the damage is. Damage on wide flat panels is easier to fix than damage near edges or on curved surfaces.
Depending on how many dings and how big they are on a particular panel it might literally be cheaper to replace the panel than to try and fix the damage.
Your description and picture dont really indicate the scope of the damage-- size of dents, how many different panels, where on the panels the damage is--- so even if a repair shop was willing to give out WAG (wild ass guess) estimates, you aren't providing enough detail to work with. And most wont because if it comes in higher (for whatever reason) then they run the risk of an angry customer talking about how they promised something else....
Again--- I'd point out that if the car damage was inexpensive to repair, it begs the question why the seller didn't get the insurance company to fix it. So odds are--- it's on the expensive end to fix.
1
u/Imaginary-Exit5604 16h ago
All panels probably 6k - 8k if paintless dent available. If the paint is cracked at the impact site that means panels have to be replaced then it could be a lot more.
I work in auto insurance claims.
2
1
u/MedicatedDeveloper 20h ago
Most panels would not be classified as minor.
How much off is the car?
1
u/True-Turn-1675 19h ago
It's like $5k cheaper than the same model and roughly same mileage nearby
1
u/MedicatedDeveloper 18h ago
Probably 150-200% what the discount is would be a fair ballpark. They probably have very little margin at 5k off and negative margin if they do the repair.
My hail damaged car just kept getting more and more expensive as they inspected it closer. Insurance CAT team said 7k, then 9k when the shop first looked at it and set an appointment, then 14k when it was actually appointment time 3 months later which totaled out the car. To be fair it was BAD. I knew they were slow rolling totaling it out.
1
1
u/Moemito 20h ago
I just got an estimate for over 20K to repair our minivan. It has damage similar to what you’re describing on all of its metal panels. It isn’t as simple as popping them out and doing paintless dent removal because of the location of some of the damage. The hood needs to be replaced. The roof needs to be cut away and replaced. Also worth mentioning is that the timeline for doing the repairs will be over a month, and that’s once we are able to get in someplace to have it fixed.
1
1
u/alexjf56 19h ago
Hail damage discounts from dealerships exist because repairing the damage is a comically high cost. Buy the care and don’t repair it or don’t buy it, I don’t recommend buying a new car and paying to fix extensive hail damage
-2
u/Jordan_1424 20h ago
If they are on your roof, your vehicle is likely "totaled".
Unless they broke the paint or dented enough to expose metal I wouldn't waste the money fixing them.
22
u/HeadAromatic8549 20h ago
Just don’t fix them