Chuck Charger! Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 I'm going out looking for Subaru's hopefully by next week, and since I live in the Denver area, there are sometimes some hail damaged cars up for sale on car lots or from private owners, due to a couple of good hail storms last summer. Some cars I've seen listed were hail damaged but priced right at book or above. So, how much should I hammer the seller down if the car is hail damaged? I personally could give a hoot if my car has hail damage, as long as it's not obscenely pocked-up, so if I can save some green on an otherwise good car, I'll do it. Is there a standard deduction for this type of thing? Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rweddy Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 Is there a standard deduction for this type of thing? Chuck No, it is a case by case basis. Be very careful, it can add up very quickly. A car can be totaled out very quickly from hail. Even if it looks not too bad you will be shocked at how fast it can add up. And even if you do not care, you will have issues reselling the vehicle down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Charger! Posted December 9, 2004 Author Share Posted December 9, 2004 Yeah, I'm not going out LOOKING for hail damaged vehicles, but if I run across one that is only mildly damaged, I want some numbers to bargain with. I guess I forgot to mention that I'm going to buy a Legacy wagon, probably in the 100,000 mile range, and I have very little intention of selling it, ever. I want a car that I can maintain until it turns to dust, so I'm far, FAR more concerned with the mechanical quality of the car than with appearance. Besides, I'm so hot I could pick up ladies in a rusted out Chevy Vega with mismatched bady panels and no exhaust pipe. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coloradosubarules Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 I just moved to Florida from Lakewood so I know all about the hail. I was there for the last major hail storm. I saw the first peace of golf ball sized hail hit the ground and I proceeded to get the legacy under the biggest tree I could find. I thought this would give me some sort of protection. I was sorta right. As I watched the constant onslaught of hail break windsheilds like brown glass beer bottles under a mac trucks wheels, I also watched the hail turn the large tree into toilet paper with a leaf or two...because the majority of the branches were on top of my car. It was a good thing I was in my Roo because when it stopped there were about 3 inches of hail on the ground and nobody was going anywhere except me. I went to the car wash just a few short blocks away and proceeded to clean the tree off. While washing said car I was alerted by the Tornado Siren...then I had to haul butt to my home about a mile away. Luckily there was no tornado near me but there was one spotted a few miles from me. Crappy aye... You should see my car. I had replaced the hood on my legacy a few days before the storm hit. The previous one had a small ding from the previous owner. Needless to say I was upset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Charger! Posted December 9, 2004 Author Share Posted December 9, 2004 I live right off Colfax and Simms...luckily I live in a townhome and my parking is covered...my mom wasn't so lucky in that storm. She lives on like 8th and Simms, and it rained so hard that her basement flooded through her windows, which are all at least 8 inches above grade, and her house is on a hill! Her car got hammered bad. Did you see the 10 foot high piles of hail in the Colorado Mills parking lot? That was nuts. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coloradosubarules Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 I lived near 285 and Wadsworth. That was some pretty insane hail if I do say so myself. We get some pretty bad storms here in FL but I haven't seen one like that the entire time I have lived here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Charger! Posted December 9, 2004 Author Share Posted December 9, 2004 I have a friend in Arvada whose giant elm tree was completely destroyed by the hail. It looked like somebody tied ropes to all the branches and hitched them to an M1 Abrams. Completely insane. I got caught out in the open by a storm like that about 5 years ago at a Ted Nugent concert at Adams County Fairgrounds. I had to go to the hospital to have my head sewn shut from getting clocked by a marble sized hailball. The doc said if it had hit me directly it could have killed me. Now I wear a helmet to outdoor shows! Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT95 Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 Hail damage should make a noticable difference in price, especially on a newer vehicle. You take into consideration what the "normal" book value is for the same car w/ no hail damage, and then figure in what it would cost to replace and repaint the damaged hood, trunk lid, etc. Mostcar lots, from my experience, don't knock enough off the price to make the vehicle a true value. The only good deals I have ever seen on hail cars is at a salvage yard. New cars that have enough of a labor bill from the hail damage it totals the car. An at-home body man can pick one of those up and have a great car after a LOT of hours and elbow grease. Still, you have a car w/ a rebuilt title if the resale issue applies to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtsmiths Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 See my posting in the 97 OBW dent thread on how you can 'sometimes' fix a hail dent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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