Hopefully your vehicle was not injured in the most recent St Louis Hail Storms or more affectionately the “Hail Storms of 2016”. Sadly there is likely more storms to come.
Oh that time of year is now upon us when vehicles have been plummeted by Mother Nature herself because she doesn’t like the smell of exhaust fumes. Our mobile inspection unit has about $2500 worth of hood and roof damage which we are saddened by however we are fully covered for hail as well.
With all the hailing in St Louis over the past month or so there is no doubt that many of the new car dealerships also had damage on the vehicles on their lots as well. You may be wondering to yourself, “What happens to all those hail damaged cars?”. Well, it is no surprise that large new car dealerships would have hail damage insurance for the cars sitting on their lots. Many of them are going to collect HUGE checks from their insurance companies here in the near future… What does this mean for you? Well what it means is the dealerships will soon be offering HUGE discounts on previous hail damaged cars. “Why would I want to buy a car with hail damage?”, you might be asking yourself. The vehicle’s they will be offering for sale won’t have hail damage remaining… Dealerships often have many resources to get hail damage repaired right on their lot or in the own body shops. This allows them to repair those very same vehicles for much less and pass that “savings” on to you in a “hail damage sale”. Sounds great doesn’t it? NOT SO FAST! The truth behind these hail damage sales is that the dealers will be collecting a huge payout from their insurance company, the vehicles are getting fixed for cheap and they pass some of that savings on to you…
The unfortunate result of these hail damage sales is the vehicle you are considering purchasing will have a hail damage mark on the vehicle history report the day after you purchase it.. Yes that is the unfortunate truth. Some insurance companies will even require you to sign a waiver if you go to insure that hail damage sale vehicle that you can not get full coverage insurance or that hail damage is not covered under your policy… So before you go an dive into that “hail damage sale” be sure you check with your insurance company, finance company and ASK the dealership directly if the vehicle you are about to purchase is a hail damaged vehicle… If they claim it is not a hail damaged vehicle have them sign a statement. If a new vehicle had sustained hail damage on their lot they are required to disclose that by law.
If you are concerned that the vehicle you are about to purchase has sustained hail damage give us a call and we will come out and check it for you before you buy it… We are certified vehicle inspectors and know the tail tell signs of paintless dent removal or PDR which is commonly used to repair hail damage onsite at dealership lots.
