insurance

What You Should Know Before Buying a Hail-Damaged Car

Many cars were damaged in this week's hail storm, and now they may be on sale at rock bottom prices.

The dealership will put out the signs and suddenly that $30,000 car is just $18,000 with some damage, all you have to do is replace a windshield and maybe a hood or roof, but hail damage can come back to bite you in many ways.

Once it's reported as hail damaged, the value of the car is lowered even if the repairs are made. You pay less, but the car will always be worth less.

Some banks won't even finance them and some insurance companies won't give you full coverage.

Something else to consider, is the future sale of your car.

When you're ready to trade in or sell that car to someone else, they'll see that car was hail damaged in the past and suddenly the car you're trying to sell isn't as appealing as one without repairs.

Shoppers may also wonder what else may be lurking that you can't see.

Accidents are something to be mindful of as well. Your insurance company could pay you less for the value of your car because of the previous damage, so those few dents do have a lingered effect.

Hail sales aren't always the wrong call. Sometimes cars get very little or minor hail damage. Those repairs can sometimes be done paintless and cheaply.

With minor hail damage sometimes the dealer never reports the damage to the insurance company, so those few dents are repaired and essentially erased from the car's history and you get the savings all because the dealer didn't want to bother making the repairs.

CarFax has more tips on what happens with a hail damaged car's title (CLICK HERE).

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