Lone Wolf replied:

Okay, so out of ALL the vehicles damaged, surely there must be ONE Series 90 Landy, White, 1994?

Hopeful Wolf

Member - Jack replied:

Hi Jeff:

My son works for one of the auto mobs and he called to let me know - 350 damaged cars, at least a dozen caravans, flooded workshop and heaps more.

The big winners are the "dent pullers" who really clean up now.

My wife had hail damage from the last big one through Terrigal, and had to wait 4 months for the repair as most of the local "dent pullers" were in Germany, then Spain following big hail storms there. Nice line of work.

Jack

Truckster (Vic) replied:

I heard a few times, that insurance companies wont touch cars that have hail damage - if its fixed prior I cant see an issue, but check it out first, something must happen with the thousands of cars each few yrs destroyed this way

Muddy 'doe (SA) replied:

I think you will find that the damage in the car yards is covered by the dealers business insurance. Just the same as a buther may be covered if the power went out and he lost all his coolroom stock.

Naturally though it would be a real hassle for the yard, especially the ones only slightly damaged, so yes, the dealers might well sell a few of these at discounted prices to buyers that are not to worried about the cosmetic damage. They might also top up the discount on the business insurance as well so they are not really losing that much!

The other factor is that after a big storm all the repairers around may be busy for weeks or months so they may sell the stock at a discount rather than have them hanging the lot around waiting to have them repaired.

As for buying a hail damaged car, insurance companies will only cover damage incurred after the insurance period starts (naturally!) so if they inspect the car and find hail damage then it will be noted and the vehicle will be valued accordingly.

If however you sign up for a policy and the ins co does not inspect the car and just insures it for market value based on what you tell them then you better just hope for another hail storm real quick and then in you go and get a nice repair job! Several times I have insured cars and they never actually wanted to see it.

The important thing in this case of course is your duty of disclosure to them. If they do happen to find out it was already damaged and you did not tell them (ie: you have a small accident and make a claim and the assesor notices the un-noted hail damage and you are not convincing in your explanation that it just happened a while ago and you have not got around to claiming yet!) then they may treat your policy as never having existed and you are in the poo.

If you can get a slightly damaged car at a good price and can live with the damage then good luck to you. If it is a 4by like a landcruiser wagon then just get a new bonnet from the wreckers and then whack a full length roof rack on to cover the roof - then no-one will ever notice!

All the best of luck.

Muddy

Member - Anni M (SA) replied:

Hi Beddo,

We had a hail storm through here on 3rd January with hailstones the size of golf balls! My new Mazda 6 (3 days old!) got hail damage, which is being fixed by a dent puller recommended to me by the dealership I bought the car from. They are using him to fix the cars they had damaged in the same storm. The damage is definitely covered by my insurance company. Our troopy with out in the storm too and only suffered about 2 dents - hardly worth fixing! Several other friends had cars there, and the amount of damage varied enormously. Muddy is right, a number of them are getting new bonnets. I haven't noticed the dealership having a hail sale, but like most dealers they would probably be open to the right offer.

Hope you get a good deal
Cheers
Anni

Jeff (Beddo) replied:

Thanks everyone, went to local Toyota dealer today and they said watch the papers for a hail sale - but I reckon you won't get much of a discount will wait and see.

Savvas replied:

Hi Jeff,

Insurance companies will not issue cover to a car with any pre-existing damage, including hail. It has to be repaired first.

Dealers do have hail damage sales, depending on how many are damaged and whether it is worthwhile repairing in the first place.

Footloose replied:

My series 80 Landcruiser was badly damaged by hail on the Gold Coast. Rang the insurer(AAMI) who had it repaired in 6 weeks. Every panel, windscreen etc needed doing. But now I have an even better looking vehicle :))