HAIL DAMAGE-PICS POSTED

hey everyone,
two sundays ago here in ny we had a violent hailstorm. i was not able to get to my aveo to get it into the garage. my cousin runs a bodyshop where i bring all of my work when needed. according to the owner of the bodyshop my hail damage is so extensive that it managed to damage every panel on the car. sure i look around my car and see some dings, and they bother me. however not enough to part with the car. the owner of the shop feels that my insurance company more than likely will total the car. here are my options of which i need everyones opinion please: (noted that i have 1 more yr of payments at $178.00 per month.
1)let them total the car and buy a used newer hatchback(when i bought the sedan in 04 i really wanted a hatchback but the dearlership did not have any so i took what they had)
2)let them total the car and buy it back from them for whatever they charge me and pay off gmac hoping they give me enough money to do both or i'm screwed
3)cancel the damage claim all together and just live with the dings(you can see the dings if you spend the time to look)
so thats it all. please help me with this.
thanks,
fred

If you have Gap Coverage, I would let them total the car, then buy it back from them.
It gets paid off, and you can buy it back hella cheap. Only down side is that it will have a Savage Title, and you will have a hard time selling it later.

If that is not the case, you can probably get a body shop to do a "heat job" on it, where they heat up the dings, and many times they will pop out on their own. Finish paying it off, and keep on going.

Third option is to just deal with the dings, repair what you can, and move on.

I know this doesn't help much, but these are really your options.

hey gene, when they do this 'heat job" does it damage the paint? right now i'm leaning towards just cancelling the claim and moving on and forgetting about the whole thing. i mean i really gotta take the time to look closely at it to identify the dings,and some, well i can clearly see.

Heat jobs can damage paint. (They super heat the area then take a cold rag and run it across. 9 of 10, the ding comes out. But it does damage the paint.)
I would say, if it is that hard to see, say to hell with it, and rock it anyway. Worse comes to worse, after she is paid off, you will have the extra money to get it fixed and painted.

hey gene, i did a little research on a procedure where the dinged area was hit with a blow dryer for 30 seconds to 1 minute to heat up the metal, the the area was coated with liquid carbon dioxide out of a aerosol can and as the frozen section of the co2 dissappeared, the guy wiped it down, and it did not seem to show any damage. do you think thats possible?

Quite possible. Heating and rapid cooling, for small dings, usually does the trick. As long as it is not majorly creased, most body repairs are simple.
That trick is commonly known as a "shot in the dark" but most I have known to try heating and rapis cooling swear by it..

Ok, you only owe 2K on the car and it is an 04. I say keep it and live with the dings. Now you can park anywhere and not worry about anyone dinging your car. I know it sucks, but I don't think a claim is worth the hassle.

it makes a lot of sense rob, but i'm kinda anal about how my car looks. i work to hard for what i own to let it get crappy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NYChevoo

it makes a lot of sense rob, but i'm kinda anal about how my car looks. i work to hard for what i own to let it get crappy.

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Sounds like you already made up your mind. Good luck with the repair.

well, anyway aveo brothers and sisters, heres the info. my car has been at the bodyshop to get the hail fixed. the adjuster came out today to look at it and they "totalled" the car. i called gmac and i owe $3318.00 balance. so i hope i get paid enough to pay off the balance, and then i would want to purchase the car back from statefarm, and fix my dings as i go along. am i offbase? should i just let it go and buy a used hatch? to be perfectly honest right now i'm in no position to purchase a new aveo as much as i want to. i could afford a nice used one, maybe 2006 or 2007, but not at the 2009 level yet financially. hey all, this is the first little car i have owned since i was a teenager that i am comfortable in and i'm 6ft 1in and 300lbs.