Hail Yes or Hail No?

Hail Yes or Hail No?

Courtesy of The Car Secrets Guy
Don Roach
www.carsecrets101.com
www.carsecrets101.net E book site

My expose’ today deals with hail damage and hail damage sales.

Recently we have had a lot of storms. These storms have led to a lot of hail damage to property including vehicles. It seems that all the commercials on television right now are related to “Hail Damage Sales”.

Can the consumer benefit from the “Hail Damage Sales”?

This is something that you need to be knowledgeable about if you are considering buying a hail damaged
vehicle. It’s been my experience that the dealer is going to come out ahead in all cases. Keep this in mind.

If the hail damage is $2500 (and that is minor) the dealer has already been paid by the insurance company for the damage. They have the choice of repairing the damage even if it’s in their own shop or selling the vehicle at a discount to YOU. You are thinking that discount sounds like a great deal so what’s wrong with it?

There may be a lot wrong. First they can fix it at a wholesale price if they own their own body shop or have an alliance with a shop that they use all the time. You, however, will have to pay retail prices.

If they have extensive damage (amount varies state to state) they must disclose this to you if this is a new vehicle. This can make the potential buyer very cautious and sometimes scare them off. They will benefit by selling this now while you the consumer is aware of the hail from the storms.

Here is the catch. You are now focused on the hail damage instead of the negotiating you need to do on the vehicle. When you get to the dealership you just want to get this unpleasant experience over with and you will, if you haven’t done your homework, let your guard down and pay more than you should.

In my book Car Secrets101 I teach you how to save in the negotiations. If you haven’t received your copy yet go to http://www.carsecrets101.com for the book or if you are in a hurry and want to save money plus shipping then go to http://www.carsecrets101.net for the E-Book version.

One huge thing that you must be aware of is that you will get a portion of what the dealer received from the insurance BUT in a couple of years when you try to trade it in you will have a huge deduction on the value of the damage. The deduction will be more than you received for the damage. If you receive $2000 discount you will receive a deduction of probably $3000 - $3500 when you trade it in. If you get it fixed and they do less than a perfect job of repairs you will receive a deduct for the sub-quality repairs.

What do I advise you ask?

1. Take the vehicle to a body shop that you trust and have them estimate the repairs. Use this estimate in your buying process.

2. Decide whether you are going to repair it or live with it before you make the purchase.

3. Don’t think that you can buy it, wait a few months and turn in a claim into your insurance company and get it fixed. They keep records and pictures and besides that’s called fraud.

4. Consider that if you are going to keep the vehicle 4-6 years that you will look at those little dents each and every day as you get in your vehicle. Can you deal with this?

5. Negotiate your future loss now if you decide to buy it.

6. Don’t forget to negotiate the lowest price on the vehicle, financing and extras. Don’t let the hail damage be a smoke screen and divert your attention.

7. If you do purchase the vehicle be aware that there are dent specialists that can (on minor dents) bring the dents out and not require repainting. It would behoove you to get an estimate from one on these people before you buy the vehicle. If the dealer won’t let you take the time to do this leg work then run. If you don’t it will cost you.

Again I emphasize, Do Your Homework. The money you save can be the more than you earn.

Any questions or things to report e-mail me at don@carsecrets101.com .
Till the next time,
Don Roach The Car Secrets Guy

Scams Scams Scams

Scams Scams Scams

Two Scams I must tell you about and I think they are urgent.
From Don Roach The Car Secrets Guy
http://www.carsecrets101.com (Book Site)
http://www.carsecrets101.net (new E-Book Site)

These are not car scams but nonetheless they are very important.

#1 The last several days I have been getting “mail returned” notices. The first one seemed familiar but I was not curious enough to open the attachment to see who I had sent it to.

I thought I must have replied to some ad and it returned a message to let the sender know I had opened the mail and it not really being important I just deleted it. Note it showed that it was from my regular e mail.

The next day I received another one. This time it was supposedly sent from an email I hardly ever use as far as the domain goes BUT it was also a name@ that was not registered to that domain. That got my suspicion up.

That is when I realized that someone is trying to get to open an attachment. A few years ago I opened an attachment from a friend and it destroyed my computer operation, lost all my records and literally trashed the machine.

Keep an eye out for this scam and don’t let curiosity cost you your computer.


#2 This one happened yesterday while I was working at my computer. The phone rings. I always look at the caller ID. It show “Private caller”. Aware but I won’t hold that against them.

A young (probably 19-20 years old) girl says “your dog is in my pool” I was shocked and said “ my dog is on a chain, then after a quick thought I remembered that she has broken the chain several times and escaped so I said wait a minute and I’ll check.” This being a portable phone I was on my way to check on our dog, Sky, and continued to carry on a conversation. She said she was a neighbor. When I asked her what her address was she avoided it with a question about my address. I stated you may have the wrong number, she replied with my number and at a somewhat louder more forceful voice said again that she was my neighbor.

I, not wanting to tick off a neighbor (but in all honesty I really don’t know my neighbors. I have met and talked to the close ones but I’m thinking with the accent she could be a couple of blocks away.) I asked her where her pool was and she said in her backyard. I asked her where her backyard was and she said in my neighborhood.

I am now out with my dog Sky and she is still chained. ( we keep her chained due to her rummaging through the trash at the across the road gas station and dragging beer bottles and empty beer containers back to the yard ) We have thought about getting her into AA but they have rules that you must be able to understand English or something like that. She is still animate about my dog is in her pool. I tell my dog is right here and on a chain, do you want to talk to her? She said yes! Are we both crazy?

I pet Sky and coax her to say something but she just breathed into the phone. By this time I had had all the fun I wanted from this call and I told her she had the wrong number.

Thinking I was then getting ready to leave she blurted out her underlying intention.
“I have some nude pictures of me an a CD in jpeg that I will send you for $5.00”

I told her I was not interested and I hung up the phone.

I then got thinking (don’t want to do that too often)
Her scam was to make me think she was a neighbor.
That would keep me on the phone.
Use a variation of the “lost puppy” scam used to lure kids into trouble. (uses your emotions)
Temp the victim with nude pictures of probably a minor and get their credit card number.
Go on a spending spree with their card or sell it on the black market.

There are as many scams as there are people so BEWARE!!!

Till the next time ..................... The Car Secrets Guy

Don Roach
www.carsecrets101.com