Buying a Hail-Damaged Car in Calgary

You can get a fair deal on a hail-damaged car in Calgary, if you price the dents before you price the car. A dealer must give you its written vehicle history disclosure before you buy, but a car written off for hail alone may carry no salvage brand at all, so a clean status does not prove a clean history. Look at the panels, ask in writing, and get the repair figured before you negotiate.

The short answer: three checks before you buy

Every hail car deal comes down to three questions, in this order:

1. What does the paperwork say? A licensed Alberta dealer has to disclose certain history in writing before you buy. Read it, and ask about hail in writing too.
2. What does the car say? Status is not the whole story with hail. Inspect the panels yourself, in the right light, whatever the paperwork shows.
3. What will the repair cost? Get the dents counted and priced before you make an offer, so the discount you ask for is based on a number, not a guess.

Skip the first and you can buy a history you did not know about. Skip the second and you can buy more dents than you saw. Skip the third and you are negotiating blind.

None of this needs a mechanic or a lawyer. It needs a pen, good light, a phone camera and about an hour, which is cheap next to the discount you are trying to get right.

If you are on the other side of this deal, our post on selling a hail-damaged car in Calgary is the mirror image.

What an Alberta dealer has to tell you in writing

Since October 31, 2018, an automotive business in Alberta has had to disclose a vehicle's history in writing before you buy. AMVIC's list covers:

• A manufacturer buyback.
• Fire or flood damage.
• Previous police or emergency use, or taxi or limousine use.
• Ownership by a rental business.
• Any salvage or non-repairable declaration.
• Unsafe vehicle status.
• Repairs over $3,000 from incidents or collisions, with the cost.
• The jurisdictions where it was previously registered.
• Any out-of-province inspection requirement, and the result.

Notice that hail is not named on its own. The lines that can touch a hail car are the salvage line and the repairs-over-$3,000 line. So ask the dealer directly, in writing: has this car had hail damage, was it ever declared a total loss, and has it been repaired? Keep the answer.

Alberta's Consumer Protection Act also prohibits representing that goods have a particular prior history or use if that is not the fact.

Two limits to keep in mind. AMVIC notes the Vehicle Information Report only shows Alberta Motor Vehicle System data, not other provinces or countries. And this list is about licensed businesses. If you are buying privately, do not assume the same disclosure applies; ask the seller the same questions and get the answers in writing.

That brings up the trap specific to hail.

Why a hail write-off may carry no brand

Here is the part that surprises buyers. Alberta's Vehicle Inspection Regulation says the salvage definition does not apply when the sole damage to a car is hail damage to the outer body sheet metal.

So an insurer can pay out a car as a total loss for hail alone, and the car does not become salvage. It can be sold on with no salvage or rebuilt status at all. The status is clean. The history is a total loss.

What the hail? That is good news for an owner whose car was only dented. For a buyer, it means the status alone tells you very little about a hail car. Look at the car, not just the paperwork.

It cuts the other way too. If the car had other damage (glass, water inside, anything structural) and was branded salvage, it has to pass an inspection before it can be registered, and after that it is Rebuilt. The Government of Alberta says that status follows the vehicle for the rest of its useful life. And a car branded salvage in another province or state is treated as salvage the moment it comes into Alberta. Our guide to hail write-offs and salvage status has the full rules.

Which means the inspection matters more than usual.

How to inspect a hail car properly

Hail hides in flat light, and a showroom or an overcast Calgary afternoon is flat light. A few habits make it show:

• Look along the panel, not at it. Crouch so your eye is level with the hood, roof and trunk lid, and look across them toward a light source or a straight edge in the reflection. Dents break the reflection.
• Check the roof. It is the panel buyers forget, and the hardest to see from the ground. Stand on the door sill if you have to.
• Look at the paint at each dent. Cracks or chips at the centre of a dent matter, because they usually push that panel past paintless repair.
• Check the glass, sunroof, mirrors, lights and mouldings. Damage there can point to a bigger claim than the dents suggest.
• Ask for paperwork on any repair. An estimate or invoice tells you what was done and how.

Our step-by-step guide on how to check a car for hail damage goes further, including how to photograph what you find.

Once you know what is there, put a number on it.

Price the repair before you negotiate

A dent count turns "it has some hail" into a figure you can negotiate with. Without one, you are trading guesses with a seller who has seen the car longer than you have.

A hail repair figure depends on the damage itself: how many dents, how big, which panels, and whether the paint is intact. Two cars with "light hail" can carry very different repair bills, and nobody can price hail honestly from a description alone. What drives the number is laid out in hail damage repair cost in Calgary.

With a repair figure in hand, the offer is simple arithmetic: what the car would be worth straight, minus the repair, minus whatever the history costs you at resale later.

Insurance on a car that already has dents

One more call before you sign: your insurer.

Ask how it will treat dents that are already on the car if the car is hit again. Ask what it needs from you to record the existing damage when you add the car to your policy. And if you are counting on newer-car protection like SEF 43R, the waiver of depreciation, note that it requires you to be the original purchaser. A used car you buy will not meet that condition as written.

Five minutes on the phone now saves an argument after the next storm.

When to walk away

Some hail cars are not bargains at any price. Walk away if:

• The seller will not answer in writing about hail, total loss or repair history.
• The paint is cracked across many panels, which usually takes much of the job outside paintless repair.
• The history outside Alberta is unclear, and the seller cannot or will not help you check it.
• There are signs of water inside or damage beyond the panels that nobody can explain.

There will be another dented car. There is always another storm.

Your next step: get the dents priced first

Before you make an offer, bring the car for a free 30-minute scan at the shop, Unit 5, 5915 40 St SE, Calgary, or send a few photos taken at a low angle with light running across the panels. You will know how many dents you are buying, whether the paint suits paintless repair, and what the job is likely to involve, before you agree a price.