hail damage on 2001 PT cruiser. would you repair it?

[mycarhascellulite]

I hope this is the right forum.

I have a 2001 Limited Edition PT Cruiser with 98,000 miles. It hailed this spring and now my car looks like it has cellulite with a couple bigger craters on the roof and side. My insurance wrote me a check for $1,800. The question is... do I use this money to fix the hail damage?

I'm tempted to use the insurance money to pay off the last $1,000 on my car loan. Is it stupid not to have it repaired? Will the resale value go down drastically? I probably won't be selling it for at least 3 years as it treats me right. My parents are leaving this decision up to me. And well, I know next to nothing about cars.

[quicksilverdon]

Welcome.
Is the paint broken/chipped or just dimpled? If the paint is broken, that could invite rust.
If it's just dimpled, I'd get a hair dryer and ice, and hit the biggest dimples - experiment - heat it up, then put ice, or put ice on, then heat it up - but it should "pop" and level out.
If paint is intact, I'd pay off the loan, but that's me...
With my luck, I'd get it fixed, then another hailstorm would hit..........

[mopar_man]

I would call around to get some quotes for paintless dent repair. You may have to bring the car in for them to look at. You may have enough money left after the dent repairs to pay off some of your loan. Also, with that many miles on it, have you done the timing belt yet? If not, I would get that changed first and live with the dents for a little while until you can get them fixed.

[quicksilverdon]

Originally Posted by mopar_man

I would call around to get some quotes for paintless dent repair. You may have to bring the car in for them to look at. You may have enough money left after the dent repairs to pay off some of your loan. Also, with that many miles on it, have you done the timing belt yet? If not, I would get that changed first and live with the dents for a little while until you can get them fixed.

Excellent point.....

[mycarhascellulite]

Luckily the paint is in tact on all dents...even the two bigger ones that look like a pool ball hit it. The one place I took my car to quoted me at $1,000, so I'd have $800 left.

Maybe I will try your hair dryer/ice idea. Definitely worth a shot.

I haven't done the timing belt. Didn't really know I needed to get it done until now. How will my car act if the belt is going out?

[mycarhascellulite]

Forgot to mention that I bought my car when it had 64,000 miles so it's possible the owner before me could have done it.

[mopar_man]

It's possible but unlikely that the previous owner changed the belt. The belt is suggested to be done between 90-100,000 miles. Some here have done it before 64,000 but not many. Most of the time, the belt just breaks. If you're very lucky, no valves will be bent but if the belt breaks, you should remove the head and get them checked. New head gasket, new head bolts, new timing belt, new water pump, new tensioner. Just parts alone are about $200 to do it yourself. Timing belt and water pump run $700-1000 at a shop, higher if you break it and they have to pull the head.

[geronimo]

The cruiser has less-than-average resale value so paying 1k for dent repair job might not get you much when you go to sell it. I'm not sure what you could get for it without the hail damage, but would be surprised if you got $1000 more for it without the hail damage.

I would go for the timing belt/water pump combo and stay safe on the road.