Question for anyone that bought from Heuberger Motors in Colorado
 

Well, everything was going smoothly for my new BRZ purchase until I was told the car was in a hail storm about a little over a year ago and suffered damage that was repaired by paint-less dent removal (PDR).

Was anyone's BRZ in this same hail storm? If so, how was the quality of the repair done? Did you find any additional dents when you received or picked up your car? Did your paint/clear coat start to develop cracks and fail? Did your car develop any strange interior rattles (I know that this is expected for any new car but did yours develop any severe interior rattles)? And last, did you find broken clips/parts from the interior panels being removed prior from having the PDR done?

My main concern is that if I go through with the purchase, I am doing it sight unseen.

I can be provided many pictures of the car but nothing can beat the sight of the naked eye of inspecting the car in person. My other option would be to fly out and check out the car but I am not willing to take the loss of airfare/hotel/food for a car.

Just looking for your experience and advice. Thanks.

Why not get one that was not in a hail storm?

My BRZ had hundreds of dimples from a hail storm in metro Atlanta in April. Paintless ding removal worked a restoration miracle.

But if I was buying new I would very much prefer a virgin car. Or reduce price according to diminished values plus some.

You are the customer. You call the tune.

Yeah, PDR is magic but it's not perfect. I would not purchase sight-unseen without a pretty big price cut.

My other option would be to order a new 2016 but I don't feeling like waiting a few months. Their current inventory on the lot is pretty much down to 2-3 BRZs that are amazingly priced. But, they might or might not have been in hail storms. The one I am interested in just happens to have been in one.

I am also hesitant because the car has most likely had been disassembled in the interior, body panels like the trunk and hood removed to have the PDR done, which concerns me. I have spoken to their staff and there is not much they can tell me as far as the extent of what was actually repaired.

I agree with you on that. It is really difficult for me to purchase this sight unseen. However, the price seems to be in line given the circumstances.

I was in those hail storms last summer in Denver and they were absolutely brutal. I watched a Bentley get smashed with hail bigger than golf balls in one of the storms. Then for the next couple months all the dealerships had Hail sales going on lol. All those poor cars. I guess they are still trying to get rid of them.

Can you ask for an HD walkaround video of the car? At least make you feel a bit better about it?

If the price makes up for the damage in your own mind then buy it. It is cheaper for a reason and if the cost reduction is below the price of a future paint job then you are still ahead.

If it is going to nag at you for the rest of ownership and you are going to go over it with a magnifying glass every day to see if cracks have developed then don't do it. it will haunt you and before long you will start to hate the car and find that every little issue will be magnified in your mind.

Perhaps these might be hail sales, not sure. I've had hail where I live but nothing that would cause damaging dents as ones the size of golf or base balls.

I can, but I don't think it would help. Like I mentioned before, nothing beats checking it out in person. All I have right now are photos and a video (if I request one).

I am a very OCD person, not to mention, add some paranoia in the mix. Even if I got the car for a really good price, it would kill me inside every time I would drive the car knowing the damage and repairs that were done. If something like a hail storm happened while I owned the car, that I understand. But for buying a new car that had damage repaired not under my ownership, I am very uneasy about it. So that is why I am seeing if anyone on this forum actually purchased one of these BRZs and if they had any issues with them since purchase.

Then go with option two and walk away. You will start to hate the car I guarantee it.

I am the total opposite and if the price was right I would scoop it and worry about fixing it later if anything really nasty showed up.

I'm with @Tcoat on this one.

If the thought of it is bugging you now, get a clean car.

My GF bought an Impreza from Heuberger. About 2 weeks before we went out to pick up the car, the hail storm of May 2014 damaged virtually every panel on her car.

Insurance took care of it and there were zero issues.

If you buy a car that was repaired, you are protected against all of the issues you have raised regarding repair, paint, etc. The stock paint warranty, as robust as it seems, is only as good as "normal road wear" is defined. Any BRZ/FRS owner can tell you how much this is BS when it comes to chips in the front bumper.

As a side note, I did recall seeing a BRZ on the showroom floor at Heuberger that was half repaired from the hail as a way of showcasing what PDR can do for a severely damaged car. Not sure if this was the same car you are looking at but if it is, it's repaired as flawless as it can be.

-alex

Thanks, PM'd you.

I bought one last year that was supposedly in the hail storm and fixed up. I received it and didn't notice any difference after a year. Honestly, I've put more abuse into it since then.

In retrospect, I should have asked for some sort of discount. I wasn't very good at buying cars back then.

I ended up passing on the one I was planning on getting, despite the price. I am planning on ordering a 2016 model year in a couple months or early next year.

You more than likely received a good price since Heuberger is a great place for a new car below MSRP. As long as you were content with the car. For me personally, I decided that I would pass and just get a 2016.

On another note, after reading about the 2016 model details that were released a couple of days ago, it kinda sucks that they pulled the navigation out of the new Starlink system. All other Subaru models seem to have navigation except the BRZ. I wonder why it's not included. They did add the back up camera though.