2004MaximaSE5AT

I guess a few (or several weeks ago) 2,500 Maximas from Tennessee that were ready to be shipped were hit by a hail storm and damaged them all.
I ordered a 2004 SE 5 speed auto the first week of June and after reading your message about the hail-damaged cars, im worried about the maxima that I ordered will be the one that was hail damaged, just fixed up and sold to me. DO you think that might be a possibility or all of the hai-damaged cars have been auctioned off. I am thinking pulling off my order and holding for about a month or so just to make sure the manufacturing plant has gotten rod of the hail damged maximas. I just dont want to get one of those damaged cars fixed up and sold back to me.
Any advice for me? should i pull off my order or am i safe?

Here is a link showing one of those hail damaged cars being auctioned off on ebay.
Hail Stomr Damaged 2004 Sentra Autioned off

lightonthehill

This has concerned me, also. It may be that the damaged ones were not fixed by Nissan, but released instead at reduced rates to be sold as damaged goods. Troncalli Nissan (Decatur, GA) has been advertising hail-damaged '04 Maximas at prices in the 24K range for at least a month.

It might be a good idea to only consider cars with serial numbers above 825000 or below 815000. As best as I can estimate, the hail came as they were making cars in the 818000 to 822000 range.

Randy

Check with the dealer you ordered the car from. My understanding is all Hail Damaged Cars will be sold under invoice and clearly stated they were
hail damaged. My car was ordered April 5 , was built last week of May. The
hail storm occurred May 5.

Booyah

This has me concerned as well~~
They are required to tell you it was hail damaged, but we know how dealers are at times--but its in their best intrest to do so or a good law suit will not be far behind!! I would also ask for a Carfax report!! That will tell you as well.

fishergmn

S/N's ranges mentioned seem accurate. My Maxima was built on 5-21 and the SN# is in the 823's. I believe all the hail damaged models were auctioned off. You'll even find some on ebay...

95maxmadman

there was like 11000 vehicles total. i work for a pretty reputable dealer in the area and the gm went down to the auction.
they were so bad they weren't worth buying.

95maxmadman

there was like 11000 vehicles total. i work for a pretty reputable dealer in the area and the gm went down to the auction.
they were so bad they weren't worth buying.

Maxmann

Trust me, they are gone, and they are not entering the new car pool. You guys shouldn't worry about the plant pulling one over on you, it is the dealers out there that may not always be on the level. If someone had word of the serial number range affected, then as suggested, ensure you are well outside of that range. Hail damage, if properly prepared, can be hard to detect. I've seen the work of some talented body shops and you couldn't have convinced me they were hail damaged if I hadn't seen the car before the repair.

srm

JAKE02

agreed, unfortunately I had to find out about paintless dent repair last year myself. I had approx 200 dime size dents, dent wizard removed all of them and it looks perfect. Also only had my car for 1.5 days.

Dany

iTrader: (1)

I saw one 2004 Max at the Natick, MA dealer yesterday. Car was all covered in little dents on roof and everywhere. I am pretty sure Nissan will fix it up and sell it as brand new.
When I bougth my 2000 SE about 3 year ago, later on I found out that the car had work done on it. It got damaged during delivery or something. Paint oversprays, etc. It just plain sucks how that dealer didn't tell me anything about it. So I wouldn't be surprized that all those hail strom damaged Maximas will be sold as brand new.

JAKE02

I agree, especially if the dents are small and are removed via paintless-dent repair. It is so quick and easy one can bet at least some if not all hail-damaged max's will go out the door "new"

04EliteSE

I was at my dealer today for a wash, and ran into my salesman... we walked around the lot and he pointed me to the hail damaged cars they got... a few Maximas and a few Altimas... the hail damage was barely noticeable on some, and slightly more noticable on others. On all of the damaged ones however, there is a note on the window sticker stating that they were damaged cars. The amount of discount the dealer would give depends on the individual car and how noticeable the damage was.

I'm glad I got mine when I did though!

lwebb12

So most dealers are being honest about the hail damage then it seems

LDLDL

You take your car back to the dealer to get it washed?

04EliteSE

As far as I can tell, the cars are shipping from the factory with the updated stickers mentioning the damage. So the dealer really has no choice but to be honest...

LDLD, yes I do... they make the tires and wheels look all nice!

lobewiper

I saw several of these critters at a dealer today. The notice added to the window sticker also says that the paint warranty on the car is voided due to the hail damage. I would stay clear of these if only because to repair roof damage, they have to remove the headliner, and I wouldn't risk having the head airbags messed up.

lwebb12

hehe that is funny that you have the dealer wash your car. how much is it?

boingo82

I was at my dealer today (getting a belt tightened on the G and keys programmed on the Max) and whilst waiting I walked around looking at inventory. They didn't have a single Max on the lot. All the ones shipping in on the 8th are already sold.

The salesman told me the hail story, which is part of why Maximas are sold out and on order across the country...

I doubt the factory would try to pull something dishonest on the customers. Seems they're doing right, auctioning the damaged goods, and/or labeling them.

Besides, every incident I've heard of car dealers re-selling lemons has been with Chrysler, never Nissan. Granted that's not exactly the same, but a company who will re-sell a lemon will sell hail-damage w/out telling the consumer.

lwebb12

Hmm that sucks that they voided the paint warranty unless of course they havent been repaired and they are selling as is.

04EliteSE

They wash it for free.

JCW915

I went to the dealer yesterday and took a look at those hail damaged 04s...all I can say is that the damage is SO BAD, the dealer WOULD NOT fix it up and sell it. They are selling it with a 2000-3028 dollar discount (depending on the damage). Everything is clearly labledl Man...it looked like the car took up some golf practice shots. It was so bad. I took my friend there to see the car, he works at a body shop. He says that the damage is about 3500-5500 bucks just on the hails. On some cars, the rear and front windshield had to be replaced by the manufacture's plant. I would not recommend buying those cars unless you don't care about looks. But stil, 2000-3000 off is NOT worth it because the damage exceedes that. Just wanted to let you guys know that.

delerium75

The dealer here in town had about 6-7 of them and they were all in pretty rough shape...dozens of dents all over each car. There wasn't see a body panel that didn't have damage of some kind. Even with a 2K-3K discount, I'm sure Nissan is still making money on the cars if anyone buys them.

lwebb12

so you get your car washed for free at the dealer?

lwebb12

I wouldnt buy a hail damaged maxima unless it was 10k off the price.

lightonthehill

Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution had ads from three Nissan dealers advertising hail-damaged cars. Two of the ads said the cars were obtained at auction (from Nissan, I assume).

The prices asked for the damaged '04 Maxima base SEs ranged from $21,977 to $24,887. The variation may be tied to the level of damage, but I don't really know.

As someone mentioned above, skulldugery is possible. My son told me he had dents from a hailstorm and the body shop 'popped' or 'rolled'
them out without any repainting. I don't know the long-term effects of this flexing in and out on the multi-layered paint finish.

lwebb12

well those prices are about 10K off the dealer price it seems

lightonthehill

Actually, those prices were for the base SE, which has an MSRP of $26,950. So the 'hail' prices are more like $2,000 to $5,000 off MSRP.

Still could be a good deal if you are a body shop man good with dings . . .

SilverFlash

Boy I went to a Chicagoland dealer this afternoon and they had about 16 hail damaged 04' Maximas (quite a few Altimas as well). The Maximas were in pretty bad shape. Even the doors had damage along with the window molding!
Now, I wonder how we figure what the dealer paid for these things? How can you determine the severity of the damage as it varies from car to car.

lwebb12

I think mother nature decided to put a whooping on the maximas because she likes the tooth. haha

Maximum Performance

yep my dads van was bough back by chrysler as a lemon car. This happened back in 98, and now i checked the car fax on it like last year and the title is clean, someone in Iowa is enjoyin our lemon van
the van was sold at the midwest region auction

gmc74

"I doubt the factory would try to pull something dishonest on the customers. Seems they're doing right, auctioning the damaged goods, and/or labeling them."

The factory isn't who you need to worry about, it is the dealers... and I know the vultures in phoenix would

jacksprat01

My Maxima's manufacature date is May 5th! Was mine on it's way out the door when the hail came do you think? It seems perfect.

04MaximaGurl

Hey all... I recently bought a hail damaged 2004 Maxima SE with 17 miles on it.....for $19,000!!! I'm sorry but you can't beat that with a stick. The hail hit every side of the car except for the drivers side. It's going into Nissan on Monday to be fixed. The only thing they probably cannot fix but can be replaced is the rubber on the outside like around the windows. I bought it at Team Nissan of Marietta. They also have a before and after vehicle in their showroom. You can't even tell it was damaged.

CoolMax

iTrader: (7)

Discount vs. price of dent removal.

gmc74

Let us know how it turns out! If you have a digital camera, take some before and after pictures so we can check it out.

Thanks and good luck

04MaximaGurl

The price of the dent removal is $2400. The salesman tried to take advantage of me because I'm female but I was in turn able to flip the tables on him. I got the DEALERSHIP to pay for the dent removal.

Thanks! I don't have a digital camera myself but I'll see if one of my friends or co-workers might. They all envy my car...


and I work for AutoTrader.com!!

CoolMax

iTrader: (7)

So you got the discount and they paid for dent removal? What kind of deal is that (besides a very good one)?

04MaximaGurl

Well they had already taken the car out of their inventory when I signed the papers on Sunday. Then Monday when I brought the car back because they called with the old "good news and bad news" drill they took me in the little white room with the salesman, finance guy and finance manager and started with the "well can you do this? can you do that? what if we do this?". I was stern and told them what I was and was not willing to accept. So in order for me to take the car they had to give it to me for the 19k which is what we negotiated on including repairs they had to knock it down to probably 17k to include the repairs. It was the end of the month also and they were all trying to make their bonus.

They also gave me free oil changes for the next three years.

gmc74

They must be getting these from Nissan for a song!

It is tough to figure out the value of something like this because you don't really have a starting point. It is kind of like the demo vehicles at the dealers, they reduce the prices on them, but who knows what the value should really be.

lwebb12

shiznit. that is a steal.