Does Minor Body Damage Affect the Price of a Vehicle?

If you’re looking to sell your car, you’re probably taking into account everything that could improve or decrease its resale value. Some things, like a good carpet cleaning, a wash and a wax, can up its aesthetic appeal with relatively little investment on your part. But what about things like dings, scrapes and dents? How much do they affect the sale price, and is it really worth it for you to make repairs before trying to sell?

As your go-to auto body shop in Visalia, CA, Tom’s Body & Paint, Inc. has heard these and many other related questions time and again. With that in mind, here are two helpful questions and answers about auto body damage to help you understand the big picture for your car going forward.

Is my car’s value permanently decreased?

This is one of those big “it depends” questions, and here’s why. Suppose you back into a streetlight and bust your taillight. Or maybe you got bumped in the parking lot and have a dent in your chrome bumper. Although inconvenient, these slight damages are simple to remedy: get a new taillight, and have the dent smoothed out at a reliable auto body shop in Visalia, CA. With an experienced hand and good factory replacement parts, the damage will be undetected and unimportant in almost any circumstance. Therefore, no, your car’s value will often be unchanged.

On the other hand, if you get into a major accident that results in extensive damage and costly repairs, you will have a permanent accident and damage history on the car’s record, and even after you repair it, there may still be some indications of the damage that was done, simply because the car has gone through so much trauma that it’s bound to be visible upon close inspection. Furthermore, this damage could lead to further repair needs down the road. All of these things mean that the car will always have a decreased value going forward.

I’ve been in an accident. How much has my car’s value diminished?

When your car is damaged, the amount of value it loses is known as “diminished value.” The actual amount that this means for a car is different from one case to another. You’ll be taking into account how much the car was valued at before the accident, how badly it was damaged, how much it cost to repair the damage and how well the repairs were performed.

Your car will see its greatest amount of diminished value right after the accident. As you put money into good repairs from an experienced auto body shop in Visalia, CA, the value slowly goes back up. For minor damages, your car could be restored to good-as-new condition (when it’s worked on by capable, experienced technicians), and you will still see an excellent resale value. If the damages are severe and the workmanship is shoddy, expect a poor resale value.

Take your car to an experienced auto body shop in Visalia, CA to ensure the highest possible resale value. The team at Tom’s Body & Paint, Inc. looks forward to assisting you soon!

Categorised in: Auto Body Shop

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