If you own a vehicle, you want to keep it in the best shape possible. That’s because you need it to run smoothly, but you also want it to look as nice as you can. People might look down on you if it’s clear that you’re a negligent car owner.
In this article, we’ll look at some different car damage types. We’ll also briefly go over what you can do to fix them.
Hail Damage
Your car can sustain hail damage if you leave it out in the elements. Ideally, you want to park it in a garage, but sometimes, that’s not possible. Hailstorms:
- Can start suddenly
- Are common in some regions
The thing to do if you have a hail-damaged car is to take it to a well-regarded auto body shop. You can look at some online reviews to see if there’s a good one close to you.
The metal can be reshaped and refinished in many cases. How much that will cost depends on the damage extent.
If the hail damaged your mirrors, windshield, etc., you might need to get replacement components. The auto body shop might be able to order them for you, though it may take days or weeks for them to arrive. It depends on how common and how old your vehicle is.
Sun Damage
You might not think that the sun could damage a vehicle, but it can. If you leave your car out in the bright sunlight day after day, it can fade the paint. The paint job might look drab and off-color if you neglect the vehicle for months or years.
This happens sometimes:
- In hotter climates
- If you don’t have a garage or shade
Maybe you live somewhere like Southern California, Arizona, or New Mexico. There is punishing heat in these areas. Perhaps you don’t have a garage, and you only have street parking where the car experiences the sun’s full force every day.
You can talk to an auto body shop and see how much a new paint job will cost. You’ll have to locate the paint color to match your vehicle.
Getting fresh paint can improve the car’s resale value. If you have an older car with a ton of miles on it, though, you’ll have to consider whether this cost is worth it. If your car’s too old, you might want to trade it in rather than pay for the new paint job.
Flood Damage
If your car is in a flood, and the water gets into the interior, that’s a time when no refurbishing can probably repair it. No matter how much you liked that vehicle, flood damage can be irreparable if the water gets inside the dashboard’s delicate components.
Even if you get a mechanic to check the car out, and it seems okay at first, you don’t know when the water damage will start to show itself. Also, if you submerge a car in the water, you’ll often start to get a persistent mildew smell.
In these situations, usually the best thing you can do is to trade the car in or get however much money you can for it. You’ll need a new vehicle more times than not.
Rust
In some regions, it’s tough to keep the rust off your vehicle if you own it for a few years. If you reside somewhere on the East Coast or in the Midwest, for example, you have snow during the winters. The cities use salt on the streets to get rid of it.
The salt gets on your car’s underside, and that’s how rust begins. The salt’s corrosive properties start to wear away the metal.
One way you can prevent this is by hosing down your car’s underside after you do some winter driving, and you know there’s salt on the ground. If you already see rust, you can use a razor blade or some fine-grit sandpaper to remove it. Then, you can hit those patches with a spray-on rust inhibitor.
You apply primer at that point, and then get some paint that matches your vehicle’s color and touch it up. If this seems too complicated, you could also contact an auto body shop and have them do it for you.
If your car looks better, you’ll feel better about driving. Like the clothing you wear, the vehicle you drive says a lot about you, as does the way you either take care of it or neglect it.