Bought a vehicle through an online vehicle auction

I was just looking for a quick flip. At $1600 for a 2006 SEL with leather, sunroof, alloys, etc., I thought I could get around $3500.

If it has more than 125K miles, then it's worth about $1600 without all of the dings in it. There's over 2 grand in body work to be done. It's more of a parts car at this point, like it sits you'd be lucky to get $300. I'd advertise it for $200 more than you paid and hope to dump it quick.

If it has more than 125K miles, then it's worth about $1600 without all of the dings in it. There's over 2 grand in body work to be done. It's more of a parts car at this point, like it sits you'd be lucky to get $300. I'd advertise it for $200 more than you paid and hope to dump it quick.

Out here, vehicles sell for a premium because of the military base and because we're an hour away from the nearest major city. There isn't much of a selection here, so people pay a premium for what they want. Personally, I'd rather drive a few hours Dallas or Houston and save a grand or two.

The cheapest you can find an 06 SEL within 300 miles of my city is about $2800. Most of the 06's are in the $3,000-3,500 range. 

As for the hail damage, I could always go to a salvage yard and buy a hood & trunk, Then, glaze the roof, sand it, have it sprayed, buy a ding puller and spend an afternoon getting the dings out of the side. But, that sounds like a lot of work for little reward. I'll probably just list it for 2K as is. I guarantee you there is some guy out there that just needs basic transportation and would love to have an 06 in this price range.

From a former autobody guy just trust me......you don't want to even attempt fixing that yourself. 
Hood, truck swap, yeah, easy.   You *might* even get the fenders to be passable with the right tools.  (However these tools will eat most/all profit you might make).  Paintless dent repair is part science, part art.    If you start pulling dents then your talking having paint work done.

The roof and that a-pillar?  Forget about it.   Without experience, you'd probably make it worse.
The roof and hood are the two hardest panels to fix dents due to design and how metal is supported.

And that is WAY more than just a glaze......I'd have to see it in person but by pictures that is borderline that I'd just cut it off and weld a new top on.  Easier.

(And before any body guys start disagreeing with me....I know in some places that type of damage is common and there are body guys that could fix it and fast.  But here, not much practice on that sort of damage.)

I would look at hood and trunk prices.   If cheap enough might make for an easier sell.   I've found deals on ebay or look for whole car you can part out for a couple hundred?  Worth spending a few minutes looking into.

I've found OEM hoods for around $140. I think you can get a new non-Oem (primered) on eBay for around that as well. There is a guy selling a matching bumper cover on Craigslist for about $50. The trunk lid should be pretty easy to find as well. The sides really aren't that bad. Like I said earlier, I probably will just sell it as is. Maybe someone is looking to save a few bucks on a car they can fix up themselves.

Finally sold this turd over the weekend. Barely broke even. One thing I've learned from this is experience is that people would rather have a car that looks good and runs like crap than a car that runs great and has cosmetic issues.