Content

• Steps

When buying a used car, it is very important to know how to check the car for any damage sustained during operation. Finding past damage will help you estimate the real value of the car and determine the possible consequences of the damage received. This article provides some tips to help you determine if a car has been in an accident and what damage it has suffered.

Steps

1. 1 Request a complete report on the history of vehicle maintenance and repair.
   • Use the help of specialized companies such as Carfax to get a complete report on the history of the vehicle. The report will provide a list of previous owners, information on insured events or legal proceedings involving the car you are interested in. On physical and visual inspection, this will help you identify points to look out for.
2. 2 Inspect the car's bumpers and fenders for dents or cracks.
   • Inspect the vehicle front and rear for damage, cracks and areas that may have been repaired. The bumpers and fenders are easy to damage. they are often made from plastic or lightweight composite materials. The presence of damage to the bumpers and fenders will serve as an indicator of concern and a closer inspection.
3. 3 Check your windshield.
   • Inspect all windows in the car: front, rear and side. Examine each one for chips and signs of damage. This may indicate that the vehicle has been in an accident. It is also worth looking at the labeling of the windows for the production date. Most likely, they were produced in the same period as the car. If the markings on the glasses differ from each other, this means that the glass has changed.
4. 4 Check the geometry of the vehicle.
   • Sit down on one side of the car with your eye level on the longitudinal line of the car. Look along the body line of the car, lowering your gaze below. The line should be perfectly flat and the reflection off the paint should be smooth.If the longitudinal line is not perfectly straight, and the paint reflects with distortion, this means that certain car panels have been damaged and, as a result, have been replaced or repaired.
5. 5 Inspect the door panels and the gaps between them and the car body.
   • Inspect the gaps between the doors and adjacent body parts. The gaps must be even and the same along the entire length of the panels. Cars that have been in an accident will have different clearances due to problems with body geometry or replacement of body panels.
6. 6 Check the car body for putty.
   • Run your palm over the panels of the car, along the corners of the bumper and fenders. The car in an accident will have bumps and you can feel the waviness of the panels. This is the reason for the use of putty, which is used to repair body panels after accidents.
7. 7 Inspect the frame and body for the brace clip marks.
   • These markings on the body and frame indicate that the vehicle was in a serious accident and required complex mechanical interventions such as stretching the body.
8. 8 Look for repainting spots.
   • Examine the edges of doors, body panels carefully for scratches, rough paint marks and transitions. Traces of paint in other shades indicate that the vehicle was repainted after damage, or that the door or any other body panel was replaced and then repainted to match the original body color.