How to Check a Used Car for Accidents and Paint Work

There are a couple of things that I can teach you on how to check a used car to see if it has been repainted or if it has been involved in an accident. The easiest and first way to check is to have the dealership run a CARFAX.com report on the used car. Unfortunately, the CARFAX.com report is only going to list "major" accidents. If a car is involved in a 20 mph fender bender and a quarter panel and bumper had been replaced as a result of the accident, then that accident will not show up on the report. The way to check physically by touching the car to see if it has had any paintwork or body parts replaced is pretty simple.

The first thing you have to do is look at a brand new car. What you want to do is walk to the front of the car, take your fingers and rub on the back part of the hood in the little gap between the end of the hood and the beginning of the front windshield. You will notice that the paint is very smooth. You can do this exercise on the hood, on the trunk, along all the doors, on the gas tank cover, etc. On a brand new car, all of the edges will be incredibly smooth. Once you have an idea of how it should feel by rubbing the edges of the car described above, do the exact same process on the used car that you are considering. If, for instance, the hood of this used car has been repainted and is not the original manufacturer's paint, instead of a smooth feeling, the back edge of the hood will feel like sandpaper, which indicates a repainting job. Do this on all the edges of the car including trunk, quarter panels, doors, any edge you can find. I should note to you that just because a car feels like it has been repainted doesn't necessarily mean that the car was involved in an accident. If a door or a quarter panel feels rough and you know it's been repainted, it could be as simple as scratch or key marks on that side of the car. In this situation, it is okay.

Another way to tell if a used car has been involved in an accident is to open the hood to check for front end damage. With the hood open, there should be three bolts securing each front quarter panel. If you look at the bolts, it should look as if they were bolted and then painted. If there is a ring around the bolt showing a white color or a different color and it's not uniform, that is a good indication that the quarter panel has been replaced or at the very least, was taken off of the car, fixed and then put back on the car.

If you are still unsure about a used car and don't trust your own judgment, ask the selling dealer to take the car to your own independent mechanic. If your mechanic is worth his salt, he will be able to tell you for certain if the car was repainted or involved in any kind of accident.