How to inspect a car body when buying a used car - illustrated guide

It's not recommended to buy a car after an accident, especially after frontal collision. Why?
- Because sometimes the collision repair shops use cheap substitutes instead of original parts.
- The A/C condenser - the part of the air conditioning system often gets damaged in a frontal collision. If not properly repaired, the air conditioner may stop working later.
- Strong frontal collision can damage the integrity of the vehicle body making it less stronger.
- There is a possibility that as a result of an accident the vehicle will develop some mechanical problems later such as wheel alignment problems, noisy wheel bearings, etc.
- The secondary paint job not always looks and holds as good as original, the color may not match and later the paint may start peeling off at the edges.
So, how you can protect yourself from buying a car after an accident provided that there are so many of them on the market and usually no one will inform you about previous accident the vehicle had been involved in.
Here is the real example: why the body shop keeps the half piece of the car like this one in the picture? Because when they get the same model vehicle with rear end damage, they will weld a front undamaged part together with this piece and here you are: three-years old car with low mileage. They will sell it probably through some auction and then it may appear in some used car dealer's lot as an "Immaculate condition with low mileage car". The dealer him(her)self may not be informed about any accident the car might have in the past. Read few tips below how to inspect a car body for signs of previous accidents.
If this guide too complicated for you, check our How to check a car - simplified guide.

Check the car history.

Obviously, the best way to start before even looking at the car - check the vehicle history report which can already tell you if there is something wrong.
Get the VIN number of the car you're interesting in and check the history records. Follow this link:
How to check a car history
If the report doesn't show anything bad it doesn't yet mean the car is 100 percent perfect. Not all accidents are reported. Read below how to discover signs of previous accident.

At the beginning

Ask the owner (salesperson) if the car has had any accidents?
The dealer, if he (she) is aware, must inform you.
However, from my experience, it's very rare that a seller (salesperson) would inform you about previous accidents. Often the salesperson may not be even aware of this. So, rely only to what you see, not what you have been told.
In general, it is not a big deal if the car has been involved in minor "fender-bender" collision, or if only one body panel (a fender or door) had been repainted; it could be a scratch or some other minor damage. But avoid cars that have been seriously damaged in a collision, or have been flooded.
Also avoid cars that had been badly corroded and then repaired. A rust tends to reappear again.

Look at the body lines

Look alongside of the car. The lines of the car body should be perfectly straight. Look at the top image, this Mercedes-Benz hasn't been in an accident, and you can see the body lines are perfectly straight. Look at the reflection: it is perfect, no ripples and paint quality of all panels looks the same. Try to check the entire car this way. ! If the car is dirty, don't hurry. Ask to wash it first, or you may miss something.

But look at this image. Check this Toyota's rear fender. You can notice that the reflection on the rear fender isn't perfect. Therefore, you can suspect that this rear fender has been damaged. Although as I said, it's not too big a problem if only one body panel has been damaged, but at least, you can ask for a lower price.

Check all the gaps between the fenders, doors, hood and trunk

Try to find the border between original and new paint

Look for paint over-spray

Check the hood and door holding bolts

Check if the color and paint quality match

It's very difficult to repaint a replaced or damaged panel (like a fender, door or hood) in exactly the same color as the original paint. Try to find if the color and paint quality of different panels match. Take a look at the car from different angles and from various distances. (Look at the images. The color seems to be the same on the top image, but from the other angle you can note the difference). Try feel the painting with your hand; original paint should be perfectly smooth. ! If you feel some unevenness under the paint, it's a sign that this area has been repainted. Look closely at the paint again. You may notice some little things under the paint (a little piece of hair, dust, etc.). It's the same sign.

Check the rust.

Check the vehicle's frame.

Look for signs of flood damage

If a car has been flooded in the past, even if it looks and runs good now, it will develop many expensive-to-fix problems later. This is because water gets inside many components where it shouldn't be and eventually, the corrosion will cause a component to fail later.
Look for mildew smell, water stains on the seats, roof liner and door covers. Inspect door covers and trunk covers for possible signs of water level. If it's possible, look for moisture under the carpet. Check lower edges of the door covers for water damage, look for corrosion and water debris in the spare tire well. look for badly corroded metal parts under seats. Check all door speakers - water could damage the speaker diaphragm. Coffee-with-milk color of the engine oil or transmission fluid may indicate presence of water. History report can also reveal flood. Be suspicious if the history report indicates that the car came from another state.

Have the car inspected by a mechanic

Before making your final decision, have the car inspected by a mechanic. There are many things that only an experienced mechanic will be able to reveal.