isitagooddeal.com— Just because you received a clean Carfax report with their "Buyback Guarantee" doesn't mean the car isn't salvaged, stolen, frame damage, flood damage, etc....
Jan 26, 2008View in Crawl 4
Skip the car fax. It's easy to spot a repaired and repainted car yourself. Just a couple that will get you most of the way:Make sure all the body panel gaps (like around the doors and hood) are even. If not it was probably in a bad enough wreck to distort the structure.Feel the edge of the body panels and in areas they would have put masking tape during painting. If they're bumpy at all, the car has probably been repainted. Look for variations in paint color and a wavy pattern in the paint. You can even find crud painted over if the didn't do the best job.Check for bolts that have paint scraped off. That means they were removed for a repair.Check the radiator support to make sure it's straight. A crash will likely bend it and it's difficult to get exactly straight again.
leiferikson8Jan 26, 2008
Or you can not buy a used car from a sketchy person.Or buy a good car and take good care of it.
error601Jan 26, 2008
Skip the car fax. It's easy to spot a repaired and repainted car yourself. Just a couple that will get you most of the way:Make sure all the body panel gaps (like around the doors and hood) are even. If not it was probably in a bad enough wreck to distort the structure.Feel the edge of the body panels and in areas they would have put masking tape during painting. If they're bumpy at all, the car has probably been repainted. Look for variations in paint color and a wavy pattern in the paint. You can even find crud painted over if the didn't do the best job.Check for bolts that have paint scraped off. That means they were removed for a repair.Check the radiator support to make sure it's straight. A crash will likely bend it and it's difficult to get exactly straight again.