Determining if a car has been wrecked/repainted

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My new to me 15 MB ML 350 appears to have been re-painted but the Carfax is clean. Is there any other way to find out if it has been wrecked or repainted?
I don't think the selling dealer knew about it.
 
My new to me 15 MB ML 350 appears to have been re-painted but the Carfax is clean. Is there any other way to find out if it has been wrecked or repainted?
I don't think the selling dealer knew about it.
Take it to a body man. They can tell if a panel has been repainted. They see defects in the best paint job that will have to be pointed out for you to see. Don't ask me how I know.

My bet is a dealer knew if parts of a car had been repainted.
 
It matters.

Rent a high end paint thickness detector/ meter from a bodyshop, you should be able to tell by sampling areas of the car comparatively they will find body filler and repaints.

If you cant tell, they did a good job but that doesn't guarantee a future of no problems.

I was able to negotiate a better price on 2 different cars using one.

One guy caved in a soon as I pulled it out.
 
You can tell if a vehicle has been repainted with a paint thicknees tool. Theydepth is measured in mil and good ones aren't cheap. Eventhough carfax doesnt show anything, you may want to write down the VIN and have your insurance agent run a ISO search on it. A thorough inspection by an independent appraiser could help too, alebit at a cost. I wouldnt trust the dealer they just want to make the sale.
 
It sounds like he’s already purchased it. The damage is done so other than having it checked out for safety items I wouldn’t worry too much because you don’t have any recourse. Carfax is a joke.
 
If you can't tell....then it shouldn't matter.
I'm pretty sure it's been repainted. The hood has pieces of dirt in the paint and indentions where chips used to be. There's some overspray on the front trim. I spotted the car on the dealers storage lot.(Lexus) They had just taken it on a trade and parked it there. It hadn't been touched. The salesman was leaving and told me about it. He only knew it had been traded on a new Lexus SUV. They hadn't even cleaned it or priced it. It had what I was looking for so he got the price a couple of days later. That's why I don't think they knew.
I will call my insurance agent and see if she can research. I guess it's possible they paid out of pocket to have it repaired. I've had the car almost 3 months but only now have gotten it in my garage giving it a ceramic coating. That's when I started seeing these defects. It also has a lot of orange peel. It's Polar white. Don't think MB would ever put out a paint job like that.
 
I'm pretty sure it's been repainted. The hood has pieces of dirt in the paint and indentions where chips used to be. There's some overspray on the front trim. I spotted the car on the dealers storage lot.(Lexus) They had just taken it on a trade and parked it there. It hadn't been touched. The salesman was leaving and told me about it. He only knew it had been traded on a new Lexus SUV. They hadn't even cleaned it or priced it. It had what I was looking for so he got the price a couple of days later. That's why I don't think they knew.
I will call my insurance agent and see if she can research. I guess it's possible they paid out of pocket to have it repaired. I've had the car almost 3 months but only now have gotten it in my garage giving it a ceramic coating. That's when I started seeing these defects. It also has a lot of orange peel. It's Polar white. Don't think MB would ever put out a paint job like that.

Well, if you can tell the difference and your not a professional painter by trade....

A professional painter can tell you in seconds without a paint depth gauge if it has been repainted by even the best of a painter, trust me, 35 year professional painter by trade.
 
You can almost always find a bit of overspray or a tape edge somewhere if you look really hard. 3 months after you bought it what are you going to do? A shame it took that long to find it.
Not much I can do. I just want as much info as I can get. Was it in a wreck or did a tree branch fall on it? The lady that owned it lived in a high rise condo with a parking garage underneath. I like the vehicl. The dealer aligned all 4 wheels and put new tires on it. Drives great.
 
If you can't tell....then it shouldn't matter.

Down the line it can start peeling. My friend's used Q50 just started peeling a couple years ago after it was in an accident of unknown years ago.
 
Well, you say it looks as if it has chips in the paint that where painted over by a lazy painter. If its the hood your looking at and all of the OE stickers and labels from the factory are there under the hood then its probably just rock chips from a slow lane driver driving behind trucks, busses, ect.
 
Down the line it can start peeling. My friend's used Q50 just started peeling a couple years ago after it was in an accident of unknown years ago.

Reputable Repair shops all warranty for life while the original owner owns the vehicle. The warranty unfortunately does not transfer to a new owner.
 
Not much I can do. I just want as much info as I can get. Was it in a wreck or did a tree branch fall on it? The lady that owned it lived in a high rise condo with a parking garage underneath. I like the vehicl. The dealer aligned all 4 wheels and put new tires on it. Drives great.
My friend sells used cars. They sometimes give them cheap paint jobs to spruce them up for sale. If it drives great and looks good, enjoy it and many safe miles of travel.
 
Well, you say it looks as if it has chips in the paint that where painted over by a lazy painter. If its the hood your looking at and all of the OE stickers and labels from the factory are there under the hood then its probably just rock chips from a slow lane driver driving behind trucks, busses, ect.
Good point. Thanks
 
My new to me 15 MB ML 350 appears to have been re-painted but the Carfax is clean. Is there any other way to find out if it has been wrecked or repainted?
I don't think the selling dealer knew about it.
Paintwork on a car doesn't automatically mean it was in an accident. And are you saying the whole car or just a few panels? Unlikely you will find many 6 year old cars that haven't had at least a minor fender bender requiring some paintwork.
 
I bought one of my previously owned car knowing it had paint chips on hood and both hood and front bumper cover needed to be repainted. Had neighbor who works at a dealer body shop do the job. Got permission from shop to use their location on a weekend.
Removed bumper cover. Prepped it
and hood. Put car in “oven” for a couple hours.

Gave him car at 5pm on Saturday.
Returned car to me at 5pm on Sunday.

Paint job came out PERFECT.
Color perfect. No runs No dust spots. No overspray.
——————————-

Had an accident with my other car. No pushed in damage, as it was Pulled out damage. (Hard to explain). Replaced front bumper cover and Left Front Fender.
Work done by same dealer body shop as above (but not by my neighbor) during regular hours.
Job came out so PERFECT, I thought they were lying to me. Even bolts holding fender in place looked correct color, (not unpainted as I’ve seen on other repair jobs in the past). Shop showed me old fender to show me they were not lying.

This dealer body shop has one guy who’s only job is painting. (Not my neighbor). The paintwork and color on both cars is so good, that even when looking at car with polarized glasses, no color difference is seen.
This shop was recommended to me by a friend who had his Mercedes “touched up” and now I recommend them to friends.
 
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