New car purchase with evidence of accident, concern?

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panthermike

Joined
Apr 1, 2008
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So a family member of mine bought a vehicle yesterday, it is a 2024 model with 20,000 miles or so. Clean Carfax, good maintenance history. Today I see the vehicle in some good sunlight and notice that the door on the driver right side and the fender seem to be an ever so slightly different shade. Can't really see any other evidence with the exception of the passenger headlight was replaced (I can tell because the brand name is in the headlight on the driver side but not on the passenger.) also, light output does not seem quite right, again indicating aftermarket headlight.

So his conundrum is this, really loves the vehicle it drives very well tracks straight and everything. No concerns related to drivability that I can detect. However the dealer does offer a 48-hour return window. This vehicle is has all the options he was looking for as well as a competitive price. Something he should worry about or just soldier on? His main concern is more psychological, paying 40,000 for a vehicle that's had an accident repair.
 
panthermike said:
So a family member of mine bought a vehicle yesterday, it is a 2024 model with 20,000 miles or so. Clean Carfax, good maintenance history. Today I see the vehicle in some good sunlight and notice that the door on the driver right side and the fender seem to be an ever so slightly different shade. Can't really see any other evidence with the exception of the passenger headlight was replaced (I can tell because the brand name is in the headlight on the driver side but not on the passenger.) also, light output does not seem quite right, again indicating aftermarket headlight.

So his conundrum is this, really loves the vehicle it drives very well tracks straight and everything. No concerns related to drivability that I can detect. However the dealer does offer a 48-hour return window. This vehicle is has all the options he was looking for as well as a competitive price. Something he should worry about or just soldier on? His main concern is more psychological, paying 40,000 for a vehicle that's had an accident repair.
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I bet it was wrecked, and the previous owner paid for the repair without reporting it to insurance. I’d return it.
 
My kid whalloped his Camry, bent the radiator support. Aside from that, the frame rail part of the unibody are still straight, the replacement hood panel gaps are perfect and it still drives fine. There are 1001 ways to wreck a car and you'll never know what REALLY happened. I'd cash out that return policy, sorry. What Nukeman wrote.
 
Take it back. In addition to all of the reasons already mentioned, I can see Murphy's Law kicking in and when the relative tries to sell the car, it will come out that the vehicle was in accident and *he'll* take the hit for diminished value.

If he really wants to keep it, seeing if the dealer will kick something back from the purchase price is worth a shot, but I doubt that's going to happen.
 
My understanding is that if a car is damaged in transit or while on the dealer’s lot they are under no obligation to disclose that they repaired it, since any defect in that repair is covered under the new car warranty anyway. I suppose that might vary from states to state.
 
Get a magnetic painter's gauge or body shop gauge and run it along the driver's side. Even a refrigerator magnet will work.
And body filler will show up in diminished readings or weaker contact. Maybe this would be ok on a $10K or less vehicle, but
not a $40K one. Having owned a couple cars like this, the repaint eventually starts to become more obvious and doesn't last
as long as the factory paint. Check body panel fit between doors, rockers, A and C pillars, hood, etc. Any type of strong hit usually
ends up with a couple body panels no longer perfectly aligned or flush. I knew my 2001 current daily driver took some side damage when the original owner's had it. Paid under $4K for it. But it wasn't until I owned the car for a year or more that I found ALL the signs of it....such as the left side of the hood sticking up about 1/32" to 1/16" inch higher than the quarter panel...and different from the other side of the hood. I bought the car with low miles (39K) and figured by the time I was done driving it to 100K miles it would hardly matter anymore as many other areas of the car would get marked up too.
 
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6.7 CTD said:
Have to look out for family, especially if they’re not the type to notice issues such as this.
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I understand and can agree but even the OP said mechanically everything seems fine.

panthermike said:
it drives very well tracks straight and everything. No concerns related to drivability that I can detect
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The damage done may have been primarily cosmetic, apart from a damaged (cracked ??) headlight assembly.
 
Hall said:
I understand and can agree but even the OP said mechanically everything seems fine.


The damage done may have been primarily cosmetic, apart from a damaged (cracked ??) headlight assembly.
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Although the vehicle is mechanically sound (which I would expect given its age), I wouldn’t purchase a 2024 MY model with compromised aesthetic appeal. In my opinion, both the mechanical and aesthetic aspects of a 2024 vehicle should be in optimal condition.
 
See if they will replace headlight
Accident? You have no proof , I have seen many factory paint jobs look different from panel to panel, depends on lighting
 
maduroman said:
See if they will replace headlight
Accident? You have no proof , I have seen many factory paint jobs look different from panel to panel, depends on lighting
Click to expand...

This is a fair point, but if you read my original post, one of the headlights has the the logo within the lens, and the other one does not that is on the suspected side. I doubt that the manufacturer would stamp their logo on driver side but not passenger side. In addition to the cosmetic differences in the headlights, you can tell that the light pattern on that side is not very wide.
 
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Thanks for all this replies thus far.
Aside from the obvious difference in color and the headlight not being OEM, I believe the work was performed well. The body gaps on the passenger side are very close to the driver side. Everything looks like it was put back together well with no loose ends from my initial inspection anyways. Suspension parts all look fine.

I would agree that the first step would be to contact the dealer and see what or if they would do.
 
If you look close enough you can always find over-spray somewhere if it was repainted.

The driver side door and fender don't match and the passenger side headlight was replaced. How much damage do you think it had?

The most important question is what does the buyer think? Does what you think matter and are you trying to sway them one way or the other?

I'd be unhappy to think I was getting an accident free car and paid for it and that's not what I got.
 
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