Used car checks, Part 2: Has the car been in an accident?

Most used cars have been repainted somewhere. The question is why: a light scratch, or a major crash? This article shows how to tell the difference.

In more than 20 years of inspecting used cars, over 10,000 of them (I inspect cars; I don't repair them, but I know mechanics and love finding root causes), about 90% of the cars I see have been "bathed": repainted in some places, if not the whole car.

5 reasons a used car gets repainted

1. Claiming first-class insurance at the end of every year
2. Light paintwork to hide marks that would lower the price
3. Minor scrapes, chipped paint or small dents
4. A colour change
5. A major crash or flood, with panels beaten out, cut, sectioned or pulled to make the car look new again (a pretty car is not always a good car, and it is never as good as before)

Reasons 1–3 are the most common and usually acceptable. If I find reason 4 or 5, I tell the customer to look for another car. That is a risk I won't let a customer take.

The tap test: finding repainted panels

The easiest and most popular method is tapping (just tapping, not hitting, or the owner will complain).

1. Tap all around the car: left and right doors (outside), front and rear
2. Tap the same spot on both sides, e.g. the middle of the front-left door against the middle of the front-right door, not the door edge
3. Compare the sound. A car is built in one batch, so materials, paint and metal thickness should match on every panel
4. Untouched panels sound clear and ringing; repainted ones sound dull and solid. That is the sound of body filler

Wherever the tap sounds solid, as if the material is thicker, note it. Then check whether it is light paintwork, a dent, or something worse: a major crash. These differences are the key to what the car has really been through.

Today Scan2Car uses a paint thickness gauge on every panel, which is far more accurate than tapping. Watch how in the video How to use a paint thickness gauge (Thai).

Not sure? Don't take the risk

Buying a used car is risky. If you don't know cars, bring a friend or an expert to lower the chance of ending up with a bad one.

With best wishes from Scan2Car. When it comes to checking used cars, leave it to us.