How to determine if a car has been in an accident

If buying a damaged car is not part of your plans, how to check the car for an accident, and why is a damaged car dangerous?

According to statistics, more than 70 percent of all cars have been involved in an accident at least once. Unfortunately, most car owners hide this fact when selling. Buying a car after an accident can be fatal, so it is important to check in advance whether it has been involved or not in accidents. The easiest way to do this is through a car service.

The AutoPride service station performs comprehensive diagnostics of a car upon purchase, identifying hidden defects after accidents.

The content of the article:

How dangerous a damaged car can be - all the risks you need to know about

Most often, sellers hide the involvement of their cars in an accident, not wanting to reduce the price. But there are also sellers who openly warn about “minor damage,” reducing the price to an amount that, in their opinion, is enough to repair.

When should you take a used car?

• If you have checked all hidden defects with the help of professionals.
• If the amount for correcting defects is significantly lower than the discount amount. That is, if the game is worth the candle.
• If you have time to correct defects.

It is important to note that when you subsequently sell a repaired, but still damaged car, you will still have to admit this fact to the buyer. This means that selling a car at a good price will be difficult.

And yet, most often, sellers modestly keep silent about the fact of the accident and “sell” cars to unsuspecting buyers, the purchase of which can even result in new accidents.

Why is it dangerous to take a damaged car?

1. You will lose money on the sale.
2. You risk getting into an accident. As a rule, after an accident, the owner is in a hurry to quickly “disguise” the car and sell it. They disguise and “repair”, most often, in a makeshift manner. And such knee-jerk repairs, of course, do not ensure high-quality repair of damage. One of the consequences of such repairs is difficulty in operating the car.
3. You cannot be sure of the technical serviceability of the car.
4. The service life of a damaged car is comparatively lower than that of a whole one.

In addition, you lose a lot of money on repairs, because the following metamorphoses will (and quite soon) occur with the car after an accident:

• The appearance of rust almost “out of the blue” in areas of painting due to low-quality materials, savings on paint layers, poor preparation of parts, disruption of the painting and drying process, etc.
• Appearance of cracks. The reason is an excess of putty, which was applied in a thick layer to the damaged part (instead of replacing it).
• Loss of geometric symmetry. After this, the car begins to “drive” in any direction, and the body loses strength. Bottom line: the car (and the owner along with it) may not survive the second accident. Only professionals at the service station can return the original geometry, and with it all the attached parts back into place.
• Eating rubber. Uneven tire wear is the most common consequence of an accident.
• Glass breaks after hitting a pothole due to the curvature of the opening acquired after an accident.
• Interior leakage. After the body panels peel off (cracking, etc.), water appears in the footwells after rain.
• No airbags. As a rule, they are rarely replaced after an accident due to their high cost.

The cost of repairing a damaged car will most likely ultimately exceed the amount of the discount that the caring seller gave you.

To avoid making such a mistake, check the car before purchasing at a service station - from professionals. Save yourself the hassle and money.

Video: How to recognize a damaged car?

15 signs of a damaged car - how to independently recognize a car after an accident when inspecting it?

How to catch an unscrupulous seller - and determine how bad the car is being offered to you?

You can guess the car that was damaged in an accident by the following signs:

1. Different shades of paint on the body. In this case, the car should be viewed during the day, but in the shade and at a distance of 3-4 steps, so that the difference in shades is noticeable. An unpainted car has an even shade of coating throughout its entire body, without defects.
2. The type of coating is too new, which seems unnatural for the age of the car . Using a thickness gauge, you can even check the thickness of the paintwork yourself. Deviations from the norm will tell you about the layers of putty that are common on a car after an accident. If you don’t have a device, you can use a regular magnet wrapped in a thin cloth: in heavily puttied areas of the body, the magnet will not be able to hold. However, it will be easier to check the car at a service station.
3. Uneven gaps at the junction of the hood and fender. They should be viewed from both sides. And on both sides they must be exactly the same. At the same time, check the hinges for gaps in them, creaks and visible defects on the car body left during operation due to misalignment of the doors.
4. Glasses and headlights with different production dates. If the car you are buying has different headlights, or their light falls unevenly, ask about the reason for replacing them. As for the windshield, the factory logo must be present on it.
5. Paint leaks under seals. Bend them back and check to see if the body color is too different from the paint underneath this part of the car, and if there are any paint smudges.
6. The presence of cracks in the doors after they are closed. If the doors do not fit snugly against the seal, leaving a noticeable gap, the body is most likely deformed.
7. Uneven tire wear.
8. The presence of new fasteners that replaced the usual factory ones. As a rule, they are changed after the car is repainted.
9. The presence of non-original, foreign rivets on the gas tank flap. Most likely, the painters removed it before painting to select the desired shade.
10. Sloppy welds.
11. Abundance of overhead tuning. They often cover up corrosion and so on.
12. Hinged body elements : we check for squeaking, poor pressing against the seals, incorrect sound and a strong difference in the ease of closing. We check everything - from the gas tank flap and doors to the trunk lids and hood. Important: sometimes cunning sellers, saving doors from sagging, hang adjusting washers on door hinges. If you find any, the car was in an accident.
13. Dents at the bottom of the front doors . They usually talk about a strong frontal impact.
14. Violation of body geometry (wheel alignment). To outwit unscrupulous sellers, check the tire pressure in the front wheels (sellers sometimes cheat on the car's performance by creating uneven tire pressure). However, an accurate diagnosis of the car can only be made on a stand, where you can also check the tilt of the struts, possible deformation of the levers, etc.

Of course, without at least basic knowledge it is difficult to apply this knowledge in practice. If you are in doubt and do not have serious experience in such matters, take the car to a service station.

Refusal to have your car checked by professionals is 100% confirmation that the car is damaged.

It is quite possible that the damage to the car is minimal, and the discount offered by the seller will more than cover your expenses - and you will still have money left over to wash the purchase.

But you can know for sure only after a complete check of the car .

How to determine by insurance?

One of the modern ways to check a car for an accident is the BSI.

Created in August 2015, the non-profit database (Insurance History Bureau) stores all information about vehicle insurance contracts under MTPL, CASCO and MTPL. The creator of the database is RSA, which finances and supports this project.

Official website: www.autoins.ru/ru/bsi

What can you learn from this database?

A request to the BSI allows you to track the entire insurance history of a car.

• Presence/absence of an accident regarding the driver.
• Presence/absence of an accident by car owner.
• Term of insurance under compulsory motor liability insurance for a specific vehicle.
• Detailed information on all insurance cases.

Remember that not all accidents can be verified by VIN code and through the BSI. Quite often, drivers resolve such problems amicably, due to haste or lack of insurance.

Therefore, the lack of information about an accident is not a guarantee that the car is intact.

How to check by VIN code and number?

Checking a vehicle by VIN number allows you to obtain information about its participation in an accident.

The check is carried out on the traffic police website: www.gibdd.ru/check/auto

All you need to do is enter your VIN code and request the appropriate verification.

This audit will use exclusively data on road accidents starting from 2015.

But here you can check the car for...

1. Presence of restrictions.
2. Being wanted.
3. Being in collateral.

Another way to check is through Autocode

Website: www.avtokod.mos.ru

On this portal you can also check a vehicle by VIN number or state registration number.

Using Autocode you can check the following data:

• Characteristics of the vehicle configuration.
• Facts of participation in accidents with photos of damage.
• Mileage information.
• Using a vehicle as a taxi.
• Vehicle repair data.
• Is the vehicle on bail, wanted, etc.

Car diagnostics at a car dealership

It is recommended to involve only professionals in vehicle diagnostics, who can easily identify all the symptoms of involvement in an accident. At the service station, they will conduct a full “inspection” of the car, determine the need (or lack thereof) for repairs, and calculate the amount of necessary costs.

All you have to do is decide whether it’s worth buying a car - or whether it would be more profitable to buy a whole one.

What do they check at the service station?

A technical check may include:

• External thorough inspection.
• Diagnostics using special equipment.
• Checking the serviceability of the vehicle engine.
• Checking the car in progress.
• Checking the paintwork.
• Checking the bottom, steering mechanism and, of course, the chassis by lifting the car.
• Checking the engine compartment.

AutoPride service station specialists will quickly and efficiently check any vehicle for involvement in an accident.

After identifying defects and shortcomings, it will be possible to realistically assess the amount of possible costs and bargain with an honest seller (or say goodbye to an unscrupulous one).

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How to find out how many accidents a car has had

Checking for an accident using the VIN code of a vehicle

How to find out if a car has been in an accident, how many times and how serious the damage was? These questions are of interest to every potential buyer. The easiest and most effective way to find out whether the car you like was involved in an accident is to go to a specialized Internet service or to the website of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate and check the car by VIN number. A VIN code request will allow you to obtain not only this information, but all important information about the vehicle and its owner.

For example, if an accident took place since 2015 on the territory of Russia, a buyer who contacts the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate website can receive both photographic materials from the scene of the incident and a diagram of the most significant mechanical damage, from which he can evaluate:

· degree of general damage,

Are the body parts badly damaged?

· presence of damage to the power plant,

· damage caused to the vehicle's chassis.

You will receive similar information about a car accident in the full report of the Autoreport Internet service. In addition, in addition to the vehicle’s participation in accidents, you will know the data of its technical inspections and compulsory motor liability insurance, mileage and traffic police restrictions, and much more useful information from the history of the car and its owners - including information that traffic police reports do not provide (for example, whether car is pledged).

If the equipment was repaired at a serious legal car service center, the buyer will know from the VIN what parts were replaced and how much the repair cost. But we will tell you below how to find out how many accidents a car has had if the owner did not contact the car service or he is just a fraudster.

Visual check of the car for participation in an accident

We will leave the question of how to find out whether a car has been in an accident by directly asking the seller, and not make a mistake, to psychologists. We ourselves will assume that during a personal inspection of the vehicle, it is possible to identify traces of an accident that were not reported by the traffic police or the insurance company and were not eliminated in a specialized car service center. We use simple proven techniques:

· To purchase a car, you need to allocate enough time and perform the inspection extremely carefully and scrupulously. If the owner is in a hurry, this may be one of the signs that the car was involved in an accident. Is the seller distracting you, avoiding direct questions? This means that there really is something wrong with the car. If you really like her, arrange a “search with passion”, not paying attention to the owner’s lamentations.

· If you look at the car directly, the smooth curves of the surface of a broken and poorly restored body will be almost invisible. Therefore, when inspecting, you should sit behind the rear fender, and then behind the front fender and look parallel to the body. Numerous dents will indicate that the car has had more than one accident and (or) that the body was often leveled, and not by the best service. In the same way, looking along the surface, we inspect the trunk lid and hood.

· How to find out if a car has been in an accident based on the condition of the spare wheel compartment? This part of the body is the most vulnerable spot, especially for hatchbacks. If there are traces of rust in the compartment, it means that the car was hit in the trunk and was poorly restored, as water gets into it.

· Another simple way to find out whether a car has been in an accident is to invite the seller to drive to the “pit” and inspect the side members. Even perfectly repaired damage in this part of the car is extremely difficult to hide - small defects remain.

· How to find out about a car accident by inspecting the edges of doors and wheel arches? You just need to run your hand over these elements. If the car was damaged in these places, traces of straightening will certainly remain. Low-grade paint coatings used for painting that differ in color from the general background can also indicate accidents.

These are the simplest and most effective ways that will help you find out whether the car was in an accident or whether you can trust the car owner. Remember: every detected defect is an excellent reason to significantly reduce the price.

How to check a car by VIN before buying

Buying a car on the secondary market involves some risk: the car may be in collateral or be restored after an accident. In this article, I will tell you how not to buy a pig in a poke and check the vehicle for legal cleanliness and accidents before drawing up a sales contract. Moreover, this can be done both free and quickly, but for a small fee.

Collecting information on free services

We just need access to the Internet and government. car number (you can find it out from the seller by phone or look at the photos of the car). If you want to feel like a super agent and know everything in advance, then you need to get the full name and date of birth of the potential seller.

1. Checking the car for an accident according to the state. number

In fact, the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate has long taken care of motorists and has developed a convenient car checking service https://gibdd.rf/check/auto/. Here you can get free complete and reliable information about registration actions, traffic accidents, prohibitions and restrictions related to the car.

The only problem is that you need a VIN code to run the check. Therefore, if you choose a car remotely, for example through Avito, or the seller does not have documents with a VIN in his hands, the traffic police website will be useless. But there is one “trick” that will help us a lot - knowing the state number of the car, we can easily get the VIN code!

I once wrote about buying a diagnostic card online. So, to check its authenticity, I had to use the EAISTO database. The meaning of its work is that by using the state number you can find out about the current diagnostic card for the car, while the EAISTO check service issues the coveted VIN.

Just write the car number and press the “find” button. As a result, we get something like this (I painted over the number):

In addition to the code we are looking for, we can find out whether we will have to pay for a diagnostic card after purchasing the car or whether we can use the old one. Also, by the date of diagnosis, you can find out how long ago the car was insured (usually the card and insurance are done at the same time), and therefore indirectly understand the owner’s plans for its sale.

So, let's move on to the next stage.

2. Find out the history of the car by VIN code

We go to the above-mentioned traffic police website https://gibdd.rf/check/auto/:

We write the VIN at the top and click on all the links “request verification”, not forgetting to enter the numbers from the captcha pictures.

The State Traffic Inspectorate will tell us a lot of interesting things. For example, registration history:

What can you learn from this example? Firstly, the car has been traveling around Russia since 2003. Secondly, she changed many owners. Frequent “re-registration” at short intervals may indicate that there is a “jamb” in the car, which, when identified, each subsequent owner tries to get rid of the car as quickly as possible. This, at a minimum, should alert you, or better yet, serve as a reason to leave this option “on the shelf.”

Go ahead. Here is the most interesting thing, namely, the car is “not broken, not painted” or has a history of accidents (the database contains data from the beginning of 2015):

This information should be compared with the dates of re-registrations. If the car was sold after an accident, then most likely the damage was serious. Knowledge of the places of damage, coupled with a careful inspection of the body, will force the silent seller to tell where and how he “scratched” the bumper. It should be understood that the car could have received very minor damage, but knowing about them, you can reduce the price.

Now the most interesting part is checking for wanted status and the presence of restrictions (arrests):

In our example, the car is not wanted, but restrictions are imposed on it - a ban on registration actions. Until this entry disappears, you don’t even have to talk about buying this car with the seller. The seller has a debt recognized by the court and is being executed by the bailiffs. This could be mortgage debt, or maybe car loan debt.

Remember at the beginning of the article I talked about super agents? I hope you already know the name of the seller...

3. We break the seller into debt

Everything is simple here, go to the website of the Federal Bailiff Service http://fssprus.ru and enter the seller’s data into the form:

Click the “Find” button and enjoy your powerful results:

In the example, issuance by full name without date of birth. The more data, the more accurate the result. What is worth paying attention to here? First, look for the presence of writs of execution against the seller - if there are many of them, then restrictions may be imposed on the car. It will be difficult to register such a car with the traffic police. Secondly, pay attention to the number of traffic police fines.

4. Checking the car for fines

If you have the number of the registration certificate and the state license plate of the car, you can find out all the ins and outs about the fines of its owner using the resource https://govtdd.rf/check/fines/.

Perhaps our seller is a fan of “driving”, and this leads to an assumption about how the car was operated. In addition, if there are a large number of unpaid fines (depending on the traffic police department and the subject of the Russian Federation), a problem may arise when deregistering the car.

5. We look to see if the car is pledged

In order to check whether a car is pledged, you need to open the website of the register of pledges of the Federal Notary Chamber: https://www.reestr-zalogov.ru/search/index

On this site we will be interested in the “Find in the registry” item. Next, select the search tab “By information about the subject of collateral”, enter the vehicle VIN in the input field and click the “Find” button. If the search returns an empty result, then everything is fine and the car is not pledged.

Comprehensive verification through a paid service

You can also obtain detailed information about the history of ownership and operation of a particular vehicle through the paid service “Autocode”.

This official service can provide a complete and accurate report on any car operating in the Russian Federation, by VIN, chassis number or state registration plate. In addition to information from the traffic police databases, you can find out there:

• Number of owners
• Mileage
• Checking databases for theft and accidents
• Use as a taxi
• Customs history

Currently, the cost of preparing a report in this service is 349 rubles.

We told you about all the ways to break into a car. We hope that you will come across only legally clean cars and honest sellers.

Checking a car for an accident

Checking a car for accidents is something that should not be neglected when purchasing a used vehicle. Thanks to the online service "AutoHistory" you can find out whether the car was involved in traffic accidents, what damage it received, and also see photos from the scene of the accident (not always available). Thanks to photographs, information such as the degree of damage received, damage to the engine, chassis or body becomes available.

Why is this information needed?

If the car was involved in traffic accidents, then this is a direct indicator of a decrease in selling value. Moreover, despite the restoration work carried out, the seller must indicate that the car was damaged. This information will certainly put off many buyers, but will attract resellers demanding lower prices.

You need to check the car for accidents before buying, so as not to discover an unpleasant surprise under the hood later. If the traffic accident was minor, then there is no need to worry, especially if repairs and restoration work are carried out in a timely manner.

How to find out if a car has been in an accident?

You can check a vehicle for an accident using the VIN code through the State Traffic Inspectorate. And here there are two options:

• Contact the department directly and request information about whether or not the vehicle has been involved in accidents. Information is provided free of charge, but for quite a long time due to waiting in queues and wasting time on requests.
• In an accident according to the state. number, VIN number or chassis, you can check any car on the State Traffic Inspectorate website. But this method also has its drawbacks. First of all, the imperfection of the system, which often experiences failures. Plus, the information is provided for a relatively short period of time – since 2015.

How to check?

Checking your car for an accident through AutoHistory is quick and easy. All that is needed for this is the state. number or VIN of the car that needs to be punched.

How to check a car: you need to insert the number into the form, and then click “Check”. A few minutes after payment, you will receive a full report on the desired car by email.

From the report you can find out the date and exact time when the accident with the vehicle being checked was recorded, its type and the region in which the incident occurred.

It also happens when the traffic police database does not contain information about whether any of the vehicles under investigation took part in an accident. However, this does not mean that the car is not damaged. Don't let your guard down - before purchasing, you should spend a little time thoroughly checking the car for damage.

How it works?

Checking a car for an accident by VIN and license plate number is possible thanks to the interaction of the Autocode online service with databases from the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, ROSSTAT, VAS RF, FSSP, RASA and NBKI, which allow you to find out all the information about the car of interest:

• car history;
• legal purity;
• general information and detailed configuration of the model;
• technical inspection information;
• exact mileage;
• average market price and other information.

The information that can be obtained through the service is more than enough to make the final decision - buy a new one or look for another car.

Why is this beneficial?

Checking a car for an accident through our service is quite simple. You get rid of the need to personally contact government agencies. It is beneficial to have your car checked for accidents for several reasons:

• a few minutes to enter data;
• 1-15 minutes – waiting for verification;
• a few minutes to study the report.

The time spent at this stage will save a lot of effort and nerves in the future. If an inattentive buyer purchased a damaged car without knowing it, the blame lies not only with the seller, but also with the new owner, who did not bother to check the history of the car. Be more careful and know how to check a car before purchasing through the AutoHistory online service!

How to identify a damaged car: 5 signs that should alert you

Purchasing a car that has been in an accident is not in the plans of the vast majority of buyers, but, alas, it is very easy to run into a vehicle with an accident history. Simple methods will allow you to understand whether the car was involved in traffic collisions.

A car's accident history is a factor that can scare off some potential owners more than technical problems. Meanwhile, a broken car is not always a death sentence. It all depends on how severe the accident was and how thorough the repairs were. You are often able to determine the fact of a collision yourself.

“I can show the car in the evening, I don’t have time on the weekend,” after these words of the seller we advise you to politely say goodbye to him. Inspecting a clean (once again, clean!) car is permissible only in daylight or in a well-lit room. Otherwise, you will not see not only traces of body repairs, but also banal chips and scratches - everything will be veiled by dust and darkness. Even if you really like the car, the main thing at this moment is not to give in to a momentary impulse and not make a “blind” purchase, because later you will be excruciatingly painful for your haste. This rule should in theory be known to all sensible people, but we still remind you of it. Just in case.

Alarming shine of the body

Who among us doesn’t want to get behind the wheel of a sparkling car? But when examining a polished copy, you should be wary, especially if the car is not too young, and its mileage is not very low. According to experts, this is one of the main signs that the car was in an accident and then repainted. Of course, this can be revealed using a special device that measures the thickness of the paintwork, but, alas, not everyone has it.