I am still wondering if my truck has been wrecked or not. Its no big deal. Because it does look good though. I have carfaxed it. Came back nothing and the dealer said it is a local trade and always trads in every year older fellow. The reason I am speckulating if it wrecked or not is becuase on the right rear leafs it has some slight white overspray and the tailpipe is sticking out more than it came form the factory and I also noticed that the tailgate is supposed to have the assist but it doesnt feel like its there to me. I have tryed finding the last owners phone number but no luck and the dealer wont give it to me. Once agian Im just wondering is there any other source I can go through to see if it has been in the body shop/wrecked?

 

might be a long shot but take it to the local body shops and see if they either recognize it or see if they can tell if there was definently body work done to it. I did that with my truck i took it to my body shop before i purchaesed and had him look over it. I did this with my sister truck and my truck. Both checked out ok. he did not see any damage or anything unusual.

 

Take it to a CarMax for a free appraisal. Tell them you are interested in selling it. Also, some dealers will give you the previous owners contact info, at least the Ford dealer here does.

 

like supercrewser said take it to a body shop and ask them to look at it.

 

Hey have any friends in Collision repair give them your VIN, I deal with two all the time and I know for a fact they get all the info including VIN's for accurate parts ordering. Try calling around if it indeed is a local trade. Or just like what the other guys have said contact your dealer and see if you can get the previous owners info.

 

Did you look at the Carfax ownership history. It tells you the title history. Also, if the dealer won't give you the prior local owner's name and number, you know he is hiding something. You should have insisted on that information before you bought it and contacted the owner. If you have a friend in law enforcement, they can give you the information. Anyway, if you can't tell or a body shop can't tell, it doesn't matter.

 

The truck may have had work done, but not be wrecked in the conventional sense. It may have been scratched or been under a leaking Kia while in transit or even backed into at the Ford plant and then repaired. In some cases even the dealer may not have a clue.

 

I think dealers/manufacturers can do repairs up to a limited dollar amount w/o having to report or disclose the information on new vehicles. So any repairs may have been done before the truck was ever sold when new. Does Carfax show repairs that were not reported thru insurance? I dont know, that's why I ask.

I wouldn't necessarily think the dealer was trying to hide something just because they wont give you the previous owners name or number. I cant speak for everyone, but I dont want my name and number to be given out to people I dont know. 99% of the time it's probably no big deal but there is always the 1% of people that could become a nuisance. If you're happy w/ your truck then I'd try to stop thinking about what happened to the truck before you bought it. That's just comes w/ the purchase of a used vehicle, you will probably never really know the true history of it.

 

Carfax might get you SOME information on a vehicle, but do NOT trust it to be accurate or to report all of the history. I have seen salvage title vehicles with a "clean" carfax...

As far as defects with the truck.. I would be curious about the overspray, but these trucks are not perfect coming from the factory either. The exhaust.. You might look under to make sure it is still secure in the rubber mount. He could of changed catbacks, and put the stock catback back on when he traded it in.. I can point out a lot of flaws in any new vehicle.. I picked up my truck brand new, and it is not perfect either. I am sure the laws are different from state to state, but usually the dealers have to disclose if they spend over either $500-$1000 when they fix body damage.. Although, I am sure a lot do not do that.. Manufacturers will not fix a damaged vehicle then send it directly to their dealers (I think there might be a certain dollar amount they can fix it to..) It will go through an auto auction, even if it had minor damage... Or some other whole sale buyer fixes them, and then sales them to a dealer.. You usually never know what you got when you buy a used car. The previous owner could of also had it fixed. If you are concerned, I would take it to a GOOD bodyshop, and they should be able to find out about its history when they look it over.. I can ALWAYS find paint work, but I am extremely meticulous about stuff as well.

 

It wouldn't be factory overspray.

When the body is sprayed, the leaf springs are sitting in another building.

 

Sorry, I was not making myself clear.. I was meaning that I would be curious about what/where the overspray was from. Also, the exhaust and tailgate might have been like that since day one considering that they are not "perfect" leaving the assembly plant. Little things are bound to be wrong when mass producing vehicles..

 

I've seen overspray when they're unloaded off the truck. It can come from touch-up repairs for scratches made during assembly or shipping damage is sometimes repaired by the shipper prior to delivery to the dealer.

 

Fair enough.
Just didn't want people to get the impression that overspray was common.
And it would be common if anything was attached to the cab/bed when they were sprayed at the factory as part of the assembly process.

The sheetmetal is painted early in the process while the rest of the trucks parts are all over the place.

 

I would look under the truck at any nuts and bolts in the area to see if they have been reomved and reinstalled. If there was work that just need minor body work it will be hard to tell for someone how does not do that type of work. I know of several vehicles that had some pretty major work done that will never see a car fax report. If you know someone in the trade that loves cash anything can be done without being reported.

I think carfax mostly picks up police reports or insurance claims on the vehicle IMO.

 

I say take it to a good body shop... I had a minor ding fixed a few months ago and when they looked it over for stuff before they took it to fix the minor ding, they noticed some stuff I had never even noticed (I was the second owner).