One of the biggest doubts that arise when buy a used car is to know the real condition of the vehicle, even if it looks impeccable: unseen repairs or the general condition can be a surprise in the future.
Many times we are left with the first impression, but underneath a vehicle that looks good standing, repairs could have been made that have compromised the structure. Over time, that can translate into unforeseen expenses or, worse yet, a security breach.
The one who has the key to recognizing hidden repairs in a model is Omar Marañónan experienced expert from Toyota’s Kansai dealership, who shared with Clarion Some recommendations to take into account when purchasing a vehicle that is not 0 km.
The talk took place at the presentation of the Japanese brand’s Certified Used program, an initiative that allows you to buy a model that already has a mileage but with certain guarantees of good condition and operation.
Toyota Certified Pre-Owned are vehicles that have some special features. To enter that group, they cannot have traveled more than 200,000 kilometers and must be a maximum of 8 years old. Besides, They come out with one more year of official warrantywhich is added to the original if it is still within that period.
Traces in the paint and welding points
Marañón shared some of his knowledge to be able to recognize a repair: “There are many things that can be recognized with the naked eye by the texture of the paint“, he explained. And he further specified the concept: “The paint has a very particular grain when it is original from the factory, but with several polishes it is very difficult to tell if it was repainted. But there are cuts that give away.”
“I was lucky to have worked in body and paint, as well as a salesman for 40 years and to see many cars. It is not an experience that is achieved overnight, but if you do it often you will be able to differentiate these things,” Marañón commented.
When a painting job is done, the specialist explained, “a cut of paint is made so as not to blur the paint or cut it in a certain place so that the finish is not seen. If it is a long cloth, a blur is made and then it is polishes, it remains as original”.
But there is a way to recognize and you have to look where you normally don’t look. “In the case of the doors, they are masked inside so as not to paint the inside of the car and only the fender is painted. In that cut leaves a small differential roughness to the touch which indicates that that cloth was painted”.
A repair of this type may indicate that the vehicle was the victim of a side impact or, if it is the case of the rear fender, it could also have had a tail hit. If the blow was from the side, the structural part of the car could have been affected, such as a baseboard or upright.
When the structure of the car is damaged, it is seen in “points that have a very particular weld. For example, in a frontal impact, the welds are deformed. If that is loose, everything must be checked, the entire piece is changed and the does accordingly with the points indicated by the factory that it must have” explained Marañón.
-What do you have to look at to know if a car had a repair?
-If it was crashed, if it was damaged, if it had any repairs, you have to see the sealing of the windshields, how the doors close, the “lights” on the doors and those on the hood (N of the R: the space between one piece and the other). You have to see if the nose is square, if the bumper seals correctly. Many people focus on the bumpers: 90% of the cars in the Federal Capital were damaged and the fact that it was repainted did not mean major damage. So that’s why I talked before about the fenders and not the bumpers.
-What is the most common camouflage used to hide an impact?
-It’s not so much what you look for, but how you fix it. And the arrangement of an unofficial workshop is different from what Toyota can do. First because they do not put original parts or do not weld them properly. Many times they work with the pseudo-point system, where they drill holes in the piece and weld it again, but not properly. Toyota asks that the welding be spot and with a certain intensity in different places.
-Can we know if the odometer mileage has been altered?
-Yeah. First of all, the car must be put through a scanner. This tells us the repairs that may have been made and the history of the vehicle. But it also tells us how the mileage it shows was periodically done. That gives us a parameter of how much use it had per year and if it corresponds to the mileage. That gives us the guarantee that the car has the mileage that they are giving us.
