Should I buy a car that has been in accident?

If I shouldn't, then why not? Just curious.....

What kind of accident? How severe? Clean title?

It depends- have you seen the carfax? Do you know the total that was paid out by insurance? If it was just a bumper that needed to be replaced with no frame damage and the airbags didn't deploy I would buy it.

If it were bad enough for the airbags to deploy, I flat out wouldn't trust that they were repacked correctly. If there's frame damage then you just never know how bad it is or how well it was fixed.

I have looked at the Carfax for several vans and some of them have been in accident. I am just wondering what the criteria are that I should look for when it comes to a car that has been in an accident. Should I just make sure the airbags didn't deploy?

I'm not sure if there's any set criteria to go off of, I just know that I personally wouldn't buy a car that had previous airbag deployment. Maybe it was the dealer that repacked it, maybe it was some backyard mechanic trying to save a few bucks cutting corners. I would look at each of them on a case by case basis and decide what was important to me.

I was in a fender bender in my old car- it just needed a new bumper, hood and front quarter panel. The damages were over $1,000 but it was strictly cosmetic- the accident happened at about 5-10 mph.

I have bought repaired vehicles but I always take them to my brother in law first. He does auto body repair and it is amazing what he can tell by looking at a fixed car. I personally have never bought one that required a big repair job. I would say take it to a body shop just like you would a mechanic.

I'm glad I've seen this.

I'm trying to sell my van - 2002 Montana. Yes, I know, not the best safety wise.

It was in an accident when brand new, airbags did NOT go off. Somebody rear ended it - very minor. It's all available on the Carfax. I've had it on cars.com for 4 days with not ONE call. It's been viewed 300 times. I've had 2 scam emails.......LOL.

I'm wondering if the accident is putting people off.

I want it sold because I've bought a 2009 Sienna that's sitting in my driveway......LOL.

I have been in a few crashes. Not once were the seat belts replaced, or the air bag. I would want them to be if the car I was buying has been crashed.

I bought a car that was in a crash, a fender bender with no air bag deployment, all on the carfax so we didn't hesitate, more serious I would

wavegal said:

I bought a car that was in a crash, a fender bender with no air bag deployment, all on the carfax so we didn't hesitate, more serious I would

Click to expand...

This is exactly mine. It was hit when it was only 2 months old. It's now nearly 10 years old.

livsmum said:

I'm glad I've seen this.

I'm trying to sell my van - 2002 Montana. Yes, I know, not the best safety wise.

It was in an accident when brand new, airbags did NOT go off. Somebody rear ended it - very minor. It's all available on the Carfax. I've had it on cars.com for 4 days with not ONE call. It's been viewed 300 times. I've had 2 scam emails.......LOL.

I'm wondering if the accident is putting people off.

I want it sold because I've bought a 2009 Sienna that's sitting in my driveway......LOL.

Click to expand...

Selling a car can be hard, minor accident or not! I spent 3 months trying to sell my beetle a few summers ago and here I sit, still driving it! It also had a minor accident (head on, air bags did not deploy) but since the VIN and info weren't in the listing any potential buyers couldn't have been turned off by the accident! We only got two interested parties in 3 months, one of whom I drove to but she apparently hadn't read the ad because she couldn't drive a stick shift!

OP, I would buy a car that had been in a minor fender bender without a problem, but nothing that needed extensive repairs done. Extensive repairs may be covering up a bent frame (made that mistake once and that car was a problem until I finally could junk it!).

You can save some big bucks by buying a car that has been in a minor crash. I sold my 2008 Odyssey almost a year ago, for $6000 under market value because I was rear-ended ($4000 damage)...

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/77131_460673695886_613560886_6170429_4065434_n.jpg

No pressure on the belts, and obviously no airbag deployment. Would that be worth a huge savings to you? Obviously, it was frustrating for ME having to foot that $6000 loss on a 2.5 year old vehicle! The buyer was pleased, but it took me almost 2 months to find someone who wasn't scared off by the Carfax report and crash history report on my title ($2000+ we get a report on title here.)

So yeah.. I'd buy a vehicle that had been in a collision...even with airbag deployment, depending on the situation. Frame damage, however? No.

-Nicole.

Oh someone skidded through an intersection and barely hit the van as well:
http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/31273_398368650886_613560886_4773501_3437247_n.jpg
..the buyer and anyone else who contacted me didn't care about this little tap at all. Guess how much in repairs it was?

-Nicole.

My current car was purchased new by me. Since then, I've had two "crashes" with insurance involvement for the repairs. The first was a hit and run but the lady fessed up a day later. She backed into my front end in the parking lot. Replaced the headlight, bumper cover, and unbent the hood and quarterpanel, IIRC. The second was much more severe - I was rear ended at 30 mph by a minivan with total brake failure. That did bend my frame, and basically everything behind my back seats was repaired or replaced. They even had to remove the back seats to do some of the work.

Neither had airbag deployment. The front-end hit wasn't hard enough nor at the correct angle (it was more from the side than from the front), and the rear-end obviously didn't deploy the air bags. I assume both incidents will show up on the Carfax because insurance was involved with the repairs.

That said, the first incident doesn't concern me in the slightest as far as safety goes. The second was definitely a more severe impact and they did some major repairs, but I know that they took their time and did it right. I have no hesitation driving myself and my kids around in that car every day.

On the other hand, as a buyer it would make me wary. Not turn me off from the vehicle altogether, but I know that unless they are very careful, vehicles will often begin rusting at an accelerated rate at the point of repair. I would have the vehicle inspected to make sure the repairs were done correctly and the vehicle was not showing an unusual rust pattern.