Accident or Not

[Billabong02]

I just went to get my car from the detailers today (which looks like it just rolled off the lot) and when i was getting ready to leave he told me to come look at something. He took my back to the passenger rear door and showed me this ripple that was above the door. I had seen this before but thought nothing of it. He says that my car has been in an accident and the drivers door and front panel don't exactly match the rest of the car. Well the car came from an old man that was a friend of the families he bought it new at one of our dealerships right up the road and when we bought it he said nothing has ever happened to it. I know the man that use to own it used the roof rack all the time and maybe when he was unloading something he dropped it on the rounded part above the door. How do i go about finding out if it has or not?

 

[yob_yeknom]

Don't worry. Mine has the exact same ripple, looks like a weld seam. It is at the same place as you describe, on both sides of the vehicle. I know the previous owners of my Explorer (one reason I bought it) and it has never been in any wrecks, not even a small one. It must just be an occasional problem from the assembly line.

 

[Billabong02]

yeah it is on both sides! wonder why they would let something like that go. The guy that detailed my was named cliff and didn't have all his teeth so i didn't take to much stock in what he said.

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

It probably was repainted but don't worry about it. I really doubt it was in an accident. And since you told us that the old man used the roof rack a lot, he probably dropped something on it and created bad scratches on the paint so it needed to be repainted. So don't worry about it.

 

[X24]

Mine has those things too. It's just a weld seem.

 

[Billabong02]

Yeah i got a car fax report and the car has never had anything happen to it. I talked to the guy that owned it and he said that ford had messed the paint up on top when they were unloading it.

 

[X24]

Well, dont forget, not everything will be on the carfax report. If there was anything that wasnt claimed on the insurance and was paid for 'out of pocket' it wont show up. When I was installing my subs and lifted the carpet and rocker panel, there was glass everywhere, yet the carfax report was clean. My friend who owns a body shop took a look and said it was replaced with ford glass but he looked at the rest of the truck and was not really sure what to think. It looks brand new, but there are little things that give the hint of an accident.

 

[MONMIX]

Carfax is huey. As a test I ran carfax on car my body shop did $5,000.00 repairs on three months afterward no notification.
My 2000 Sport also has that those " roof ripples "
I also thought that was damage.
Another one on my Sport and every other I have seen is a very faint , shallow , softball sized dent on the right side near the bottom rear of the center window.
Factory seams always are ugely. Pressing ripples are down right annoying.