Now that you are satisfied with the information you have received from the phone call and have a basic knowledge of how much that car is worth, you are ready to go make a physical inspection at the car. Car should be checked during the daylight. Ask the owner to have available any manuals, service, and maintenance records, as well as title.

Before you begin the inspection of the car, check first the title and if all the information on the Certificate of Title agrees with the vehicle labels and odometer. If there is any discrepancies in the vehicle VIN, mileage or comments like salvage or Not the Actual mileage (TMU) previously undisclosed buy the owner, you should considering leaving since it may not be what you wanted to begin with.
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When checking the cars first look for scratches, dents, nicks and mini-dents with or without chipped paint, broken or cracked lights, cracks in the windshield. Also, make sure to check is anything needs to be replaced in order to pass inspection, e.g. exhaust system, tires, breaks, etc.

When looking at the paint-job you should be able to tell:

• if the car has ever been repainted ?
• if there was a damage ?
• if the car has ever been in an accident ?
• if any quarter panels, fenders, doors, etc., have been replaced ?
  

By finding out if the car has ever been repaired or repainted you would have more facts to take into consideration when you re-value the car and start to negotiate the price.
The paint job in the factory is done before the other parts are added, and there is no roughness in the door jambs over the bolts, etc. The paint job on the cars coming from the factory have smooth and even 'orange pill' looking finish and the easiest way to spot the repaint is to look the side of the car from an angle standing in front or back of the vehicle you inspecting. You should look if there are any inconsistencies in the 'orange pill' finish of the paint. Concentrate on the surface appearance only. Smoother looking panels are often indication that the panel has been repainted since the most body shops are not able to reproduce the factory orange 'pill'. In order to further find out if the car has been repainted or not you should look for:

Tape lines and Tape Marks
Tape line is little ridge at the edge of meeting of the new and original paint, caused by the tape that holds the mask off paper in place during the repaint job. Tape lines can be found in the door jambs, on the door itself, on the main car body, in the trunk where the trunk lid meets the trunk body and under the hood where it meets the car body. You can feel the tape line by running you fingers along the door jambs of the door and the car body, or you can look closely to detect the difference in paint from one layer to the other. If the tape line is sanded with fine sand paper and water you may not be able to feel it but you will be able to see it.

Overspray:
If the masked off areas are not taped down really well, the paint can get past them and end up on parts of the car where it does not belong. Overspray is recognizable as a lot of dots of color and should be looked for on the moldings or accent pieces of the car, in the areas such as rubber piece around the windshield or windows or on metal trim around the windows or doors. It could be also noticed in a painted area as an area of dots of color that are not one continuous flow or liquid looking paint.

Uneven Color:
Area that looks a little rougher or somewhat uneven compared to the rest of the painted surface. You can notice it when watching the overall surface at the paint.
- Brush marks. Brush marks occur when a dent, rust or deeply scratched area is repaired. Part of the preparation for repainting includes some sanding and wiping motion to the surface. If the sanding marks are not smoothed out enough, when the paint is applied, it will show the brush marks. This marks also indicates the quality of the repair, meaning that if you see brush marks, the repair job was not very good.

Waviness:
Repainted area can get "wavy line" effect, which is caused by sweeping up and down motion of the paint sprayer. This effect should be noticeable from a distance of a few feet away from the front or rear corner of the car.

Unmatched color. There is always difficulty with matching paint perfectly. You should look at each panel of the car and than focus on the areas where panels meet and assess whether the panels are the same color or not.

Rough Finish:
The paint sometimes can have dust or lint in it as it is drying, since the conditions in auto body or paint shop are not as perfect as in car manufacturer facility. This will cause slightly rough surface - bunch of dots or dot-sized bumps, when it is completely dry.

Dullness in Patches:
You should look for the areas that are either more dull or much more shiny than the rest of the painted surface.

Original vs. Replaced Parts:
You should determine whether the parts repainted are original (from the factory) or replaced. You can search the replaced parts by:

Checking the bolts that hold the body parts together (front fenders, doors and hood) Checking the factory weld that connects the part to the rest of the body (rear quarter panels, roof and chassis) Checking the factory part stickers Checking that all the body parts are aligned to each othe

1. During manufacturing, the body parts are assembled first and bolted or welded together. The assembled car is then painted including the bolts. When a car needs to be taken apart to fix or replace a part, such as a fender or door, the nuts and bolts will need to be unscrewed resulting in scratches and tool marks in the paint on the nuts. Check the bolts on the parts that are repainted for replaced parts. Sometimes body shops will remove a part in order to do a higher quality, professional paint job. This is why it is necessary to check for replaced parts by all the methods mentioned above.

2. Factory welds are sealed with a special elastic material prior to painting at the factory. To replace a welded part, the weld must be cut, the part replaced and then welded back together. The new weld will definitely be noticeable. Compare it to the weld of the same part on the other side to see the difference. The parts welded together are the rear quarter panels, the roof and chassis. To see the welds open the rear doors, hood and deck lid.

3. Car manufacturers mark s body parts with VIN # stickers to indicate that the part is original. Each section of the car manufactured has its own identification sticker with the car's VIN # on it. If a section, such as a fender or quarter panel, has been replaced you will not see the VIN# sticker on it or the sticker will read R DOT indicating that the part was replaced with original manufacturer's part.

Checking the part/VIN # stickers is one of the best and easiest ways to look for replaced parts. You should look for stickers on each door, hood, trunk, bumper, fender and quarter panel. Wherever you can see the VIN# stickers, check to verify that the VIN# matches. If you don't see a sticker, it doesn't necessarily mean that the part is not the original.

Note: Not all stickers are easy to find or see. Don't automatically assume that the part is not original if you don't see the sticker. If you can see the stickers, verify the numbers. If you can't, use the other methods to determine, without a doubt, whether or not the part has been replaced.

4. Alignment of replaced parts is very difficult to make perfect. Besides looking for parts that look crooked or stick out a little, also look for uneven spaces between the parts. Here is the good example:

Check for Frame Damage

It is very important to look for signs of possible frame damage and other signs of major damage to parts such as radiator supports and inner fenders.

1. Frame
Lift the hood and look down towards the bottom of the car slightly left and right from the radiator. You will see two thick, straight metal piece that are part of the frame going towards the front bumper from each side of the engine. The entire body of the car and the engine are mounted to the frame or uni-body structure that resembles the chasis found on the earlier models of the cars and trucks. Look at where the frame connects to the bumper with factory welds or bolts. If the frame welds and metal pieces are identical and straight on both sides and no parts of the frame have been cut and welded back together, then you can safely assume there has been no frame damage. To better understand and visualize the Frame, we used pictures of a vehicle front section being in the process of repair. Having a flashlight with you while inspecting the prospect Car, Truck or Mini-Van, will help you spot previous damage if located in darker spots.

2. Radiator Supports
The radiator support is the bar that runs along the front of the car and is attached to both fenders and supports the radiator. Look to see that it is straight, shows no signs of being bent, smashed in or repaired. Check the bolts and welds.

3. Inner Fenders
It is important to check the inside wall of the fender. They are the side walls of the engine compartment. If they are smashed in or bent, you should find out how serious the car was hit and be aware that there may also be subsequent engine or mechanical damage. Even if the outside of the fender has been repaired beautifully, the inside of the fender can tell you the whole story.

4. Rear
To check for frame damage in the back of the car you'll need to open the trunk. Lift up the floor cover, pull the side trim panels and the weather strips to see the bare floor where the two metal pieces of the frame are located. Check that they are straight for the entire length and show no signs of being cut and re-welded. Inspect the inner quarter panels and the edge where the weather strip goes to verify if there are any hammer marks or welding marks. Inspect the edges for paint over-spray buy running your tips of the fingers over the edge of the panel surface and compare one side to the other. Small imperfections or damage to the vehicle floor where the spare tire usually goes are not the sign of the frame damage but rather owner negligence in use, indicating vehicle may not been well cared for.