Nowadays with safety as a major concern and headlines about hidden auto repairs and such it is more important than ever to make sure your car is safe and was not previously wrecked.  The majority of second hand cars on the road today have not been involved in a major accident. Yet, according to research and reports from AAA and the Institute for Highway and Traffic Safety, over one million second hand cars sold every year have been involved in a major accident – many of these without any knowledge of this by the current owners.

This problem of hidden and unknown previous damage should be taken seriously.  In most cases the car will have been repaired to the point where the previous damage will be undetectable to the human eye.  Only a trained body repair man or similar automotive professional would be able to tell the car was in a wreck, flood or similar.  It is vitally important to know whether a vehicle has been involved in a serious wreck or flood as this may have a great effect on its safety.  A previously wrecked vehicle may not be as strong and bend or fall apart at weld seems and where the metal was pulled, stretched and pushed back into shape (this isn’t as important with superficial damage like outer sheet metal as it is with the frame or unibody).

A flood may seem harmless.  What harm could a little water do, right?  Just air it out for a while and shampoo and detail the interior.  Replace any stained carpet or seats and it will be good as new, right?  Wrong!  The damage from a flood is far more extensive than the wet, mildew or damp smells and stains.  The water will inevitably get into electronic components and various metal parts.  This will cause corrosion in parts that are not treated for water damage.  These parts will inevitably fail and most likely when you least expect them too.  This is why you will hear stories of people driving flood damaged cars where out of no where the lights stopped working or the power seats or windows either stop working or start and won’t stop.  If you find a car was involved in a flood stay away – run away from it because it will fail and who knows how or when. 

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So, how do you find out if a car has previously been in a wreck or flood?  You should always start by pulling a vehicle records or history check.  This can be done through either CarFax or Autocheck.  These are multi-page online reports that will show the entire history of the car or truck.  All uses (rental, fleet, personal, etc…), registrations, and negative entries (accident, flood, etc…) will be listed here.  Most vehicle history reporting agencies will guarantee their results.  So if something goes uncovered and you should happen to purchase the vehicle you will have some guarantee by using their service (be sure to check with and read the terms and conditions of the company’s guarantees as they may differ from one to another).

This is why it is best to have a trained automotive professional check out your vehicle even after having done a online vehicle record check.  They will not only inspect the vehicles running condition, but also look for signs of tampering and repairs from wrecks and floods.  They will spot frame pull marks and hidden weld spots.  They will also see replaced parts and check the electrical system for hidden problems.  They will then give you a full report on whether the car is a good buy or should be avoided altogether.  For around $60 to $100 this service is invaluable and most car repair shops will do this for you on virtually any make, year and model of vehicle.  Do not ever take the car owner’s word for it.

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You can also do a few preliminary checks by yourself.  Check or see it for yourself if there are signs of repaired or changed parts from body repair shops. An overspray all over the parts of its body like on rubber gaskets, side edges of the windows and molding of the doors along with tape marks are signs of repainting which was most likely required as a repair from a wreck. And other spot painting mistakes at spare tires, the rocker panels and the luggage compartment are usually the common areas to check them. Look for layers of uneven paint, slight color variations in the paint, sand marks, etc… as they are all indicative of repainted cars.  There is nothing to worry about as long as there are no structural damages that will affect the performance of the vehicle – unless of course the car has been in a flood or there are mechanical issues.

While we are talking about car and driving safety - One of the most important and most overlooked components of driving safety is the headlights.  Just because they are on does not mean they are working properly.  They may be aimed wrong and need calibration.  Being off by a few degrees may not seem like much, but it could easily mean the difference between seeing a road hazard and having enough time to stop or not seeing the hazard in time and being in an avoidable accident.  Did you know that over 90% of vehicles on the road today have worn, cloudy headlights that greatly reduce the amount of light omitted by the vehicle and make the vehicle unsafe (data from AAA)?  Worn, cloudy headlights also cause glare which is a major factor in night time driving accidents.  Did you also know cloudy, worn headlights are ugly and greatly detract from your cars value and looks?

Now you can save big money by restoring rather than replacing worn, dirty, scratched, hazy, cloudy, ugly, dim and ineffective headlight lenses to new again with the New Lite headlight restoration, cleaner and repair kit from MDWholesale.com.  Customers find they save on average $300 or more on their headlights with this kit and have new, safer headlights as a result!  This is by far, the number one selling and most effective product of its kind.  New Lite has been featured in numerous news articles worldwide and has received thousands of rave reviews and awards from numerous major sources and news outlets including About.com.  For more information on New Lite headlight restoration kits and how they can restore your cloudy headlights and greatly improve your night time driving safety please be sure to visit www.mdwholesale.com.