Buyers Beware: Repainted Cars Suffer Diminished Value on Resale or Trade-In

Peter, a 36 year old man from Coram, New York,only used by car dealers and others in the
discovered that a used Honda Accord he purchasedautomotive industry whose business depends on
was involved in a front end collision which was notknowing the absolute truth about the condition of a
disclosed on a Carfax® Vehicle History Report. Hevehicle when purchasing at auction or as trade-ins.
learned of the front end repair when he offered theAuto dealers understand that cars are repainted all
car to a dealer as a trade-in and was told that theirthe time and in the wholesale market, a car with
offer to purchase was about $3,000 less than itrepainted panels is worth a lot less. They depend on
would have been because the front end of the carPaint Gauges to make proper business decisions and
was repainted. In a meeting with Peter, he stated "Ito pay market prices for cars. Dealers will pay a lot
didn't understand what the difference was, the carless for a repainted car, but may put it up for sale on
had a clean Carfax and I never had an accident withtheir lot for the same price as a perfect car. It only
it. The dealer tested the paint on the car and told mefollows that consumers should be able to test and
the car was repainted in the front. Their offer to meknow the true condition of the car's paint to help
was a lot less than I expected."negotiate a fair price" said Louis White, vice president
Peter's experience is unfortunately common.of sales for
Accidents, collisions, damage and other causes for carserves consumers all over the United States and
repainting often times are not reported to police,their Paint Gauges, whether purchased or rented, are
insurance companies and other information sourcesdelivered on an overnight basis free of charge to the
supplying Vehicle History Reports. now offers Paintconsumer. Because almost all car shopping is first
Thickness Gauges for sale and rent to consumers fordone online with a follow up visit to the dealership,
use when shopping for used cars to examine a car'sconsumers could rent a Paint Gauge at an affordable
paint and determine whether the car is repainted orprice, get it in the mail the next day and immediately
was involved in a collision not disclosed in Vehicleuse it to evaluate the cars they shop for in today's
History Reports. "Until now, our product has beenfast paced market.