The first thing you need to understand is that CarFax pulls accident data from police reports. No police report = no accident in their world. If the owner scraped a light post in a parking lot and paid out of pocket for the repair then there was no "accident". In all reality you could have a head on collision with a light post and nearly total the car, but have no police report. The independent dealer told you what he knew. Your mechanic maybe should have caught it, but not all of them are good with body repair detection. To be safe the best way to avoid this is to drop by a body shop and have them walk around it and open the doors, hood, and trunk/hatch. It is virtually impossible to not leave a trail of a paint repair like a bit of overspray, tape line, etc. My sister recently bought a used car with "no accidents" and as soon as I saw I explained that both passenger side doors had been repainted. The color match was good, but the paint texture was different from the factory finish. A trained eye can pick up most of it in 2 seconds.

As for the repo status, I call BS on the "dealer says that also happens when a dealer in another state buys the vehicle". The repo is reported via the BMV because the bank reported it. As for multiple owners being only one, it's not uncommon for someone to lease a car then buy it at lease end, but very rare for a scenario where the 3rd owner is still the same person. Could happen in a divorce case where both names were on the title and had to be converted to one name.

BTW, it didn't happen to be raining the day it was at your mechanic was it? Rain really hides that stuff which is why many used car dealers won't go to auto auctions on rainy days.

 

The 3rd owner might be the used car dealer I bought it from? I wonder if they count dealers.

The first thing you need to understand is that CarFax pulls accident data from police reports....

That doesn't explain why it took 3 or 4 years for body work done by a major Toyota dealer to show up on Toyota's website.

It is virtually impossible to not leave a trail of a paint repair like a bit of overspray, tape line, etc. My sister recently bought a used car with "no accidents" and as soon as I saw I explained that both passenger side doors had been repainted. The color match was good, but the paint texture was different from the factory finish. A trained eye can pick up most of it in 2 seconds.

Since the repair work was done by a dealer, and a large one at that, maybe they did a very good job, or contracted it out to a very good body shop. Also, I bought it several years after the work was done - would the texture still be different?

I just looked at it again carefully. While I'm not an expert, there are no obvious overspray or tape lines now, though maybe they are covered by the molding. And there is no obvious texture difference now.

BTW, it didn't happen to be raining the day it was at your mechanic was it?

I don't think so, but am not sure.

You could still say it has a clean Carfax when you sell it which is true

I won't lie or omit knowledge of an accident to the next buyer. Maybe that means I'm a fool, but I consider it to be basic honesty.

Wolfephoto wrote
Calm down. I doubt it was an accident. It looks like they repaired a door. And Toyota did it.
Shoot I’ve had to do several body repairs from running over things on the interstate or more
recently from running over a raccoon. All I did is have the bumper fixed and painted. It’s not
the end of the world! A dealer body shop knows what they are doing.

Based on parts, they replaced the molding and the windows on both right side doors. And they did body work and refinish on the left side. (I wonder if that is a mistake in the invoice, or whether they really had to do repairs on both sides.)

On the plus side, I had a flat shortly after buying it, and had to replace all 4 tires (it's AWD, which means the tires are supposed to match, to prevent drivetrain damage, and no one local had the uncommon off-brand tire in stock; while I was at it I also bought a full size spare tire and wheel, that I could put into the rotation). The tire shop, one of the best known in the area, didn't see any mis-alignment.

 

You could still say it has a clean Carfax when you sell it which is true

 

Calm down. I doubt it was an accident. It looks like they repaired a door. And Toyota did it. Shoot I’ve had to do several body repairs from running over things on the interstate or more recently from running over a raccoon. All I did is have the bumper fixed and painted. It’s not the end of the world! A dealer body shop knows what they are doing.

 

I understand your reaction. Unfortunately there are very, very few body shops capable of doing a good enough paint repair that it won't show up down the road. If the OP is the kind to sell/trade in 3-5 years the chances are pretty good they won't have an issue with proper care such as garaging and waxing at least 2X a year. My '07 Ody had the entire drivers side repainted in 2013 bc it had been keyed and it made it 6 years before it started to have a clear coat delam issue along the bottom of the side molding. No such issue on the passenger side. I have observed the same over the last almost 40 years of owning cars and being in and around the business and I avoid "breaking" the factory paint whenever possible opting for paint correction, touch up, or just living with the issue depending on the severity and only opt for paint repair when there is no other option.

 

That is absolutely not true. A competent body shop paint job will last the life of the car. Not to mention the fact that Toyota will warranty the repair usually for life as any good body shop will. Add in the fact that a factory paint job ain’t that great to begin with. It’s sprayed by robots. This was repaired by the dealer not Macco.

 

Don't mistake my point. I agree that a competent body shop is capable of very high quality repair, but it is a crap shoot and honestly there are more shops that cut corners than don't. Additionally, unless you go to a one man shop not every tech at a quality shop does the same level of work and even good techs have their bad days. I've been immersed is pretty much every facet of the automotive world and have established a couple of people that I will use until they retire, die, or I die simply because it's that hard to find the really good ones.

 

Here’s an idea... call the dealer that did the repair and ask them what they did! This is not rocket surgery.

 

It's used, it's old and if you don't notice it, then it is not a big issue.

 

I think my Venza has been repainted




I gave the Venza to my wife when I got HEMI Fever and bought a 2014 Jeep SRT and then a 2018 Trackhawk with the 707 hp Hellcat supercharged engine
I added a SEMA skirt kit and a Classic Grille to the Venza instead of the factory fish lips

She loved it but had a hard time finding it in a parking lot so for $5000.00 we painted it lime green and purple on the condition she drive it into the ground.
At that point it will be worth $1000.00 and we will trade it in since you can always get rid of a car by doing that.

 

It looks like they replaced two windows, based on that invoice. That's not the work of an abrasive pad.

That lime green Venza is beautiful! But it may get warm in the sun.

I used to have a red Ford Ranger truck; it got so hot in the sun I had a sliding glass rear window installed. I put a cap on it, I made sure it had a moon roof, and a front sliding glass window. In theory a thief could have opened the car through the sliding windows, but there wasn't much space between the cap and the back of the truck. The windows were also great for airing out the vehicle - always a problem with wet paddling gear.

I asked Maaco what they would charge to paint the truck white. The guy was honest enough to tell me he couldn't give me a paint job nearly as good as a factory paint job. I asked at a top rated body shop, and they wanted many thousands of dollars - not worth it. Even they told me they wouldn't bake the paint the same way the factory does.

Even my silver Venza gets a bit warm in the sun. White is the only color that makes sense, from that perspective.

Not being able to choose the ideal color is part of what often goes with buying an uncommon car type used. (I did find a white Venza, but it had a lot of underbody rust. I wanted a cream puff.)

With a orange pool noodle on roof racks (see picture at Yakima Roof rack spacing; wind noise; possibility of home-made racks), and often with long sea kayak(s) on top, my Venza is reasonably easy to find in parking lots.

Every car is a compromise. I'll live with this one.

 

It looks like they replaced two windows, based on that invoice. That's not the work of an abrasive pad.

That lime green Venza is beautiful! But it may get warm in the sun.

I used to have a red Ford Ranger truck; it got so hot in the sun I had a sliding glass rear window installed. I put a cap on it, I made sure it had a moon roof, and a front sliding glass window. In theory a thief could have opened the car through the sliding windows, but there wasn't much space between the cap and the back of the truck. The windows were also great for airing out the vehicle - always a problem with wet paddling gear.

I asked Maaco what they would charge to paint the truck white. The guy was honest enough to tell me he couldn't give me a paint job nearly as good as a factory paint job. I asked at a top rated body shop, and they wanted many thousands of dollars - not worth it. Even they told me they wouldn't bake the paint the same way the factory does.

Even my silver Venza gets a bit warm in the sun. White is the only color that makes sense, from that perspective.

Not being able to choose the ideal color is part of what often goes with buying an uncommon car type used. (I did find a white Venza, but it had a lot of underbody rust. I wanted a cream puff.)

With a orange pool noodle on roof racks (see picture at Yakima Roof rack spacing; wind noise; possibility of home-made racks), and often with long sea kayak(s) on top, my Venza is reasonably easy to find in parking lots.

Every car is a compromise. I'll live with this one.

Yes a car is an appliance.
Lime not as warm as Black in the sun.
I just turn up the AC.
It's a V6 the LSE top model with the JBL NAV stereo.
I also put in lowered variable rate springs.
The stock springs bottomed out and the tires squieled when i surprised the salesman and cranked the wheel in an empty parking lot at 30 mph and spun the car during the test drive.
The lowered springs have the same ride but handle off ramps
and aggressive cornering a lot better.

 

A good shop is a good shop. Water-based paint does not have to be “baked” to harden it the way enamels and lacquers did 30-40 years ago. All an oven does is speed up the process. My body shop has been in business for decades and does perfect work. They have a booth but no oven.

In my experience a Toyota dealer that has its own body shop will do the work right and stand behind it.

 

Check to see if the CARFAX has a buy back provision - if so, you should consider it - if there is anything that comes to light that the CARFAX doesn't cover, they will buy the car back....

 

You have to read the CarFax terms and conditions for their buy back guarantee. It does NOT include undisclosed accidents. In fact, they don't even list an accident as one of the conditions to qualify for their buy back. As I stated above, a car can tag a light pole in a parking lot to the point of total loss damage then repaired in a non-reporting shop. No police report and not repaired in a reporting shop equals no accident report via CarFax. See below...

What is the CARFAX Buyback Guarantee?
The CARFAX Buyback Guarantee helps protect consumers from unknowingly buying a vehicle with a DMV-issued title brand, such as Salvage, Junk, Rebuilt, Fire, Flood, Hail, Lemon/Manufacturer Buyback, Not Actual Mileage, or Exceeds Mechanical Limits. If you find that any of these title problems were reported by a DMV and not included in this report, CARFAX will buy this vehicle back according to the terms and conditions of the Guarantee.

https://support.carfax.com/article/...~:text=The CARFAX Buyback Guarantee helps,Mileage, or Exceeds Mechanical Limits.

 

Just an idea. Maybe it was vandalism. Some one smash the windows and keyed the doors. Then the owner fixed it themself. So technically not in accident.

 

Thanks for the buy back provision.

According to what I can find, the CARFAX buy back only applies to things reported to a DMV. The fact that the owner paid for the body work, rather than an insurance company, suggests that it was not reported to a DMV, though that isn't certain.

It's really a very limited use guarantee - I assume anything reported to a DMV would have been reported to CARFAX, so they never actually have to buy anything back.

 

Thanks for the buy back provision.

According to what I can find, the CARFAX buy back only applies to things reported to a DMV. The fact that the owner paid for the body work, rather than an insurance company, suggests that it was not reported to a DMV, though that isn't certain.

It's really a very limited use guarantee - I assume anything reported to a DMV would have been reported to CARFAX, so they never actually have to buy anything back.

CarFax certainly does everything in their power to not have to pay claims, but most of that should be the quality of their info.

 

I came here for almost the exact same thing.
Dealership never recommended a transmission flush and now it’s slipping. They said I should have checked the manual, as it needed to be done at 70,000 miles.
so I went on (again) to look at service records. There are two accidents on there that weren’t there when I checked the service records in November of 2018, 4 months after I bought the car.
also, it was a Toyota Certified vehicle.
wouldn’t they have had to disclose those accidents? Why did they show up later? Why did they not recommend appropriate maintenance when I had it in to be checked at regular intervals? Is it on me to check their work? Also, I did check the manual and it doesn’t recommend that at 70,000, nor is it a recommended service when attempting to schedule an appointment online.
Anyone have any insight? I’m super frustrated. They say I need 3k worth of work

 

I came here for almost the exact same thing.
Dealership never recommended a transmission flush and now it’s slipping. They said I should have checked the manual, as it needed to be done at 70,000 miles.
so I went on (again) to look at service records. There are two accidents on there that weren’t there when I checked the service records in November of 2018, 4 months after I bought the car.
also, it was a Toyota Certified vehicle.
wouldn’t they have had to disclose those accidents? Why did they show up later? Why did they not recommend appropriate maintenance when I had it in to be checked at regular intervals? Is it on me to check their work? Also, I did check the manual and it doesn’t recommend that at 70,000, nor is it a recommended service when attempting to schedule an appointment online.
Anyone have any insight? I’m super frustrated. They say I need 3k worth of work

Many people assume way too much about what qualifies a car to be "certified" and to be fair the way the manufacturers market it they want it that way. As for knowing what service your car is due for and when, yes, unfortunately it is on you to know. Having worked the service desk I can tell you there are many times the pace is just too fast to research every car that comes through and often there is a lack of complete records anyway. My boss frequently hounded me saying I spent too much time asking the customer questions and explaining things which then held up the shop and time is money. On top of that every customer is different in what level of advice and guidance they want, so after a few customers in a row who look at you as if you literally just reached for their wallet you skim over things for the next few customers tired of being viewed as a crook. I have several family members who have been through significant medical issues and it is no different there. You are your own best advocate. You can choose to lease a new car every 3 years and know that part of what you are paying for is not having the car long enough to get into the bigger maintenance intervals. I choose to drive older/high mile stuff that has to be well managed to avoid major repair expense and the reward for that effort is a much lower annual car expense, but it's a skill I have and it saves me a lot of money. Develop that skill or take the easy way and lease or trade for new every few years.

PS for anyone who does not have the skill to evaluate a used car getting an independent inspection for $50-$100 can save a bunch of headaches. Get it done at trusted independent shop. If that shop is not skilled at evaluating body work then pop into a good body shop to have that checked as well and they will usually do it for free. I can tell if a car has had paint work or been wrecked in 5 minutes or less.

 

Life is about taking chances and have knowledge on what you want (or need) to know. If you want to make sure your car is not a POS, have an trusted independent mechanic look at it. If you want to keep up on car maintenance, learn what needs to be done and add onto that. You don't need to follow the Factory Recommendation, you can do whatever you want to your car. If you want to do an oil change every time you park, go for it. If you want to remove and add air to your tires every time you stop at a gas station, go for it. If you plan on keeping your car for a long time, learn about it. If you don't care about your car other than it runs, drive it til it dies and then buy a new one. Plenty of people already do that. You need the knowledge to make your own decisions, you have to come to your own conclusions. This is no different from buying a house, your phone, a gun, a microwave, anything. You are just taking chances and you need knowledge to make sure you make the right choice.