Look for overspray under the car, behind panels. Look for odd welds. Look for bent parts and hammer marks.

 

About odd welds, the engine compartment has 2 pieces of metal welded together near the front strut bar on the driver's side. It didn't seem normal, that's for sure.

 

pics?

 

Is that normal or custom?

 

That's factory without a doubt

Edit:

Notice on my (old) car the welds in the same spot

 

I wouldn't put to much stock into the carfax, if people don't report it, its not in there, use it more as a starting point, but the real story comes out when you take that beast to 100+ then to some curvy roads.

 

How old are you...?

If you are spending a few thousand on a car, $40 is nothing...

 

I have too many bills for mods right now. I disagree that $40 is nothing.

 

We are not talking about mods. We are talking $40 to tell if there are any serious, known issues with your car.

If you have so many bills, sell your car and take care of them first.

 

There is a bolt attaching the bumper to the quarter panel by the tail light end as well as alignment rails that attach to the sides of the bumper. It looks like the bolt is missing and the rails are bent, missing or improperly installed. The bumper must have been removed and re-installed.

 

Updates???

 

Not in a million years.....even though neither I nor the car will last that long.

 

The biggest thing I checked for were the correct VIN stickers in all the correct locations. Its hit or miss if the owner had the car resprayed for chips on whether it will be present on the front bumper.

 

Forget about checking if the car got rear ended, because it just WAS rear ended, with me in it. 1 truck crashed into 2 cars which slid into me, just sitting in traffic. I'm taking it to get inspected today, so they can check for real damage now. The bumper is just scratched and I'm fine, but you should have seen the car that hit me, and his bumper...or what was left of it. Bottom line, minor damage for me but i'm worried about the frame and alignment, the stuff you can't see.

 

I just noticed a bend behind the passenger door. This is worse than I thought. I'd post pictures, but working from home now.

 

a bend? like the gap is now misaligned?

 

The damage is so subtle looking, but I got pushed while I had my brakes on. I was just sitting there waiting for the traffic to move. BAM.

 

Doesn't look hard enough to cause frame damage (a guess) but the rear bumper definitely pushed the rear quarter panel in alittle to cause the bump...look under the car for any weird bends/cracks...but doesn't look like a major fix. Some bumper clips and paint and a dent pull/push

 

Insurance inspection estimated 1700 for the job. Do you think they're wrong? And why do I care more about the car than myself?? I was in an accident and I don't even care Btw the brakes were sounding pretty bad but I don't know if it's related. And for the first time I heard a belt noise. I'M FREAKING OUT.

 

Insurance will always estimate way high. You're better off taking to a good body shop and getting an estimate there. Good body shops here in SoCal will do a WHOLE car paint and body work for not much more than that, so that estimate is really high.

Sounds like you need to invest some time and money getting your car all checked out