Buying my A3 from the main dealer tommorow, its an 04 plate with 45k on the clock. How can you accurately tell if it's had even a minor respray?? I have been stung before and a proffesional told me later. Am I 100% safe in buying it from the main dealer?(bodywork-wise)
Many thanks
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A car cannot be completely resprayed so look for places where the new paint meets the old. If some parts have been masked then you may see a definite line. Look under the bonnet and in the boot. Open the doors and look at both the doors and the car body. In a word ~ look. The surface finish of the respray won't match the original. Look for overspray on parts not normally painted.
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L\'escargot.
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For spraying look at the windscreen black rubber surround if there is any paint on it it's been sprayed, look at all the parts which are not painted badges, lights, windows, aeriel, wing mirrors, door handles etc if you see any paint on them or any peeling paint next to them it has likely been sprayed, also look in the depression on the door handle (where you pt your fingers) this area is usually slightly scratched (by fingernails) compare one door handle depression to another if the passenger door has scratches and the driver door doesn't, I'd be suspicious.
look at the paint coat as it goes around the door edge into the internal surface there should be no overspray on the internal side and no lines in the paint.
This is not respray but, look at the gap between between the doors between the boot lid or bonnet and the wings of the car. The gap should be perfect all around no parts where the gap is smaller or larger, no parts where the door or bonnet is sitting higher than the piece of bodywork next to it.
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This is not respray but, look at the gap between between the doors between the boot lid or bonnet and the wings of the car. The gap should be perfect all around no parts where the gap is smaller or larger, no parts where the door or bonnet is sitting higher than the piece of bodywork next to it.
Cars are better assembled these days but I have had a number of cars that looked a lot better after a bit of adjustment of doors, lids etc to make them sit straight. At one time you used to have to do it as a matter of course, unless the dealer was unusually finicky.
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Look from a distance outdoors, look across the sides of the cars, you can often see slightly poor colour matches across panels. Also check the reflection of a line across the side doors and wings at various heights, the line should line up nicely between panels, even on cheap cars these days. Many cheap repairs make these lines staggered.
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Metallic colours are very hard to match, even if the original paint is quite new. Look at the panels in a really good light, from a slight distance, and pick up on a complete panel with a lighter or darker shade than the adjacent panels.
You can even see this on solid colours sometimes, but they tend to match very well.
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Street lighting is also excellent for identifying different paint. I had a panel sprayed on my old Sierra that looked near perfect in daylight, but a completely different colour under a streetlight.
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Many thanks for this- Have main dealers cars been inspected properly and wouldnt have been resprayed?
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I've had most of my car re-sprayed over the last 6 months for one reason and another, I have to say that it is impossible to tell the difference in paint colours under any lighting conditions, and I am particularly fussy. Only a professional (and me) would be able to spot the tiny signs that there has been a respray.
Sony - It is impossible to be 100% certain that you do not buy a car that has had paintwork done to it, but I think you may be worrying too much, bear in mind that many brand new cars are delivered having already been resprayed, both in the factory, and at the dealership when they are inevitably damaged prior to delivery. I say this as a former salesman who has damaged one or two brand new cars in my time, they were all resprayed and handed over to their first owners who never had a problem with the paint. By the time you get to looking at older cars like 04 reg there is a good chance (in fact almost a certainty in my expereience) that they will have had some sort of minor respray at some point or another. We used to end up doing small bits of respray work on almost each and every used car that we sold. If the respray is so good that only a professional can spot it, why worry?
Blue
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Judging by accident statistics, I'd guess 50% of cars of that vintage will have had some paint.
Wasn't there a TV program that showed that over 10% of brand new cars had some form of touch up?
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Picking it up this morning so wish me luck!! I am now armed with my checklist before I hand over my hard earned!! Thanks folks!
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So how was/is it? Did you hand over the spondulix?
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