Do dealership have to disclose any accidents?

[MaximusZTS]

I bought my 2002 ZTS about 6 weeks ago. I found some small peices of broken glass behind the back seat when I lowered it for the first time. And then I found some polariods in the back of the owners manual of the back end all smashed up. The pictures were really bad and it is hard to tell the amount of damage, but I can tell that it is my car.

If it has been in a accident did they need to tell me or is that some thing I have to research before hand?

Should I call them and be like "What the crap?"

[Lil PZEV]

Ddi you buy it from a dealer or private party? I'm not sure in either case. I want to say dealers need to tell you, and if you ran a Carfax and the bodyshop listed it, it shoulda been mentioned.

Private Party they don't HAVE to tell, like if you didnt' ask... it'd be kinda sleazy of them not to, but well within their right if it's been fixed and the potential buyer didn't ask.

I'm not sure that's right though, or if liability varies by state...

[MaximusZTS]

I did buy at a dealership. Nothing was ever said to me, I would assume that if it had been they would let you know before hand and give a heads up. I don't know if it helps but I live in So. California.

[ztecpower]

I work for a nissan dealer, And I'm the asst. Used car manager, They MUST disclose FRAME damage only, If you go to an honest dealer they will run a carfax report, and they will generally tell you that it was involved in an accident. If the vehicle has frame damage (wich I'm almost positive that it has) and they didn't disclose it, you can sue them or have them buy the car back from you.... Have the car inspected by another shop (prefferably ford) And if they find frame damage ask them to notate it in the recipt and take it to the dealer for proof.

Can you post pictures of the car and maybe I can tell you if it has frame ?? (the old polaroids)
Troy.

[edit] post the vin and I'll run a carfax for you............
and post it on this page.....

[Trey]

go to a walmart and ask them to develop the film.....

[ztecpower]

Originally posted by Trey
go to a walmart and ask them to develop the film.....

ummm... trey -- polaroids don't need to be developed
LOL !!
You crack me up sometimes !!

[hotfocus]

They do only if they know this information and you've asked about it at the time of purchase. If you didn't then technically they don't have to say anything.

[SVT4ME]

Woah that SUCKS. I'd be pissed too. But you should never count on a dealer telling you things like that, you need to check it for yourself. That's why I bring my dad along whenever I'm buying a car, he's an insurance adjustor/appraiser so he can spot repairs pretty quick. It's like Carfax but without the fee.

OTOH, the question is: would you have ever noticed if it hadn't been for the broken glass and Polaroids? If the car drives fine and you're happy with the way it looks, there's not much to be concerned about.

[MaximusZTS]

Heres the VIN:

1FAFP38362W[:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)]

There was no film just some poorly takin polaroird pictures. I have them at home and now I am at work. So I will try to post them tonight or tomarrow.

Thanks for your help.

[SVT4ME]

Looking at your gallery, I do notice one thing. Is your trunk popped open in this picture? If not then you might have a problem with trunk alignment because that seems like too big of a gap. Then again I don't own a sedan so I never really noticed before what the gap should look like.

http://www.focusfanatics.com/gallery...XS_001-med.jpg