Found damage on a used car after buying it from a dealership
Dealerships sometimes mask hidden vehicle flaws like welded alloy wheels using tire shine or other cosmetic tricks so buyers cannot spot them during a purchase. Discovering this structural damage later leaves buyers stuck with unsafe parts and breaks the trust expected when buying from an official dealer.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 16.5× more often in r/AskMechanics than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Having the rest of the car inspected to check for hidden damage.Did this help you?
- 2Replacing the tires immediately with new or used tiresDid this help you?
- 3Driving cautiously only to the tire shopDid this help you?
- 4relying on visual inspections by mechanics during routine service visitsDid this help you?
- 5Waiting for a mechanic to become availableDid this help you?
- 6Running a car faxDid this help you?
- 7Using an OBD2 scanner to check error codes like p0301Did this help you?
- 8Asking for advice on online forumsDid this help you?
- 9Doing independent research onlineDid this help you?
- 10Taking the vehicle to a regular independent garage for a professional opinionDid this help you?
- 11Junking the car if the repair cost is not worth itDid this help you?
- 12Checking official inspection manuals to verify legal requirementsDid this help you?
- 13Trying to return the vehicle under a store or state return policyDid this help you?
- 14Getting the vehicle fixed independently while continuing to pay the auto loanDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“What would you do if you bought a car with damage underneath that you weren’t aware of at first, the wheel fell off the next day after purchase, and when you returned it under the 5-day return policy the dealership claimed they will not accept it because it’s not the way you received it.”source ↗
“When we bought the car they put tire shine on all of them so we didn’t notice this until now.”source ↗
“I recently bought this car from a dealership and have discovered that it has a welded alloy.”source ↗
“We bought the car with these tires 🙈 you would expect more from a official suzuki dealer .”source ↗
“Went to get alignment got shown this. Had no idea this happened and driving seemed fine until l I saw this….”source ↗
“The day after, boom check engine light, boom coolant smoke is coming out the tailpipe (only sometimes! I’ll turn it on one day and I smell the coolant and then another day I turn it on there’s nothing coming out).”source ↗
“I was sold a car without a catalyctic converter and told that you don't need a catalytic converter to pass a safety test is this true or false?”source ↗
“Thanks for telling me, I was sold it by a garage but I've had so many issues with them since that I couldn't trust them”source ↗
“I recently bought a 2016 Peugeot 208 which I suspect has some problems and was hoping for a bit of advice.”source ↗
“When I asked the dealer I bought it off, he told me it’s normal for these cars as they have a 3 cylinder engine so they don’t always fire completely like a 4 cylinder engine would. However I’m not convinced.”source ↗
“There is also the occasional issue engaging first and reverse gear, as well as juddering sometimes when trying to pull away in first. These two things combined to me suggest the clutch is faulty.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 7How to inspect a used car yourself without looking clueless
- 13Used car broke down immediately after buying from a dead dealership
- 6Buying a used car when the owner doesn't know the maintenance history
- 2How to check for fluid leaks when buying a used car without looking foolish
- 11Is chunky oil buildup a dealbreaker on a used car?
- 3Is rust underneath a car surface or structural?