The story can end much sadder, so drivers are familiar with the car classifieds portal Autogidas.lt shrugs with Autopretenzija.ltso that honest buyers of used cars avoid not only financial losses, but also more painful losses that can cost health or even life.
“From time to time we receive complaints that someone has cheated something, and we always do our best to help the affected party. Of course, we also communicate with the police, who are already starting an investigation, we give all available data to the law enforcement authorities in order to find out the fraud and restore justice,” says Vytautas Raudonius, head of Autogid.
So we share the most common cases of scams by car dealers after traffic accidents and how to find out in time that something is wrong here.
The most important thing is safety
Car manufacturers are paying more and more attention to the safety of drivers and passengers and other road users. The car body is designed in such a way that during a traffic accident, its components deform as if absorbing an impact. That is, so that the monocoque remains rigid, but at the same time deforms a little, thus protecting the driver or passengers from injuries.
As we know, the most damage is done when a side impact occurs, as this is where the protection is weakest. The reason for this is that only the doors and part of the body are located on the sides, so if the car is hit by another vehicle from the side or the car hits an obstacle (tree, pole, etc.) from the side, the driver automatically hits the metal structures of the car, if he does not cover them side seat or window safety systems.
If the car collides head-on or is rear-ended by another car, the situation is less dangerous due to the greater number of protections. The reason for this is both the so-called passive protection (seat belts) and others – airbags, pyro charges, which tighten the belts even more so that the driver and passengers stay as close as possible to the seat back. Also, the front engine and side members deform during the event and “absorb” a large part of the impact that is transmitted to the body.
Car manufacturers specially fit the body with deformation areas that fold like an accordion in the event of an impact. When the car body is properly rebuilt after a traffic accident, these areas must be replaced with intact ones, otherwise they will not function properly and “absorb” the impact as intended by the manufacturer. Not to mention, there is a high probability that you can further injure the car driver, passengers or bystanders.
Not all violations are noticeable
In the event that the car parts are not properly assembled after an impact in a traffic accident, there is a risk of experiencing even more serious consequences. In practice, it happens when irresponsible craftsmen cheat to save money and use tools to stretch the damaged parts to the length as possible, and then, instead of replacing the damaged parts with good ones, they mask the defects with a thick layer of putty. This solidifies and upon impact becomes a deadly solid object that flies at high speed to another car, people or other object in front of it.
There are cases when car trim parts that are supposed to soften the impact are attached with inappropriate materials, such as rivets, or are not attached at all, then they can also seriously injure people during an impact.
What are the most common threats in Lithuania?
Sometimes fraudsters remove security systems or simply wrap them in insulation or other material, tighten them with plastic straps and put them back together, and install so-called decoys in the wiring of electronic systems. Due to them, the computer does not detect defects, all parameters show that the system is supposedly ready for operation, although in fact it is not working.
Even worse, if the driver’s or passenger’s airbag covers are held together with metal staples and brackets, the latter, when the airbags deploy, throw them into their faces instead of protecting them.
Therefore, when buying a used car, always measure the integrity of the body using a roulette and take several measurements. For this you will need to raise the car from below. If there are hidden defects, by measuring the distances from the same points, it can be seen that they do not correspond to the same places on the other side of the car.
Also, if you invest more and buy a paint thickness gauge, you can check that there is no putty on the body and that the paint layer is uniform. Thicker parts of the body, such as the sills and bodywork, can also be seen for damage.
