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What are the advantages and disadvantages of buying new cars that were in light accidents?

I tend to find in yahoo auto, autotrader, or automart, cars that are a year to only 3 years old with less then 30,000 miles in them that were in light accidents for less then thirteen thousand dollars or lower. I've seen Nissan 350Z's, Infinity G-35's, BMW coupes, Benz, any car from 2005 and up that have light bumps in them. Is it worth buying them and fixing them up or is there a catch

Public Comments

1. There is always a catch. You can't tell, without a rigorous and in-depth inspection, the extent of damage to these cars. I wouldn't touch one of these wrecks for any amount of money. Bent frames (if they even have one), doors out of line, front end problems, the list is endless. Later model cars are meant to basically fold up on impact to protect the occupants, thereby incurring more damage to the vehicle, a good bit of that damage invisible to the cursory walk-around inspection. There is a reason they are cheap and that only spells trouble for the potential buyer.
2. the car could have a bent chassis or just other small and annoying problems, just spend a bit more and get a used car that has not been in any accident
3. NOTHING can match the factory paint job. Body work is a temporary fix for a paint surface. So, auto involved in an accident will require maintenance to repaint in 5 years or less.
4. ONLY advantage would be a SERIOUSLY cheap price...and only if you could have a third party do an indepth inspection. I would never get one of these as a primary car either. If I was building a show car or track car, in which i was going to rebuild much of it anyway, then it might be a wise purchase if it was cheap enough
5. All of these vehicles have what is called a "Disclosure Statement". You must sign this statement before you leave the Dealership. It tells you the extent of the damage and what it took to fix it. This is Federal Law. Any vehicle that comes in on the truck and the dealer refuses it, must go back to the manufactor and can not be sold as new. Usually they are repaired and sold at auction to car dealers. The prices are normally reduces sharply. I have sold many of these and have a long customer list of people who want them. In my opinion, they are good deals, BUT, like anything else, there is always that crook out there. Be careful.