These are important questions. A used car dealer may know the history of the vehicle, but most of the time the cars and trucks that you see on a local car dealer lot come from auctions and your dealer will not know the history. At least half of the time you trade in your vehicle it will end up at a dealer auction. And MOST of the time you turn in your leased vehicle it will end up at auction. So how are we supposed to know what happened to this vehicle that we are eying? What am I getting into here?

The first thing to do is to go to either end of the car and squat down at the corner, such as by the tail light, and look straight down the body of the car, down the body line starting with the quarter panel, down the doors, and right up the fender. Notice the shine or reflections that you are getting off of the paint? That is where you want to start. Are there sections shinier or flatter than others? Does everything line up? Are there any ripples at all? It should look like a nice mirror reflection. If the surfaces of each panel look different, this could be an indication of poorly done body work.

Next, feel the paint all the way around the car. All of the painted surfaces should feel the same. Feel the bumpers and the hood. These are common spots to repaint. Are there any spots on the car that are a little rougher than another? If so, then you have good reason to be suspicious.

If a car has a pinstripe or graphic kit, look along the edge of it to see if a body shop painted part of a body panel. One trick a painter will use to save some work is to only paint part of a panel (if they can get away with it) and only repaint a small area that was most significantly affected by body work. If that is the case, the painter will probably do his masking right next to a pinstripe and try to paint either above it or below it. He will use the stripe line as a stopping point for his paintwork. Feel the edges of the stripe. Do you feel a sharp edge? It’s probably been repainted then.

Finally, always look for hints of over spray or an old color that give away an undisclosed paint job. This requires checking door jambs, under the hood, in the trunk and under the gas cap door. Putting in a little extra time while shopping for your vehicle can save you a lot of time and money down the road.

Best of all, buy a used car from someone you trust, be it a dealer or an individual. And never, ever jump at a deal that seems too good to be true. It almost always is.

About the Author

Mike Briglia is the owner of Custom Auto Trim, specializing in body kits and car and truck graphics, and is based in San Diego CA. Find more information on auto accessories at http://www.customautotrim.com/

Case and point, in the Ohio Valley and the northeastern states like Pennsylvania, New York or New Jersey, one of the most popular truck accessories on the market would be the truck tonneau cover. This is truck accessory purchase is totally weather related because people in the northeast have to put up with a lot of cold, wet and snowy weather in the winter and want to try to keep their truck beds dry if they can, and keep the snow out as well. Yes, a tonneau cover looks nice, and yes it might help you save a few gallons of gas on a nice long trip, but the main reason that customers ask for the tonneau cover would be to keep out the weather.

In the southern states like Florida, Texas or Arizona they have different problems to deal with. The sun! Can you imagine having too much sun? I know its hard to do, but when thinking about what auto accessories you want to add to your car or truck it has a lot to do with it. The sun can really beat / burn things up if left outside every day.

In the southern states the most popular accessories that people add to their trucks are the stainless steel accessories including nerf bars, rocker panel moldings, billet grilles and truck bed rails. Why? Stainless steel wont burn, deteriorate, shrink, crack, fade or anything else like that. Thats one of the reasons that the southern folks like to dress up their trucks with chrome accessories.

Most of the time the influence starts at the dealer level, being maybe your local Chevy, Dodge or Ford dealerships in your area. They seem to be the guys that would initially test aftermarket accessories like these on your truck, and after they dress up and sell a lot of them in town, the potential new customers see these vehicles driving down the road and actually start calling the dealers asking for the parts they see.

Sometimes customers dont know what to ask for, for example a stainless steel nerf bar is sometimes referred to as a chrome nerf bar, a chrome tube rail, side bars or side steps, but many suppliers of aftermarket truck accessories such as those at Custom Auto Trim are well versed in synonyms in the business. They will know what you are looking for.

About the Author

Mike Briglia is the owner of Custom Auto Trim, a car accessories company based out of San Diego CA. Find more information on nerf bars at http://www.customautotrim.com/

Some wonder why such a rigid shiny tube on the side of a truck is called a nerf bar. Sometimes people refer to them side steps or chrome tubes because they cant grasp the concept of “Nerf Bar” as being a hard shiny stainless steel object. “Nerf” material, like the material used to make soft footballs, baseballs & frisbees you may have thrown around as a kid, doesn’t really relate to some hard chrome tube you would use to step on to help you step into your truck.

So here it is. The nerf bar was a tubular device that was originally intended to be fitted to the side of a racecar – often single seaters like a midget race car that competes on a race track.

“Nerf” is also a racing term that refers to a small bump (rub) between two vehicles. When one driver bumps the other car in order to pass it, they call it nerfing.  Nerf bars protect the sides of the vehicles and keeps their tires from rubbing. Without them, the fast spinning tires can come in contact with each other causing the cars to lose control, or flip. Sometimes having nerf bars on your truck is a good way to help protect your wheels and body kits, however rub a stainless steel nerf bar up against a concrete barrier and you can expect to need to replace it. I’ll have to say sometimes I wish I had the old style nerf bars, because I’d occasionally like to bump into a few people myself on the freeway, but I guess you just cant win.

We recently got the question:

I was interested in putting a set of your chrome Truck Step Bars on my new truck, and I was wondering how hard they are to install. Is there a lot of drilling to do?

Great question! All of our Nerf Bars / Truck Side Step Bars are direct bolt on, meaning that they will bolt up to factory holes that already exist in your truck. Each set includes directions and all hardware necessary for your install. All you will need is the tools and some time for the install. If you take your time and follow the directions, your install should go quite well. If you have any questions at all or are having trouble with your nerf bar installation you can always call us for support. We are here to help!

WEB NEWS

Have you visited us at www.CustomAutoTrim.com lately? If not, you’ve been missing out, but it’s not too late to get in on the great deals we’ve got going on our Altezza Tail Lights. Our already low prices have been slashed even further so now’s the time to take a look at our Altezza Tail Lights and find the ones for your vehicle.

Did you know that we have over 1500 different Car Spoiler Applications available on our website? With that many choices, it’s almost impossible not to find the perfect one for your car. AUTOMEGA® spoilers come with all mounting hardware, grill guides and complete installation instructions. We also have an easy-to-follow installation video available on our website to make this easy installation even simpler. See our expanded car spoiler section to find the one that’s right for you, and to see the video for yourself.

Maybe you’ve had your eye on the Black Widow Body Kit. Maybe on the Street Fyghter body kit. Either way, you know the Ground Designs Body Kits are the hottest thing on the road, and we’ve got the full line on sale right now. You won’t find a better time to accentuate your Mustang or trick out your Eclipse, so come by to see if we’ve got the kit for your make and model.