After test-driving, you can proceed to check the exterior of the classic car. The exterior condition will reveal important details about the car’s history, including the damage it has sustained in the past and the major repairs it has undergone.

The first thing you should do is take a walk around the car to get a rough idea of its overall exterior condition. Then, look for defects such as scratches, dents, rust, cracks on windshield and windows, worn wipers, cracked or broken mirrors, and others. Check the paint and the alignment to find out if the car has been seriously damaged in an accident. If the body lines of the car are perfectly straight, it means that it has never been involved in an accident. On the other hand, rippled reflection on the paint job shows that a car has sustained serious damage before.

Take a few steps back and look at the paint job and gaps on the classic car. If a panel has a different color from the rest of the car or there are gaps that are too wide or too narrow, it is also an indication that the car has undergone major repair works. It is best that you do not buy a classic car that has been seriously damaged before, because all sorts of mechanical problems, such as premature corrosion, noisy wheel bearings, alignment problems, and air conditioner problems, may occur later on.