I find that pretty well every used car has been in some sort of minor accident at least. Sub $1000 accidents are not reported shops that fix stuff for under $1000 will usually show in the quality of work and be more obvious than the same repair done properly for $1000+ with an accident report. There are also a lot of shops that will do repairs for cash and not report it. I have seen many cars while shopping that have mismatched headights, and spots or orange peel paint on bumpers, doors etc where and obviously shitty touchup has happened without an accident report.
When I bought my porsche it had 2 accident claims. 1 was a rear bumper touchup from a hit and run. it cost $1500 to repair, with no parts. but it was flawless and I have photo documentation of the original damage, prepping, painting, clearing, and polishing which made me feel well. It also had a comprehensive claim for $6000 to touch up some stone chips on the front end. again $2000 was for 2 new headlights, and the other $4000 was for labour and paint on the front bumper, hood, and fenders. Again there was alot of photo documentation showing the problem areas before hand, and a very thorough repair process, so I felt quite confident buying the car. When claiming through insurance repair shops are usually not afraid to charge an arm and a leg since it is not the cusomer paying and looking for a deal, and to get the maximum payout out of the ins company they have to provide proper documentation.
jordanturbo is like herpes... Always coming back for more