I was recently in an accident and I want to fix the car for sentimental reasons. The insurance company is certainly going to total the car so I'm pretty much doing this one on my own. The damage was in the front end and I was wondering if anyone could tell me specifically how to check for frame damage. The car has actually been involved in 2 accidents (neither one my fault). I didn't get a chance to fix the car from the first accident before the second. The damage "appears" to be mostly cosmetic. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Basically get the outer body parts pulled off to expose the subframe. From there you should be able to judge by sight if its bent or not. This is not the best way to be sure, but unless you have access to a frame rack with laser assisted alignment you won't know for absolutly sure. Even the slightest bend not noticeable by eye sight can throw off your whole front end.

Then again when you bolt up the new parts if they wont line up correctly thats a pretty good indication

 

How did you get hit? Front/passenger/drivers side?

 

The first accident I T-boned some clown who ran a red light at about 25mph. The damage wasn't too bad. I drove the car for over a year without having it fixed. The 2nd accident I was sideswiped on the passenger side and he ran me into a bridge which damaged the drivers side. All in all, the damage consists of the passenger side door and front fender, the front bumper cover, and the drivers side front fender. The hood has very minor damage and the damage did not harm the radiator. Sorry I don't have pics right now.

 

man, seems like that car was been banged around pretty good, i would most likely get it put on a frame rack to make sure its within proper specs.

 

Definitely frame rack to be 100% sure of the situation