Auto Insurance Claims: Salvage Yard, owners insurance company, scion tc

Question
Richard,
   Hi, I made the mistake of buying a car recently from a very unprofessional used car dealership.  They claimed the car was not in an accident that exceeded 25% of the car's worth at the time of the accident.  I found out that the previous owner was in an accident in 6.2006.  He sold his car to a junkyard because he had liability and it was his fault.  The car was towed off the scene.  The car is a 2005 Scion Tc with 24k miles.  There has been no other owners since then to now...
1)Would there be paperwork somewhere on the amount of damage done to the vehicle?
2)How would I go about getting this paperwork?
3)Why would someone typically sell their car to a junkyard for 2k with this new of a vehicle?
4)Would it be safe to assume the damages to the car where greater than 25% since he sold it to a junkyard for 2000.00
5)Would his insurance, (Progressive) or anyone else have looked at the vehicle and appraised it even though he had liability?
---Thank you very much for your time.


Answer
Hi Darrell,

To start with you can purchase a CARFAX report. If there was a police report of the accident it may show up in the CARFAX report and will tell you the date and location of the accident. The carfax  report may also tell you how many owners there have been. The previous owners insurance company would not have looked at the vehicle unless he had collision coverage. Since there was no insurance claim, the vehicle was not officially totaled so no title work was required. This is a big problem that happens all the time.

I do not know of any other way to find out what happened. Since there was no insurance claim, there is no paper trail to follow.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh