Second-hand car with possible crash damage

Evening all.

I purchased a second hand car privately recently, and subsequent to the sale noticed some difference in the seam width between the bonnet and the two panels either side, and also around the front bumper.
To me this indicates a possible crash, poorly repaired or otherwise, in the car's history, and I'm having it checked out at the mechanic as soon as possible.
The seller said there had been no damage to the car during it's lifetime, and signed a contract saying the car was accident free. Unfortunately I took the guy at his word, and didn't have it inspected, since otherwise the car was in great condition, and a reasonable price.

In the case where the mechanic returns an answer saying the car has been in an accident, is there any onus on the seller to either refund the car, or to pay for the repair to the damages?
I'm mildly concerned this issue is going to have repercussions on the value for future on-sell...
Any tips to what else I should do?

Thanks in advance.

Did the contract state "as-is" anywhere at all. If it was a private sale you are probably screwed and stuck with car. Did the guy own the car since it was new? He can always claim that he had no accident in it and that the damage may have been caused prior to his ownership.

It doesn't mention "as-is".
It's a contract that has been provided as a template from mobile.de it seems, and has a box saying "Das Fahrzeug ist unfallfrei", next to which he has ticked the affirmative..

In regard to pushing it back to the previous owner, I was thinking this may be possible, but then again, who knows, perhaps it's your responsibility as a seller to be aware of the condition of the item you are selling..

Edit : and your responsibility as a buyer to be aware of the condition of the item you are buying, I imagine, but it does clearly state in the contract that it's accident free.

this exact question came up on one of the Auto Motor and Sport TV programms a short while back. Basically if they have said it is accident free and it can be proven that it was in an accident you have every right to get all of your money back from the seller, whether they are a dealer or not.

Was he the only previous owner? I presume so since you say secondhand. It's an interesting point though - if the first owner had an accident and lied about it, the 2nd owner didn't realise, and the 3rd owner noticed, who would be liable?

If the person who sold it to you knew about the accident then you have a right to a full refund (and you return the car). He would be expected to know about the accident (e.g.) if it had occurred during his ownership, if he'd bought it previously with knowledge of if the damage or if the accident/repair was obvious. The real issue may be proving any of the above. If it has had major repairs then an engineer should be able to estimate when they were done and if it can be pinned down to the sellers period of ownership. If he really sold it to you without knowledge of the alleged damage things get complicated. In theory at least he can return it to the person who sold it to him, but that really is not so straightforward and creates a legal minefield...

Thanks for the input.

Will be interesting to see the seller's response if things go down that direction. Don't particularly want a extended and costly legal situation, especially if the seller then proves it wasn't done during his ownership..

Perhaps it wasn't an accident as such, perhaps some repair on rust?? You didn't say how old the car is. A friend of mine had a Ford that started rusting before it was 2 yrs old.

Issue sorted, all is good.
Thanks for all the advice.

Give up the details!