It's not just out of state dealers... the locals hide a few things too. I recently looked at a car on the local lot. They'd just got it in on trade and were just as proud as they could be. They should have taken a closer look because that thing had been in a ditch!
The driver's side door didn't quite line up with the front panel and the hood didn't quite close straight.. the rocker panel had gravel and mud packed in where the owner hadn't cleaned it all out. Just for sheer orneryness I took it for a test drive and pointed out everything that was wrong with that vehicle to the salesman. He said he'd "bring it up" to the intake people.
They sent the car to a local autobody company that straightened the frame a little bit and pushed the rocker panel back into place and fixed a few things cosmetically... but a sharp eye would still see that this was a really bad deal. The put it back on the lot as a "great luxury car deal". They sold it to someone... but it told me loud and clear that any vehicle on their lot was to be examined by a mechanic somewhere else. Zero trust. I looked at some of their paperwork... and there were some fees there that were just ridiculous.
cts