The combination of CarFax and AutoCheck are your friend. Although I would not rely on either one on their own, the combination of the 2 will generally uncover most all accidents with vehicles. Since you said you purchased it from a dealer, you can bet that it was probably bought at auction. AutoCheck would have probably saved you some nightmares in this situation. Good luck with your next purchase, and sorry you had such a negative experience with this one.

You may want to consider doing a CarFax and Autocheck and see if you have a case to go back against the dealer that sold it to you. If they picked the car up at auction as a previously damaged vehicle and did not disclose that to you, you may have a leg to stand on.