Car Fax Vehicle Report

[nyg052003]

will a vehicle only have a carfax report if the owner reports all of the things like accidents, maintenance history and stuff or how does that even work?

[Shark2k]

Totally wrong section. There is a car section that this would work better in.

-Shark2k

[daleb]

Originally Posted by nyg052003

will a vehicle only have a carfax report if the owner reports all of the things like accidents, maintenance history and stuff or how does that even work?

They generally are able to get evidence of all legal transactions, such as change of title, police recorded accidents, as well as salvage or other problems that are registered with various agencies, primarily DMV.
CARFAX is generally not for maintenance records. That's an easy one, if the owner or salesman can not get you copies of those, walk away.

[DoctorCAD]

Carfax is a scam devised by someone that saw a false need and acted on it.

Spend the money on a mechanics inspection if you feel "scared" to buy.

[daleb]

Originally Posted by DoctorCAD

Carfax is a scam devised by someone that saw a false need and acted on it.

Spend the money on a mechanics inspection if you feel "scared" to buy.

Hardly a false need...

A salvaged car can be in perfect running condition and the new owner would not know until later he does not qualify for low interest financing, standard insurance, or can not get an after-market warranty.

In most cases CARFAX is accurate and NOT meant to replace a mechanical inspection of a vehicle, or copies of service records.

[nyg052003]

Originally Posted by DoctorCAD

Carfax is a scam devised by someone that saw a false need and acted on it.

Spend the money on a mechanics inspection if you feel "scared" to buy.

Anyone who has any sense and well being of cars would do inspect the car good as well themselves so the issue aint about rather a Carfax would cover if anything is wrong with the car but rather it would let you know about accidents and just general stuff about the car; Theft, ect., also like problems that might have been recurring or anything of that nature to where you mite not want to mess with it.

[Lee Stewart]

http://www.carfax.com/

[DoctorCAD]

Gee, how did we ever buy cars before Carfax?

Its a false need created by sensationalizing the very small number of "totaled" cars being sold as in perfect shape.

Carfax is like TVfool, only a one-sided approximation. It should still be up to you to figure the rest out.

As to being useful, I jhad one ran (for free by a dealer friend of mine) on a vehicle that I bought and owned for 4 years. It never once saw a garage in 4 years. Carfax showed 8 "instances" on the report!

My mother bought a used Taurus. Totally clean Carfax. After a few months, we noticed air coming in around the rear door seal. While looking for the leak, as we took off moldings, we found putty and air-bag dust. Obviously this car had been in an accident. Where was that info?

[nyg052003]

Originally Posted by DoctorCAD

Gee, how did we ever buy cars before Carfax?

Its a false need created by sensationalizing the very small number of "totaled" cars being sold as in perfect shape.

Carfax is like TVfool, only a one-sided approximation. It should still be up to you to figure the rest out.

As to being useful, I jhad one ran (for free by a dealer friend of mine) on a vehicle that I bought and owned for 4 years. It never once saw a garage in 4 years. Carfax showed 8 "instances" on the report!

My mother bought a used Taurus. Totally clean Carfax. After a few months, we noticed air coming in around the rear door seal. While looking for the leak, as we took off moldings, we found putty and air-bag dust. Obviously this car had been in an accident. Where was that info?

good point which raises the question of are all cars put in the system thats been in an accident and stuff, I mean think about it, humans actually supposed to do thier jobs, sometimes people dont take pride in thier jobs and therefore things thats supposed to be done so they would make something else occur , i.e. a car report for a car for instance, well that day Jody had a bad hangover and threw the paper in the garbage by accident while at work so the report that was supposed to take place never did lol, but i see your points though. Yeah people still gota have common sense, car fax or not, to check the car thoroughly and make thier own decision.

[daleb]

A friend took the bite and bought a salvaged vehicle, his choice. Carfax showed an accurate record of original sale, and resale, as well at the dated salvage action.
I've used it on 2 cars I bought through private parties over the last few years, and everything down to the mileage/dates was consistent with the mileage on the car, number of owners, etc.

I have never seen a Carfax report with any service information on it. Maybe that's one of the options you can pay extra for.

I would ONLY rely on the original owner's receipts or a new car dealership service records. Never a 3rd party for that information.
Those are not DMV based records and likely to have the most errors.
You still have to use common sense.

Finally, a good independent mechanic or AAA diagnostic service should be used if the vehicle is not under any valid warranty, and for your own peace of mind.

[PFC5]

Originally Posted by DoctorCAD

Gee, how did we ever buy cars before Carfax?

Its a false need created by sensationalizing the very small number of "totaled" cars being sold as in perfect shape.

Carfax is like TVfool, only a one-sided approximation. It should still be up to you to figure the rest out.

As to being useful, I jhad one ran (for free by a dealer friend of mine) on a vehicle that I bought and owned for 4 years. It never once saw a garage in 4 years. Carfax showed 8 "instances" on the report!

My mother bought a used Taurus. Totally clean Carfax. After a few months, we noticed air coming in around the rear door seal. While looking for the leak, as we took off moldings, we found putty and air-bag dust. Obviously this car had been in an accident. Where was that info?

Perhaps you are not aware of how many cars that are salvage get fixed and sold at auction for the used car dealers to then sell on their lots.

I have a client who offers car fax on all cars so that people KNOW the cars on his lot do not have such history. There are a lot of used cars like that being sold at used car lots and many times people do not tell you accidents, recalls that never got fixed, etc.

I had a new car dealer run a Carfax on a used 2006 Santa Fe my wife wanted and it came back that it had been in an accident where it ran off the road into a ditch. I used that to get them to lower the price more than $1,000.00 extra but at the last minute I decided not to buy it anyway.

The funny thing is I asked if it had been in an accident and they said "I don't think so", but when I looked at the date they ran the Carfax, it was 1 week before so they of course knew, but were not going to tell me until I asked for the Carfax on it. Dealers pay a flat fee per month for this service so if they can pull it for one, they can pull it for all and they do. Never let them tell you it costs more money because it doesn't.

[nyg052003]

Originally Posted by PFC5

Perhaps you are not aware of how many cars that are salvage get fixed and sold at auction for the used car dealers to then sell on their lots.

I have a client who offers car fax on all cars so that people KNOW the cars on his lot do not have such history. There are a lot of used cars like that being sold at used car lots and many times people do not tell you accidents, recalls that never got fixed, etc.

I had a new car dealer run a Carfax on a used 2006 Santa Fe my wife wanted and it came back that it had been in an accident where it ran off the road into a ditch. I used that to get them to lower the price more than $1,000.00 extra but at the last minute I decided not to buy it anyway.

The funny thing is I asked if it had been in an accident and they said "I don't think so", but when I looked at the date they ran the Carfax, it was 1 week before so they of course knew, but were not going to tell me until I asked for the Carfax on it. Dealers pay a flat fee per month for this service so if they can pull it for one, they can pull it for all and they do. Never let them tell you it costs more money because it doesn't.

im a skeptical person and always thinking of the worse. I wonder if dealers can actually run a false report, like run a report to where it might only show false things, or minor things. Like have thier own report typed up and say "Carfax" on it when in actuality it really isnt a "true" carfax report. Hell they do all kinds of other false stuff like turning miles back on vehicles and stuff i wouldnt put anything past them

[daleb]

Originally Posted by nyg052003

im a skeptical person and always thinking of the worse. I wonder if dealers can actually run a false report, like run a report to where it might only show false things, or minor things. Like have thier own report typed up and say "Carfax" on it when in actuality it really isnt a "true" carfax report. Hell they do all kinds of other false stuff like turning miles back on vehicles and stuff i wouldnt put anything past them

Well, it cost money, but you could always pull your own check and see if it agrees. If the 2 reports do not agree you might have some legal power to get a dealer to come clean. But that's why I usually stick to private parties when it comes to used cars, and have the car checked out, especially if is older and not under any warranty. A little more effort, but you do save bucks in the long run.

[DIRECTVMAN]

Originally Posted by Lee Stewart

http://www.carfax.com/

I'm sure glad someone gave us this important information.