carfax

[washerboy]

Back to shopping for my teenager a car...over the weekend found a 91 Nissan with 98k miles...guy is asking $1700...car itself looks pertty good...tires are in good shape as well...just a small (maybe 5 inches) crease in the back quater panel..and I had to look to find it..anyway..I wrote down the VIN number and went to Kelly Blue Book to check the value...while there clicked on CarFax..entered the VIN number and it came back with 11 reports...I stated to order the report..but it was 30 bucks...I decided to stew on it overnight..then this morning I thought just for the heck of it I'd run my VIN and see what came up...it came up with 12 reports????..I bought my turck new in 1997...it's never been in any accidents, been involved in an insurance claims..nothing...I'm thinking why would they have 12 reports on my VIN number....does anyone know anything about CarFax...worth the money..rip off...12 reports...is there something I'm being clueless about????/thanks!!!!

 

[rocketwarrior]

CarCax

Mark, I have a link, here, to a $30 CarFax report that I ordered a while back with respect to a 1992 Acura. I guess I was a little disappointed - itt seemed more like a teaser than $30 worth of information.

P.S. I will take this link down in a couple of days.

http://www.goodfirm.com/aw/carfax.pdf

 

[petek]

It looks like when the say "reports" that includes canned reports they do on every vehicle regardless. Flood check, odometer check, collions/totalled check, etc.. and the corresonding answer. So every vehicle is going to have "reports" on it even if they're all positive answers.

 

[iheartmaytag]

I think $30 is a little high

Some of the informaton can be helpful, but I do tend to think they report something just to say they reported it.
I think you should read a Carfax in the same way you would read a credit report; with caution and skepticism.

Some of the cautions I would look at are when the vehicle comes from out of state. This can be done because the dealer had to move cars and just sold them at acution. It can also mean that someone is trying to move a vehicle across state line in an attempt to get the "Salvage/Totaled/Scraped" designation removed from the title.

Here are two examples of a carfax that I have dealt with:
After I bought this last Jeep, I got an email from my credit union that I could have one months free carfax so just for the heck of it I rand the VIN# from my car. I got back several generic statements like "Vehicle was titled in another state from origin" "Vehicle shows multiple owners in short period of time" What I know about the car is Yes it was titled in a state other than origin. It was built in MI and titled in KS. As for being titled to multiple owners this is totally bogus as I had the certificate of origin from the factory and the car only had 13 miles on it when I picked it up at the dealer. I also have the certification of its build date the car was built on 1-7-04 and I took delivery on 2-7-04. There really wasn't much that could have happened to it in that period of time.

Second example:
Because I had this unlimited carfax for the month I ran one on my previous vehicle. It too showed titled from state other than origin. Multiple owners, but it showed nothing about it being totaled and bought by the insurance company and sold again as a salvage vehicle. So there must be some lag between the informaton and when it gets on the report.

So my caviet would be know something about the vehicle, if something shows up that can't be explained then pass. There ares still some Katrina swimmers on the market, as well as you want to watch recent flood state like Iowa and MO from this last summer.

 

[washerboy]

thanks rocket

Thanks Rocket for sharing your fax..your right..it really did'nt tell you anything...I guess what concerend me was after I entered the VIN and it came up 11 reports I figured it was "bad" stuff...I'm getting ready to leave my office and take the car for a test drive...let you know how things turn out...also..thanks to all for you comments..love you guys!!!!(oops..and gals...lol)/mark

 

[kenmoreguy64]

RE: the 12 reports

In some states where annual safety or emissions inspections are required, these inspections are recorded in the DMV office, with a report being logged on the VIN number. Carfax will have access to this and report it. This is possibly where the 12 reports came from. As well, each time a vehicle's license plate is renewed or another issued, some states log a record of it. Your truck being 12 years old, that's very likely what you'll see.

Carfax is simply logging whatever records they can dig up to help protect an innocent buyer.

In cases where a salvage title was issued for a vehicle, or if it was involved in an accident, those records, if available, are displayed. I think this sort of info. is more helpful than hurtful since some buyers don't have someone to verify the history and quality of a particular vehicle.

I have a Mustang collection, and have checked the histories of all mine with Carfax, sometimes just for the fun of it when I bought an unlimited search. I have a 1984 model that I bought new. It has only 75k miles on it now, however at some point in the 90s, a moron at our inspection station logged the mileage as 151,000-something instead of 51k. That record haunts this car in Carfax to this day and shows as posslble odometer tampering.

BUT, overall, I think it's a good deal. I was looking at a 1985 Mustang GT about 18 months ago through ebay that I really wanted, but a Carfax report showed possible odometer tampering (it was reported as lower at a sale than it had been at an inspection two years earlier) and it showed the car having been in an accident. The seller said it hadn't, so I knew enough to back off.

If you're looking for a teenager's car and don't want to get taken on a in-expensive car, I think the money for an unlimited 30-day (or whatever they're offereing now) report would be A TREMENDOUS VALUE to you. You'll be able to run this on any vehicle you consider, 1981 model or newer. You could verify what your current truck shows too, as this will stay there if you ever want to sell it.

Gordon