car fax

Just a heads up and you may already know this but a lot of people don’t.

Having worked for a few years as a car buyer, car fax, while better than nothing, leaves a lot to be desired.

They only have access to things that are reported to the insurance companies.

I have appraised many a car that had frame damage, and/or multiple panels replaced and repainted that had perfectly clear car fax reports.

So when you get one that’s clean, don’t assume that the car is clean.
 
What he said. ^^^^

About the only thing I use it for is to get a snapshot of ownership history, and where it came from.

As an aside, that won’t be accurate on anything remotely collectable, because those guys will buy and sell them on open title, never registering them, and the history can skip several owners.
 
Last edited:
Chdamn said:
Just a heads up and you may already know this but a lot of people don’t.

Having worked for a few years as a car buyer, car fax, while better than nothing, leaves a lot to be desired.

They only have access to things that are reported to the insurance companies.

I have appraised many a car that had frame damage, and/or multiple panels replaced and repainted that had perfectly clear car fax reports.

So when you get one that’s clean, don’t assume that the car is clean.
Click to expand...
Yep, what he said^ . I bought a 2013 black Explorer with 9000 miles on it. I asked the salesman, “ This smells like it’s been painted.” Nope! No paint on this car, it’s pristine! Perfect CARFAX! I bought the car, drove it to Winston Salem for the weekend, and it was valet parked. When I picked it up, it had a softball sized dent in the door! I complained to the hotel and went to a body shop that I use. He looked at it and told me the dent was the least of my problems with this car, it had been totaled! Then proceeded to show me the difference in paint, swirl marks, dents and fisheye in the paint. The showed me places covered over with molding. He said it was hit headlight to tailight. Turns out, it belonged to a self insured rental company with its own body shop. When it was wrecked and fixed, it was never turned into CARFAX or nothing else! I took it back and made the carrot buy it back, he didn’t want to but it was that or I was seeing him! I haven’t bought a used car since!
 

Vehicle History Reports | Auto Data Direct, Inc.

The National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) is a federal database containing automobile information from states, insurance carriers, and the salvage industry. The vehicle history information is available to the public and can provide valuable information about a potential...
www.add123.com www.add123.com

Much cheaper than carfax.
 
I take it with a grain of salt I know for a fact that accidents can be wrong when i sold my ram 2500 it showed the minor accident along with 2 major accidents all 3 on the same day I assume the minimum wage person entering the reports for the body shop did not change the vin when they did multiple reports
 
When I bought my 2017 Audi it had a clean Carfax. When I went to trade it in thus past January the dealership pulled a carfax showing bodywork that was reported a month after I purchased the car.
I no longer value carfax information for what's not there, it's just insight to some of the vehicle's history.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom