car fax

[volvopv]

Hello. This really does not apply to antique cars. However I imagine most buy newer cars for daily driving. We just did. We were shopping for a 2-4 year old Ford Escape with under 50K. We only shopped at Ford dealers. We have always thought we could trust these more than "Joe's Used Cars" where all the cars are dealer trade in cast offs. We found one we liked. The salesman said it was bought there new and traded back in just a week and a half ago. He also said that the Car Fax was clean. To make a long story short, I signed up for 30 days of Car Fax for $30 and ran the VIN #. It was first sold to a rental car company, had been through two auctions and four states. The dealer had owned in for nearly five months. Needless to say we did not buy it. We found another one at a Ford dealership two towns over. I ran the VIN before we ever went there and it came back perfect. It was bought new and traded in there. It showed that it received all of it's warranty check ups and oil changes at that dealership. Moral of the story? Invest in Car Fax before signing on the dotted line!

[ted sweet]

i owned 2 cars i now had been wrecked/totalled, car fax had nothing on them.

[Jim Bollman]

I used CarFax when I bought my used truck this past Summer. I was warned then by a fellow in the used car business, (that had been trying to find me the truck I wanted), that CarFax can tell you if it is a bad car but not if it is a good one.

[volvopv]

True, Carfax does not catch all the accidents. My wifes Taurus had been rearended but when I ran the VIN it did not show. It does tell you where the car has been. On everyone I checked, it told me every time it was titled and where. It also told if it was a private party, lease or rental. I would not use it to confirm a car's condition but to confirm it's history.

[Ron of Chicago]

I just bought a used vehicle about 6 months ago and every dealer I was at showed me the carfax report that they had on the car.

I agree that it doesn't really tell the entire story of the car.

Ron

[Chacheska]

Carfax is a waste of money and time. I sent a $500 down payment on a truck in Texas based on the clean Carfax report. When I got there the truck had been in a head on collision and 'repaired'. It had a cracked frame in two places among other things. When I contacted Carfax about their money back guarantee they back pedaled by saying they can't be responsible for accidents that aren't reported. They're worthless.

[Twitch]

The way dealers buy and sell in interstate deals nowadays liquidating inventories here and moving vehicles there it is a wonder more don't slip through the cracks probably.

[ted sweet]

but both vehicles had salvage titles and car had nothing but a clean title history.