About Car History Reports

[halfpower]

I bought a car history report from Carfax. Are these reports immune to "title washing"? Should I be worried if the report does not have changes listed regularly?

 

[woodie1]

There is always the possibility that something that should have been reported wasn't. Garbage in - garbage out. AFAIK once something IS reported a Carfax report will show it forever. There is no uniform reporting standard. Some cars do not have a very detailed history so I would have a respected machanic check it out prior to purchase.

 

[halfpower]

Would a dealership be reputable enough?


The car is listed as having five owners.

The title and registration are together have four states associated with them.

Owners #1-3 are listed as lease.

The car is listed as being auctioned four times by the third owner. The first auction lists the car as having been listed as a repossesion. Owner three also offered the car for sale as a "Honda Certified Used Vehicle."

Owner #4 is listed as only owning the car for four days.

Owner #5 has had the car for two years.


I can't very well verify regular oil changes if they're not listed in the carfax report. Would a mechanic be able to find the wear and tear associated with irregular oil changes?

 

[woodie1]

That's some history. I don't think I'd want it unless the price was really, really good and a mechanic gave it an OK.

4 states and five owners makes me wonder ...

 

[halfpower]

Inside and out, the car has fewer cosmetic defects than most single owner cars of simlar age. It's appearance certainly does not suggest any neglect. The car is 5 1/2 years old and has 57K miles on it, and does not have any real repair work recorded.

Owner #1: 22K (28 months)
Owner #2: 9K (4 months) Loses car due to repossession
Owner #3: 1K (1 month) Sells car at auction
Owner #4: less than 1K (less than 1 month)
Owner #5: 24K (20 months)

 

[woodie1]

Originally posted by: halfpower
Inside and out, the car has fewer cosmetic defects than most single owner cars of simlar age. It's appearance certainly does not suggest any neglect. The car is 5 1/2 years old and has 57K miles on it, and does not have any real repair work recorded.

Owner #1: 22K (28 months)
Owner #2: 9K (4 months) Loses car due to repossession
Owner #3: 1K (1 month) Sells car at auction
Owner #4: less than 1K (less than 1 month)
Owner #5: 24K (20 months)

I repeat - have it looked at by a good mechanic for accident repairs and excessive wear. Then decide. It's your money.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: woodie1
That's some history. I don't think I'd want it unless the price was really, really good and a mechanic gave it an OK.

4 states and five owners makes me wonder ...

Really 3 owners. the 3rd was probably the bank or it's agent and the 4th a dealer that bought the car to resell at auction.

If the car is clean, I'd get a compression and leakdown test + a general mechanic's used car screening (they will check the suspension, trans, doors, lights, pull obd codes etc).

If it passes you probably have a good car. With any car though their is a potential for component failure...pretty low mileage though still.