Carfax...is it worth it?

[jcuadrado]

I'm about to check out a vehicle this weekend for my mother and was wondering for those automobile gurus out there...


Do you think that buying that Carfax thing is worth it....or a used car will be a gamble no matter what..

Thanks,

Jaime

 

[Kevin]

Well, for $15-$20 its pretty good since you get to know some of the history and mileage of the car...

 

[jcuadrado]

oops...I'm in the wrong forum....mods can you move to Off Topic?

 

[jskap]

Well i've had it for a year.... and i didn't really like it.
I put one of my friend's vin Number who had an accident, and it showed as a clean title.
They only show fatal accidents, or if it had gone under water. Good luck anyway man!

 

[zodder]

$15-$20 is a small price to pay when you're going to drop $10K-$15K.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: jskap
Well i've had it for a year.... and i didn't really like it.
I put one of my friend's vin Number who had an accident, and it showed as a clean title.
They only show fatal accidents, or if it had gone under water. Good luck anyway man!

it wont show accidents unless it was totalled.

 

[crumpet19]

i think carfax is a good thing. my family almost bought a chevy truck last year. The guy selling it was the original owner and he said that it had never been in any wrecks. Carfax showed that the truck had been totalled a few months before.

 

[tommigsr]

rather then using carfax, use consumerreports.com they are better as they have more detailed specs. I checked on my brother's civic when he bought his, carfax missed 2 reports that consumerreports had

 

[idNut]

My sister payed for it and it lasted for 12 cars and gave us a general understanding of about how many owners the cars had and how well taken care of they were. If you have multiple used cars and care about things like the fuel filter being changed or timing belt or what have you, it's fantastic but otherwise, not really for a car n00b.

 

[compuwiz1]

IMO, there is way too much confidence placed in carfax. Not everything that has happened will show, and it certainly guarantees nothing. Franchised dealers will not sell a vehicle that has had major structural damage, been underwater, is salvaged, and in rare cases, if they do, the laws are very strict about disclosure. In otherwords, they must tell you. You can be pretty confident that a business license worth millions of dollars, is not going to be jeopardized by the lack of this disclosure. There is too much to lose for the dealer.

BTW, I'd do a Carfax report on a private party buy, or one bought from an independent used car lot.

 

[geoff2k]

While it isn't perfect, it may be your only resource in a private buy situation. You didn't mention whether you were going to get it from a dealership or a private party.

 

[Dhruv]

most car dealers have specials with CarFax. i reccomend that if it is from a used dealer, just tell him, "Okay, we're pretty interested, can you show me the carfax report on it." just be bold about it. i think it costs them like 5 bucks, let them pick up the tab because if they don' tsell to you, they can show it to others in future. no waste, either way. thats what i do.

 

[chasem]

yes

 

[Pepsi90919]

no

 

[T2T III]

While CarFax may not show accidents unless the car was totalled - or at the bottom of a river during a flood, I still think it's a very good tool. With the mileages that it tracks, you could easily spot a rolled-back odometer and could be a saviour to some car purchasers.

 

[dman]

Only can check odometer in states where it is tracked. Florida, for example, does not.

 

[RossMAN]

I ran a CarFax on my SALVAGE TITLED 1994 Toyota Corolla DX the really annoying thing was there were no details, it just said it was involved in an accident and was a SALVAGED TITLE.

That's it. Nothing else. Glad I didn't pay for it.

 

[Ornery]

"Well i've had it for a year.... "

How? You can only buy it once per year:

• I agree to pay $19.99 according to my card issuer agreement. This 30 days Unlimited CARFAX Reports Plan is valid for 30 days from the date the first report is run, and is intended for my personal use only. Commercial use, resale and redistribution of CARFAX Reports is strictly prohibited and may lead to deactivation of my account and the imposition of additional charges for CARFAX Reports. I also understand that I am limited to one (1) purchase of this 30 days Unlimited CARFAX Reports Plan per household, each 12-month period. I agree that my CARFAX Report purchase shall be governed by all the Terms and Conditions of use of the CARFAX Web Site. I understand and agree that CARFAX may not have the complete history of every vehicle as CARFAX depends on its sources for the accuracy and reliability of its information.

I've purchased a couple times per year over the last two years using different CCs, but how could you have it for a whole year?

I've already found a couple vehicles that were in minor accidents. It's good to see the history of the car, where it spent most of it's life and how many times it's been titled etc.