Is Carfax worth it?

[Yzzim]

I'm thinking about buying a 2000 Grand Prix. Haven't even test driven the vehicle yet, but I plan to Monday. Would like to get some more info about the car before I drove it. Would carfax be my best bet? I could get a one time check for $20, or get Unlimited for $25.

Any other service like carfax out there but for cheaper? Is the dealer required to give me a history of the car if I ask him for it?

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I think forums.offtopic.com runs carfax reports for people for free because some people have the unlimited accounts there. I think there is an AT group that pays $5 a month each for unlimited, not sure though

 

[spanky]

i had an unlimited check thing once and i ran reports for ppl on a car forum. carfax is alright... it's better then nothing. i know that it's not always accurate tho (my friends car got stolen 3 times, yet it didn't show up in the carfax).

 

[PowerMac4Ever]

I've tried consumerguide and carfax. Consumer Guide is $20 for 2 months unlimited I believe. I found it to be not as good as carfax. For example, carfax picked up potential odometer fraud on a car while Consumer Guide said it had a clean history. So yeah, Carfax is probably the best out there.

 

[gururu]

I used consumerguide while checking used cars. information very vague. collision may be reported, not actual odometer, smog, etc, but not much detail. good though, because then you can ask the dealer straight up about a potential problem

 

[Nocturnal]

If you're shopping around for used cars right now and want to know the ins and outs, I'd get the unlimited. If you only have one car in mind I'd just go with the $20.00 per car.