Topic: "Show me the CARFAX" - anything but the facts

[No H2O]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but a recent topic on another forum really shows how useless a CARFAX report can really be.

Sure enough, their fine print does state...

CARFAX Vehicle History Reports are based on information supplied to CARFAX. CARFAX does not have the complete history of every vehicle.

Any smart shopper would know that and I used to roll my eyes  when I first saw those CARFAX advertisements on the TV. Personally, those services are not worth the paper they are written on.

Down to the story. A forum member bought a car in 2007 from a dealer who supplied a "clean" CARFAX. He is in the process of selling it and obtained a new CARFAX that now shows "front end damage" in 2002. It took over 5 years for that to get picked up by CARFAX???

Its possible that the dealer could have produced a forged copy of the CARFAX and if that is the case, if buyers are going to place trust in a CARFAX, they should order it themselves and not accept a dealer or customer supplied copy.

Lastly, the buyer should go over the car with a fine toothed comb themselves, if they have that ability and knowledge. If not, have an independent shop (not the selling dealer) inspect the vehicle. The damage was so obvious, I would have picked it up the first minute upon starting my inspection.

This of course applies to not just CARFAX, but any other similar service.

This very unfortunate owner now has a 1996 Porsche 993 Twin Turbo that has taken a very big hit on the selling price.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Yeah, basically useless. CBC's Marketplace did a piece on them a few years ago.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/01/15/marketplace-carfax.html

[No H2O]

Yeah, basically useless. CBC's Marketplace did a piece on them a few years ago.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/01/15/marketplace-carfax.html

Yes, I remember seeing it. Thanks for posting that.

[johngenx]

I wouldn't pay for it.  A thorough and detailed inspection by a trusted mechanic is worth 100X as much and typically costs ~3X the price of a Car-Fax.

[Gardiner Westbound]

No car history can tell you how a car was driven, if parts and repairs were substandard or if there are major cost issues on the horizon. An independent off-site inspection and test drive by a knowledgeable mechanic will say far more than a history that may contain errors, omissions and ambiguities. At about $100 it's the best car money you will ever spend!

[No H2O]

I wouldn't pay for it.  A thorough and detailed inspection by a trusted mechanic is worth 100X as much and typically costs ~3X the price of a Car-Fax.

Neither would I; what a waste of money.

Which is what I did, except I took it for two test drives and spent about 4 hours over two viewings going over the vehicle; inside, outside and underneath. And if it was in a collision, one hell of a very good body shop did the work...I used to work in one.

The damage to that owner's vehicle I would have found in the first minute of inspection. I look for collision evidence first and walk away if there is even a hint, thereby saving me time on the rest of the inspection.

[TopGun]

.....
This very unfortunate owner now has a 1996 Porsche 993 Twin Turbo that has taken a very big hit on the selling price.

Would $1,000 cover it?   

A friend of mine just bought an '07 Audi Cab from the US sight unseen!  I coudln't believe it.  All she said was "Well, the owner took it to an independent shop, and they looked at it."  Yikes...

[dr_spock]

A friend of mine just bought an '07 Audi Cab from the US sight unseen!  I coudln't believe it.  All she said was "Well, the owner took it to an independent shop, and they looked at it."  Yikes...

You didn't offer to fly down to look at it?   

[TopGun]

You didn't offer to fly down to look at it?  

Texas?   No thanks...would cost me a fortune compared to a commercial flight too.

[mwqa]

I found Carproof very useful when buying seciond hand a few years ago, moreso than carfax. More accurate, checks liens, etc.

Carfax is good for checking number of owners, time on the lot. Some cars we looked at were on the lot for over a year! Another, a private seller, had a lien on the car he was trying to sell.

I think at least a Carproof should be done before buying secondhand. Helps to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Cars are commodities for most people. Which car are you going to pick: the one with 1 owner or the one with 5? One with no insurance claims vs. one with none?

Of course, nothing replaces a proper mechanical inspection.

[No H2O]

A friend of mine just bought an '07 Audi Cab from the US sight unseen!  I coudln't believe it.  All she said was "Well, the owner took it to an independent shop, and they looked at it."  Yikes...

You mean to the "seller's" independent shop or one she as the buyer chose?

If I were to buy an upper end car, I'd decide to take a long vacation and bring my laptop along. Evenings can be spent doing on-line searches for whatever is interesting within a two day drive. Make an appointment, daisy chain a few cars on the way that you want to view and check them out yourself.

[tenpenny]

When I bought my used Subaru back in 05, I did a Carfax, one thing I learned was the name of the previous owner, because I found the car as soon as the dealer had listed it, so the lien still appeared in the records.  Three days later the lien was gone from the records, so I just hit it lucky.

Turns out that it had even been sold at my local Subaru dealer, even though I bought it in a different city, and I learned some things about it from my local service guy, who knew the folks who had bought it.  He agreed that I was getting a car that had been well looked after.