Anyone have carfax?

[Sideoftheroad]

Anyone have carfax that they would be willing to run a report for me?

[eusa1]

A worthless product imho

[Sideoftheroad]

I can 1/2 way agree with you. It does have its' flaws. It shouldn't be taken as the bible but I think some people do. I just look at it 1 tool among many to use.

[friesman]

I used it once and it gave me some info on where the car was from and whether it had been in a serious acccident or not, so in that repect I found it somewhat helpful. It doesnt give a bunch of info though.

 

Can I ask what about it makes it useless to you , MIke?

 

Brian

[eusa1]

I have it available to me at work, and have used it several times to check mine and others vehicles that i know for certain have had damage, only to prove that the program tells me that cars that i have crashed myself, have no history of the 20k repairs that were completed.

With that said, i'm sure that it may have value to some folks... Just not. For me

[Sideoftheroad]

And that is the part that I agree with. It is only as good as long as someone reports the info. That is the key. If the dealer doesn't report, then it doesn't show. But I don't think it is completely worthless.

[KIC]

I have used them to confirm the mileage at least.; I once bought a Suburban and then pulled the Carfax only to find out that it had been an auctioned vehicle and the mileage had been turned back over 30,000 miles. Since it was a "private" sale, the AG wouldn't touch it.

[KarlS]

Carfax only gives you records that went through a dealership, if someone had major or minor body work or mechanical work done from a non-dealership repair facility it will not show up. If you take the vin number to a dealer for the brand of car your looking at they will run the numbers for you and tell you more then carfax can. As an auto service manager for 33 years we did it all the time.

[Guest scarylarry]

Worthless..

 

I had a 2003 Dodge pick up gas motor that was fill with diesel, stations fault truck drop diesel load in the gas..

 

Anyway truck had 2k miles on it blew the motor and had to be rebuilt by the dealer and took almost 6 weeks since station ins company got involved..

 

Long story short when I ran a carfax on the truck it show the date it when in for service...

 

It did NOT give the details of what and why it was at the dealer...So to me it it worthless..

[Sideoftheroad]

Karl,

How does that work? If someone say gets a dent repaired at a non dealer. The repair record is in that non dealer's computer. So how would a dealer find out about it? Just trying to understand how a dealer would have more info.

[Guest scarylarry]

I would be concern on the mechanical part as well..

 

Whoever bought mine I'm sure they don't have a clue about the rebuilt motor..

 

Had they called me I had all the paper work and would have handed it over to anyone..

[Globewalker]

Carfax only gives you records that went through a dealership, if someone had major or minor body work or mechanical work done from a non-dealership repair facility it will not show up. If you take the vin number to a dealer for the brand of car your looking at they will run the numbers for you and tell you more then carfax can. As an auto service manager for 33 years we did it all the time.

 

And even then. maybe not.. My wife's Aunt bought a 2011 Murano, I believe, from a dealer and the carfax was clean and they claimed it was pristine and never been wrecked.. her son-in-law works for Ins co and ran the VIN and found out it had indeed been wrecked and repaired at that same dealership!

She confronted them and negated the deal but all they wanted to know was how she found out and acted pissed... She should have called the DA or the news at least but was too scared to get her son-in-law in trouble..

Car Fax is def. not to be trusted as the whole story..

[KarlS]

Karl,

How does that work? If someone say gets a dent repaired at a non dealer. The repair record is in that non dealer's computer. So how would a dealer find out about it? Just trying to understand how a dealer would have more info.

 

 

Dealer would also have records on recalls that were done or needed to be done. When a car comes into the dealership the Vin number is the first thing we run, the dealership computers will show in detail what was done and parts used. Even minor things like oil changes or a fuse replacement. carfax does not have access that much detail.

 

Just like scarrylarry posted about his motor.

[Sideoftheroad]

Karl,

I guess what I am stating is the dealer can only pull up records at that dealer. Since I am in Indiana, say I travel to Ky, get in a minor fender bender and had some work done. An Indiana dealer isn't going to have record of what a KY dealer did.

 

The used car dealer where I saw this car on the Internet stated there are 12 records. Carfax.com says 21. I actually drove by the lot today and saw the vehicle. It is in the bargain row. I don't know about you but the stigma I get when i see bargain row is mechanical issues. It is priced less than what kbb.org says but then again kbb only gave me the option for excellent condition when I go by what a dealer would ask. It is pretty much fully decked out 2005 Chevy Equinox LT with 78.6k miles for less than 10k. From the pics I saw on the Internet and in person it is really nice.

[Sideoftheroad]

Bump

[etcswjoe]

When I was in the militray I moved quite a bit and every dealer had the records of what was done at the other dealers. Also Carfax gets its information mostly from other sources such as insurance companies. It will also have duplicate records if they are from diffrent sources.

 

If you really want a Carfax Report I would have the used car dealer you are buying it from run it and it should be free to you. My advice to you would be to do a full inspection and test drive or take it to a mechanic and have them check it out before you buy it.

 

You can also run it yourself for 39.99 at carfax.com

 

Karl,

I guess what I am stating is the dealer can only pull up records at that dealer. Since I am in Indiana, say I travel to Ky, get in a minor fender bender and had some work done. An Indiana dealer isn't going to have record of what a KY dealer did.

 

The used car dealer where I saw this car on the Internet stated there are 12 records. Carfax.com says 21. I actually drove by the lot today and saw the vehicle. It is in the bargain row. I don't know about you but the stigma I get when i see bargain row is mechanical issues. It is priced less than what kbb.org says but then again kbb only gave me the option for excellent condition when I go by what a dealer would ask. It is pretty much fully decked out 2005 Chevy Equinox LT with 78.6k miles for less than 10k. From the pics I saw on the Internet and in person it is really nice.

[Sideoftheroad]

I am not going to spend $40 for a report. It's a ripoff. Also was hoping to not ask the dealer to run it so I can make sure I get the whole report. It would take someone that pays for the unlimited report option who would be willing to run it for me. Thanks for the advice though.