How many of you guys checked with CarFax before you bought?
05-23-08, 05:55 AM
#1
How many of you guys checked with CarFax before you bought?
Just out of curiosity I would like to know how many of you checked into the CarFax reports before you bought your car. It seems like there are a lot of members here that are scooping up '98 - '02 with VERY low miles (under 50K); even with a 2002 that's still only about 8K/year and for a 1998 that's only 5K/year!
I bought my car CPO from the local Lexus dealer and still ran a CarFax report to make sure my odometer wasn't turned or anything.
Case in point...before I bought my car I was looking to buy privately (this was in 2003). It was a 2000 GS400 with 26K miles on it in great condition and he only wanted $21K! It was only 3 years old! Something was a little fishy to me because I saw a couple of very tiny holes around the spedometer (if you didn't know the 2GS you probably thought it came like that) and also noticed a handsfree setup in his car (previously he mentioned he was in sales; I thought to myself there should be a lot more miles on this thing especially if he was in sales and on the road a lot). I was just about to buy and decided to run a CarFax and a lot of things came up including possible odometer rollback. I decided to not go through with it and bought a CPO for 10K more with 20K more miles.
I bought my car CPO from the local Lexus dealer and still ran a CarFax report to make sure my odometer wasn't turned or anything.Case in point...before I bought my car I was looking to buy privately (this was in 2003). It was a 2000 GS400 with 26K miles on it in great condition and he only wanted $21K! It was only 3 years old! Something was a little fishy to me because I saw a couple of very tiny holes around the spedometer (if you didn't know the 2GS you probably thought it came like that) and also noticed a handsfree setup in his car (previously he mentioned he was in sales; I thought to myself there should be a lot more miles on this thing especially if he was in sales and on the road a lot). I was just about to buy and decided to run a CarFax and a lot of things came up including possible odometer rollback. I decided to not go through with it and bought a CPO for 10K more with 20K more miles.
05-23-08, 06:13 AM
#2
I think most informed buyers get the vehicle's Carfax before the purchase. That being said, I got a Carfax on all the cars I was interested in buying. Even though some accidents may not/are not reported on it, it still does help narrowing down major accidents, where insurance was involved, etc.
05-23-08, 07:10 AM
#3
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I always get a CarFax on vehicles before making a decision even though they are not always accurate due to things not reported. I also went to Lexus' website and registered for the Owners Area where you can punch in the VIN and get information about things maintenance/repairs done by the dealerships. This is also not always 100% due to some dealers not reporting, but it is additional information. I also found out which dealership the car was originally purchased from, I called and they faxed me a history report of the work they did on the car which was not reported on the Lexus website.
On another note, I was looking at a 2000 GS300 with extremely low miles (36K). I got a car fax and the last reported mileage was 67K which was reported 3 years ago. This saved my butt by telling me the mileage was rolled back and the car possibly had well over 100k on it. So the moral of the story...
Getting some information about a car before you buy it is better than none...
On another note, I was looking at a 2000 GS300 with extremely low miles (36K). I got a car fax and the last reported mileage was 67K which was reported 3 years ago. This saved my butt by telling me the mileage was rolled back and the car possibly had well over 100k on it. So the moral of the story...
Getting some information about a car before you buy it is better than none...
05-23-08, 07:42 AM
#4
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I always do a carfax on any auto I am considering, plus that have that guarantee! Good for title search, as if the car was stolen, flooded, burned, abused, molested, tortured - you get the idea!
05-23-08, 08:49 AM
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i did before i bought the black 04 gs300. but there was this white gs430 with 40k miles and they wanted $18000 for it. thought it was way too good to be true. so i ran it and it showed that it was totaled before AND THIS WAS AT CARMAX!!
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05-23-08, 08:57 AM
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I always run a Carfax on potential car purchases myself. Like mentioned before, even though limited to accidents that were actually reported, this saved me on a few occasions from other things, like odometer rollbacks and once on a salvage title, which looked like it was washed before being resold in GA. Also, I'll get the car checked out at the Lexus dealership too or at least get the maintenance history, or whatever portion of it that can be provided.. I don't know if I'm not a good judge of character or the potential sellers I've encountered are just very well versed in the art of prevarication - from an ancient dude three days older than dirt, to one of the hottest chicks I've ever seen. Put the stereotypical used car salesman image to shame, honestly!
On the other hand I don't know if I have anything to brag about. I came from a Vanden Plas before I started my love affair with Lexus, and took a really big hit trying to sell that car. People would call ready to purchase it, and by the time I got done reciting the litany of stuff that I expected to go wrong with it, they would get discouraged. Had other Jag owners calling up mad because I gave people tips on what to look for when shopping for Jags too and they would find things that other owners were trying to hide.
Anyways, I'm rambling.... do a Carfax. Better than nothing.....
On the other hand I don't know if I have anything to brag about. I came from a Vanden Plas before I started my love affair with Lexus, and took a really big hit trying to sell that car. People would call ready to purchase it, and by the time I got done reciting the litany of stuff that I expected to go wrong with it, they would get discouraged. Had other Jag owners calling up mad because I gave people tips on what to look for when shopping for Jags too and they would find things that other owners were trying to hide.
Anyways, I'm rambling.... do a Carfax. Better than nothing.....
