trackball

CarFax is one tool you have in your arsenal, alongside your eyes, your mechanic's advice, etc etc. But if you're in the market for a car, why would you not run a CarFax report? If there really is a mistaken entry on the report, then you win (no problem for you in reality). If there is a valid entry on the report you didn't know about, then you also win (avoiding a lemon). Saying the "carfax has been wrong before and could be wrong again" doesn't negate the advantage you get by knowing whatever correct info it gives you.

Some car insurance companies will pay for a rental after an accident, some won't. You should not be buying a car immediately after an accident just to have something to drive around in -- cars are big purchases, and you're going to be driving it for a while. There is no way you should have a gun put to your head to settle for something quickly just to get back on the road. This is a great example of what rainy day savings are a lifesaver for -- a short term (few weeks) rental or lease while you find a car you are happy with.

RolxuSC400

Your missing our point which is were not saying to dump Carfax but I specifically stated that it is ONE piece of your due diligence. My issues with Carfax is what it has NOT stated not what it has stated and its been more than once it has reported as clean when I have verified significant damage to the vehicle. I am NOT saying don't pull Carfax I am saying trust YOUR instincts, your friends, mechanics or whomever your relying on more.

How do you win with a "mistaken entry", I am unclear. I am calling out the OMISSION of petinent information on the report NOT inclusion.

In any event, I think we are getting off topic but wanted to clarify my position.

trackball

Who was making "our point" ? There was no unified opinion I can make out from the combined postings other than "oh, well -- this guy's stuck with a bum car now". Just saying.

My comments weren't directed towards you (RolxuSC400), but to some of the other posters who said CarFax was "practically useless", or who had posted about how carfax wouldn't have shown what sound like owner / ghetto mechanic repairs. Checking for bum repairs would be where the local inspection comes in, like you stated.

Since the original poster describes what sounds like a potential junkyard rebuild, knowing in advance that the vehicle may have a salvage title from Hurricane Katrina, or have been in some other situation a carfax or similar report provides would have been helpful if it was reported.

If you had a single owner car that just kept showing registration renewal for 12 years, then that obviously doesn't tell you much. The reports are obviously more helpful when telling you about catastrophic damages that someone has patched up. Where I live in Ontario, Canada, you cannot register a vehicle with a salvage title (unlike other parts of the USA and Canada). I know people who have bought vehicles from USA and had to sell them at the border because they didn't know this detail about the car's history in advance.

Having a false positive (mistaken entry) on the report is a better situation to have than a false negative (eg carfax says no salvage title, when it really is). For the salvage, odometer, fire and flood etc checks they do, they will buy the car back if they are wrong. This is your basic statistics stuff.

Running unlimited reports for 30 days costs $35, so in my case, where I looked at ten or twelve cars, it was a no brainer to help initially rule out poor candidates. I was looking for cars that had been in Texas, Arizona, or Florida (away from the rust belt) and not winter driven (despite what the seller or dealer says). Given a choice, I'd rather know than not know, and investigate further from there.

SC40095

yeah I think it is. I will still Autocheck it since they seem to have more info.