Anyone ever use Carfax and was/is it worth it?

 

yeah its worth it, it will tell you things like where the truck was registered and by who, i think it will talk about warranty work, flood damage, accidents, lemon buy back, mileage tampering. don't quote me on all that but you should check their web site to be sure. we did one on a truck that my girlfriend bought last year.

 

Just had a story on the news that sheds some light.

Apparantly a guy bought a used Chevy in Oregon.
Previously the vehicle was owned in Washington.

According to Carfax, there was nothing amiss.

Turns out, the previous owner tried to launch a boat and ended up taking the truck for a swim, insurance company totalled it, and it was sold at auction to a dealership that took it across state lines, "washed" the title removing all salvage claims, then sold it as "gently used".

Engine took a dive and after some investigation, the new owner found water pooled where water shouldn't be, couldn't get anywhere with the selling Dealership, the state, or Carfax even, so he gave our "consumer reporter" a call and he used the power of the media to find out what actually happened.

I wouldn't trust Carfax as far as I could throw them.


phox

 

No WAY!! I will not trust Carfax. It is a scam as far as I am concerned. I bought the service, ran some trucks and then my dad asked me to run one that he had found on EBay. It was being sold upfront with a salvage title. I ran it and it came back clean. I contacted Carfax and demanded my money back. They complied. It was a joke. I understand they can't find everything but they tout it as if they can. Save your money.

Hondo

 

I don't think Carfax is perfect, but it's better then anything else out there. I have used them before, and would use them again.

 

Take the vehicle to a reputable mechanic before you trust CarFax. It's just a data base that can be hacked and changed.

 

I thought I liked carfax too, tried to help out my father in law by listing a Motorhome on EBay for him. (by the way, never do this) Carfax was "clean" then, whamo! The winning bidder had what he called a "Magoo" inpsection. Magoo guy can out, looked at the Motorhome, then claimed that he found proof of odometer rollback. Huh? I never saw the supposed report, buyer left me netural feedback.

I ran one on my truck when I first got it, I was kind of impressed with the amount of info. I was just basically looking to prove that it had been a "one owner", as the dealer told me, never part of a fleet or rental company and such.
I guess I trust them to a certian extent, I'll never know if we just had a guy with buyers remorse, ir the carfax report fell short, or what.

 

I guess good and bad in everything,as the saying goes, to each his own.

 

I use it, but don't trust it. Its nice to know the info the Carfax tells you, but there may be a whole lot more to it than what they tell you. In other words, use it as additional info, but don't use it as a "bible".

I used it when I bought my truck, because I thought the deal was too good to be true. It gave a clean history, told me of a little bit of basic maintenance service work that had been done by a dealer, and gave a little bit of previous reg. info. I found a receipt in the glovebox showing that a dealership had installed a replacement trans...carfax didn't show that (just the dealer oil changes, etc.). It also showed a clean insurance/accident report. But once I got the truck home and checked it out closely, I found both front fenders have been replaced, the bed had been replaced with a used one, and one door had been replaced with a used one. I really don't care, for what I paid for the truck, but its info most people would have wanted to know. (By the way, I found the replacement panels by checking paint chips closely...front fenders were originally tan, bed and 1 door were originall red...original color of the truck is white.)

Carfax info can work the other way as well. It could show a collision, which may have damaged nothing and could have been a minor fender bender. But people usually fear the worse.

Jim