I found a great deal on the car and it seems too cheap. Owner says its a clear title, and everything runs like new, I am far from the car so can anyone verify the VIN with carfax? If someone has a yearly subscription. I would appreciate any help. Thanks
just because something comes clean across car fax do mean jack. buying a car sight unseen is bad news.
My friend had a Lexus that he spun out of control on black ice, completely f*cked up the entire car and it was just an inch away from being totalled. Bent frame, all of it. The insurance company repaired it, and he drove it for another year or two before selling it. He ran the Carfax on it before he sold it, and it came back completely clean. So yes, Carfax doesn't mean shit.
Ok, I just wanted to make sure the carfax was ok so I don't waste my time driving 1 hour to see it. And I WILL see it if the carfax is good. I have the guys address and number. Just my dad says the car is not good... being 5k under KBB value, something must have been wrong. I don't have a carfax report from him nor a carfax account, I was hoping someone here had access to carfax through a subscription.
Car Fax is pretty useless, IMO. Best thing to do is to ask the owner of the vehicle to meet you at a mechanic's shop of your choosing and have it inspected. I learned my lesson with Car Fax once before and I'll never make that mistake again. I'm not sure how old you are, but if I were you I would listen to my father. He's right in that there might be a shady reason why it's priced much lower than KBB.
carfax actually helped me out, it recorded that the car fail emissions three times and I knew from that geko thats its a catalyst converter. sorry bro can't help you with your carfax, I paid for mine not yearly
Bingo! The shop must report the repairs made! I suggest calling some local shops to the car. if the car is a great deal it will be worth investing the $100 or so to have a mechanic put it on the hoist and look the car over thoroughly, paying close attention for body repairs.
My buddy owns a bodyshop, and according to him, as long as the vehicle is not a "total loss", it will show on carfax as being a "clean/clear title". When you see a vehicle with "savage" or "rebuilt" title, that means the vehicle was a total loss, and the bodyshop/or insurance company fixed it to resell. So in short, just because a vehicle has clean/clear title doesn't mean anything. Carfax might have a "traffic accident report" though.
That's true in most cases. But if you know a shady shop/or you know the owner of a shop. Pay the guy cash and ask him don't report it, I know it's illegal but people do it.
That I am not sure about. But I do know they have to file a report of traffic accident, seen the form in person before. (this is in California)
I echo the Carfax is next to meaning less... I got burned real bad with my first S2000, everything was clean with the title according to Carfax and it was on a well known dealers lot. Bought the car... Owned all of 30days, 17 of which it was in the shop because the trunk was leaking... The supposedly fixed it several times, but it would still leak... I eventually just threw it up on the lift myself to have a look around... To my horror the WHOLE driverside of the car had essentially been replaced!!! Fought with the dealer that I paid a premium for a car that was essentially totaled and repaired... Took a week before there body guy confessed that it had been in an accident and he noticed it the first time they tried to repair the leaking trunk... trade a cherry Mustang GT for a (now known to be a lemon) S2000, only to be put into a Civic because the dealership was dragging their feet on finding another S2000... I find some and they would come up with some excuse on how they can't get that one... needless to say I never went back there and won't send my friends to them... My current S2000 got the lift treatment right at the dealership after I told them about my first experience. But what I can tell you is that a carfax is good for seeing where the car came from and registered.... There are some states that if the car comes from out of state as a salvage or totaled, registering the car will clean the title... It was scam up this way for a bit. Cars coming up from the Carolinas with water damage being registered in New Hampshire then sold to a Mass dealership with clean titles... Lot of people had issues a few years later with electronic gremlins...
