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  #1  
Old 01-31-2007, 06:26 PM
Pete Geither's Avatar
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Location: Western Pa.
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Carfax is WAY overrated !

Finished a customers Accord coupe the other day and during the repair we noticed that the left 1/4 panel had some really nasty bodywork done to it. Under the rear bumper cover we saw a 6 inch gash into the trunk compartment that was rusted and letting water into the trunk. The right front wheel had, at one time, come back and bent the right rocker moulding. In our opinion, this car was probably a total at one time,,, it was an 03. When the customer arrived and I asked about the previous work, she claimed to know nothing of any previous damage, and to prove it she had a spotless,,, you guessed it,, Carfax, to go by. I have seen this so many times that I would seriously advise anyone looking at a used car to take these Carfax's VERY lightly. Have an experienced pro look the car over. The money spent will be well worth it,,, and no, I don't do that for a living. What prompted this was all the requests for Carfax's on the site,,,, don't trust them, IMHO.

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  #2  
Old 01-31-2007, 07:54 PM
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Join Date: May 2004
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It's a wise suggestion not to put more faith into a Carfax report than it merits.

One can't really know before seeing it if the Carfax report for a particular car will be worthless. It sometimes does turn up useful information, e.g., that what's being billed as a "southern car" spent its first 15 years in the rust belt, that a vehicle has been through the hands of several short-time owners in the past couple of years, that it's been through one or more wholesale auctions recently, that it's been involved in reported collisions, etc. - and sometimes real show-stoppers. When available, that sort of information can really help when initially trying to feel out a prospective car from a distance when one can't conveniently lay eyeballs on it, kick the tires, etc. When it gets serious, you're spot-on - a good PPI is a necessity.

Where a lot of folks get into trouble is when they assume, just because nothing bad shows up in the Carfax, that nothing bad ever happened to the car! It's an attempt to turn a lack of information into information - a failure to think critically.

Naturally, Carfax doesn't have much interest in emphasizing the inherent limitations of the information they can provide!
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  #3  
Old 01-31-2007, 08:24 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Milford, CT
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Carfax is just a tool, nothing more the reports are not written in stone. I would certainly pull the Carfax of any car I was looking at but again its just a tool.
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Old 01-31-2007, 08:27 PM
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Carfax is just a way to get a quick snapshot of the car's history - it's not to be trusted.
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  #5  
Old 02-01-2007, 12:27 AM
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Do they actually check for these things when you take them in for a PPI? Seems like a good idea to dump water everywhere and check for leaks.

We had a 300SDL that checked out fine with carfax but had a nasty trunk leak, it might have been the same deal as the thing you saw. Such a shame, the engine was great, transmission was great, suspension felt new. The thing handled great. The trunk lid spring they used was also different than stock so the trunk would swing upwards violently if you didn't hold it back with your hand. I think a door was out of alignment as well.

We ended up selling it for 3K.
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Last edited by Ara T.; 02-01-2007 at 08:15 AM.
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  #6  
Old 02-03-2007, 11:11 AM
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Carfax's achilles is that it only lists the damage, repairs, ownership transfers, etc. that are reported to the database either via police records, the DMV, the repair/body shops or dealerships. If you get in a single car wreck, drive away before any cops arrive and take the car to your buddy with a body shop the car will still have a clean history. I'm sure there are numerous ways to get around Carfax by those who really want to.

It can be a helpful tool, though.

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