When I bought my car (previously owned), it was a spur of the moment thing so I didn't get a CARFAX report at the time. Now, however, after finding out at March Meltdown that the trunk lid and rear bumper on my car are not the orginals (VIN numbers were missing), I was inspired to get a report to see if the car had been in an accident. The report came back clean. It does say that not all accidents are reported.

What has been your experience with the CARFAX reports, and have you used any other means to find out the history of your car? The car has been worked on several times by my mechanic and the dealer with no indication of structural problems.

 

The first S2000 that I tried out was (as they all are) a real beauty and I made an immediate offer of purchase. It was an 01 model, had low mileage, looked perfect and drove like a dream. We went to the bank and got the $ out to buy it, phoned the dealer and told him we wanted a carfax report and we'd buy the car. Well, folks, the car had a history -- a really bad one. It had been stolen in NY, wrecked, purchased by the insurance company and sold at an auction to the dealer. (This was a Honda dealership and the car was coming to us with a full Honda warranty) Of course, I did NOT buy that car. I immediately came home and purchased (for $20) a months' worth of unlimited carfax useage. I did, of course, find an S2k and bought it -- but I ran carfaxes on every car I tried out before it was considered for purchase. I was shocked at how many S2ks had been crashed -- and of course, how many sellers were less than forthcoming with me about that fact!!!

 

Carfax only picks up information that is reported to the DMV or police. If police were not called or if a report was not mandated to be sent to the DMV then there report from Carfax would be clean. I discoverd this when I did a Carfax check on my car (I am the origional owner) to see if my accident (was rear-ended last April) would show. It did not as no police were called and Texas does not require reporting to DMV.
The balance of the information shown on Carfax was correct.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mns2k
Carfax only picks up information that is reported to the DMV or police.

 

It appears to me that the other info on the report was correct, although not much of it. I did find it interesting that the previous owner was in FL, yet I bought the car in VA. Not sure how it got here. At the time there were so few of these cars and no one really knew much about them.

 

I'd like to run a report on my car before the year is up because there was more mileage on the car than expected and it was sold as new. How do I go about this?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by grannyrod
I'd like to run a report on my car before the year is up because there was more mileage on the car than expected and it was sold as new.

 

Thanks Valley, I'll check it out. It this mostly for used cars?

 

Yes -- new cars have no history -- this is for cars that have had previous ownership by private individuals or fleet cars owned by businesses, car rental agencies, etc.

 

Doh!!!