Carfax or Autocheck?

Both of them depend solely on the information reported to them during the life of the vehicle.


For example, my father had a 1993 GMC Sierra, picked it up new, put FARM USE tags on it, and drove it that way until 2005. Then Personal Use tags went on, when he decided to retire it from farm duty. In that time, it had gotten into 3 accidents, two due to farm equipment (minor) and one from a 18 wheeler not stopping quite fast enough (major.)

The back 2' of the frame was bent, the tailgate was ruined, and the back of the bed was caved in slightly, plus the frame was bent/cracked where the bed/cab meet slightly. Dad used a torch and cut the rear 2' of frame off, welded a new one in, replaced the bed, and no one was the wiser. None of it was reported, and none of it is on the CARFAX report. Infact, there is a 12 year gap where there is no information, due to it being a FARM USE truck. I sold it last year.

There are other numerous examples I could use, but this works best. CARFAX, AutoCheck, etc. are only as reliable as the data they are given in the first place. Sometimes everything checks out perfectly, sometimes not.
 
:iagree:

I had a car that I did over 4 grand in front end damage, had it repaired at a dealership and nothing has ever popped up on the carfax type reports.

When looking at used cars take them to a qualified automotive technician and a qualified automotive body technician.
 
I agree wight William D. I have had several cars which were repaired by myseld and never posted to carfax. I did how ever use autocheck to check for liens and number of owners. I was very pleased with the layout. But always be sure do check the trunk seams, under the hood and under the car for damages! And GOOD LUCK:dblthumb2:
 
Well I was going to quote some people but almost everyone was saying the same thing.

Either is only as good as what they receive. I have researched my cars and friends and have yet to find one that is accurate.
 
they offer a basis but should not be the only deciding factor ... as offered they dont always tell the whole story. When buying used just remember Caveat Emptor.
 
I'm in the retail automotive business and use CarFax everyday, both to investigate vehicles we are contemplating buying, and on all vehicles we sell. CarFax is dependent on the information provided to them. State registration records, insurance claims, police accident reports and voluntary information provided by repair shops is the information they can access. If I were to wreck my car and fix it myself or even have a shop fix it without submitting a claim to my insurance company, CarFax will never know. Occasionally we'll find a mileage discrepancy due to a clerical error, such as transposing digits. On the whole it's a pretty good guide. We run about 100 reports per month, mostly on later model, lower mileage vehicles and I would estimate the margin of error of a CarFax report to be much less than 1%. Obviously it's not perfect, but it's pretty damn close.

Bill
 
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