When did CARFAX get so expensive?
Didn't they used to be $19? Anyone know of an active coupon code for them?
$35 just seems steep considering they can be so inaccurate. But when buying a $30k car from a private seller, it is better that nothing.
-
April 5, 2010 5:05 p.m. Rusnak_322 Reader
-
April 5, 2010 5:51 p.m. billy3esq SuperDork
The competing (arguably superior) AutoCheck (by Experian) is only $30 for a single report.
-
April 5, 2010 6:10 p.m. skruffy Dork
and a pre-purchase inspection by a really good mechanic is much better than both
-
April 5, 2010 6:20 p.m. carguy123 SuperDork
And to top it off they've been wrong on the last 3 cars I've run.
-
April 5, 2010 6:23 p.m. unevolved Reader
Same here, I had an '01 Civic that came up clean on a Carfax report, but the left rear wheel was 1/4" farther forward than the right. Could never get a proper alignment on that thing. Near as I can figure, it was wrecked and fixed off of insurance.
-
April 5, 2010 8:20 p.m. Rusnak_322 Reader
will a dealership do a PPI? What can I expect it to cost? It is a 08 GMC still under warranty.
If not, how can I find a good shop, the car is about 2 hours away from me.
-
April 5, 2010 9:03 p.m. kb58 Reader
I used it about 2-yrs ago and it was $20-something, making sure the drivetrain I bought wasn't from a stolen car - something that a mechanic can't determine.
-
April 5, 2010 9:05 p.m. Raze HalfDork
carguy123 wrote:
And to top it off they've been wrong on the last 3 cars I've run.
Burned me bad on the sale of my Cadillac, it was 'clean' and then 3 years later when NY state was required to report certain types of claims it all came up to my dismay, I even had a mechanic look it over and sign off on it, but the repair work was so good they couldn't tell, but the documentation hurt me...
-
April 5, 2010 9:18 p.m. eastsidemav Reader
My old 2001 Saturn(bought new in May 2001) was hit hard enough to nearly total it in April 2002. Had it taken to a dealer's body shop, repair paid for by insurance. There was a police report and everything. Every time I had a 30 day carfax account, I checked the VINs on every car I owned. That accident never came up in a Carfax.
-
April 5, 2010 10:19 p.m. 93gsxturbo Reader
Had a Mustang that was wrecked 4 times and had a different roof and passenger side, from two different cars, two different wrecks. Clean CARFAX.
Had a clean 93 Eclipse GSX, spotless car. Some mouth breather entered the mileage wrong when it got E-checked. Had a "bad odometer" according to CARFAX, car had all receipts from day 1 proving it had 49k miles on it.
JUNK. A good inspection is worth 100 CARFAX queries.
-
April 6, 2010 6:33 a.m. Woody SuperDork
I've signed up for a month of Carfax in the past when I was car shopping. Just out of curiosity, I searched three cars that I already owned. There were errors and omissions on all three. I have very little faith in these things.
-
April 6, 2010 9:37 a.m. Ian F Dork
Carfax is so useless they should pay YOU for the service...
-
April 6, 2010 10:16 a.m. slefain Dork
AutoCheck FTW
-
April 6, 2010 10:26 a.m. Otto_Maddox New Reader
Carfax is ok if you use it as a starting point. I really don't know why one would say Carfax is "wrong" if it doesn't list prior damage to a car. It isn't like the Carfax guy inspects every car. It is simply a database that is as good or as bad as the reported information. Let's say someone wrecks a car and has it fixed without submitting a claim. How do you expect Carfax to know that? I can understand why a very naive person might be confused by this, but not a bunch of car geeks.
-
April 6, 2010 11:03 a.m. Ian F Dork
But that's the point: you're paying a fee to access a rather marginal database.
-
April 6, 2010 11:17 a.m. Cotton HalfDork
I use autocheck these days. I like to have as much info on a car purchase as I can and that's just another tool I use. There are errors from time to time and most of the ones I've encountered can be explained away pretty easily. The easiest are normally DMV typos on mileage that can be checked if the car has records. My 944T does not have a salvage title although it was totalled. it was also over 10 years old and TN doesn't report on cars older than that. The Ford f250 was relatively new and was reported (and also had to be inspected). I would have saved a lot of money on a couple of cars had I ran the super E36 M3 tool known as carfax (sacasm) before I purchased. I ran it after the fact....,oops. One of the many reasons I always run one now.....minus the older stuff that isn't in the database.
-
April 6, 2010 11:19 a.m. Otto_Maddox New Reader
In reply to Ian F:
Pretty much. But you are screwed if you don't get a Carfax. Even if a car checks out clean, if it is dinged for anything on Carfax, it has a reduced value. Pretty good scam for them - not a great product, but you pretty much have to get it.
-
April 6, 2010 11:49 a.m. 81gtv6 HalfDork
In reply to Rusnak_322:
Call up the closest GMC dealer and set up an appointment. In my experience they usually take 1 to 2 hours and the cost is usually whatever shop time is.
-
April 6, 2010 8:33 p.m. dj06482 Reader
The best inspection I've seen was via eBay. The potential buyer paid $100 for the inspection and the inspector spent three hours going over my 18 year old Mustang with a fine-toothed comb. He was pulling back the trim in the trunk, and documented every ding and chip in the paint (which there were many).
As a seller, it was a huge pain in the butt as it ruined the good part of the day between waiting for the inspector's phone call in the morning, waiting for the inspector to call and make an appointment, and then meeting the inspector so he could look at the car. The test drive was quick, it took about 5 minutes. However, the potential buyer got an incredible bargain for only $100.
Here's the info: http://pages.motors.ebay.com/buy/inspection/
-
April 6, 2010 9:02 p.m. eastsidemav Reader
In reply to Otto_Maddox:
Thats the problem, though, in my Saturn's case, I did do everything aboveboard, and the accident still didn't show up on a Carfax.
In my recent car shopping, I looked at a late model Toyota Celica that had definitely been in a collision on the front drivers corner at some point. Clean Carfax.
-
April 6, 2010 9:07 p.m. 924guy Dork
Rusnak_322 wrote:
will a dealership do a PPI? What can I expect it to cost? It is a 08 GMC still under warranty.
If not, how can I find a good shop, the car is about 2 hours away from me.
i paid about $100 for a ppi at a honda dealership last year, well worth it...
-
April 6, 2010 9:37 p.m. Rusnak_322 Reader
In reply to 924guy:
I am going to call the local dealerships and see if I can get PPI there.
