Are CarFax Reports a Waste Of Time?

well of course it overheated, she bought a used Jag, what did she expect?

And before anyone flames me or I get -100 boost, it's a joke.

— JRobUSC (View Profile)

Posted on 2/27/2007 6:23:41 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

Shouldn't the car have had a "Salvage" title when he bought it? Maybe they said "it was a small bump at a red light".

— mstangpny07 (View Profile)

Posted on 2/27/2007 7:09:04 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

"I've found CarFaxes to be accurate less than 60 percent of the time," said Tim Blake, a Miami attorney specializing in auto fraud.

No S!!T sherlock.

When anybody comes to you, its because they were hosed.

The real question is that how many of them are accurate that don't come into your office?

— rack (View Profile)

Posted on 2/27/2007 8:04:33 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

Yes- they are a waste of time.

— mitchatlexusofmarin (View Profile)

Posted on 2/27/2007 8:54:09 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

Carfax reports are fantasy. Just after my GTI was nearly totaled and repaired and as I was getting ready to trade on my 330i, I ran a Carfax report.

It came up clean.

I knew then I would never trust that company's reports.

— joby (View Profile)

Posted on 2/28/2007 12:32:04 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

I find them useful. I buy cars that are about 5 years old, and usually from dealers (or trade-in wholesalers). My main concern is how many owners (as an indication of maintenance). My wife's 2001 A6 had 1 previous owner, and 6 years of maintenance at Audi dealers. We have all the books, and even the business card of the salesman who sold the car originally.
But when I see similar cars with up to 6 owners, and the last 3 or 4 each owned the car less than a year, you have to wonder: "When someone owns a car for 6 - 8 months, do they bother with oil-changes and routine maintenance designed to extend the life of the car?"
I doubt it.

I prefer a one-owner, high-mileage car over one that's crawled through stop-and-go traffic for several owners.
My latest purchase, a 2000 A6 2.7 twin-turbo with 6-speed had 165,000 miles on it when I bought it. I totally replaced the front suspension and tie-rod ends (about $1000 with labor, parts are cheap for Audis), along with Eibach springss and Koni shocks. Its like a new car now, and the engine just sings!

I sell each car for $3000 to $5000 over what I put into it after a year, because I start with a solid vehicle.
Carfax works for what I need from it.

— DieselRules (View Profile)

Posted on 2/28/2007 1:19:39 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

Many people buying used, buy it one to two years old to save on the depreciation hit. Just makes sense.

— Agent009 (View Profile)

Posted on 2/28/2007 10:08:04 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

many investment advisors and consumer advocates repeatedly emphasize the importance of buying a used car to avoid that dreaded depreciation the first 2 years of use. The ideal used car is one that's about 3 years old because it still has its original warranty intact while the price is a more accurate reflection of the cars worth because the depreciation is gone. If you only drive 10,000 miles a year, you can almost drive a car for free if you buy a 4 year old Lexus GS that's out of warranty, drive it for a year, and sell it back again for the same price you bought it for. Also, never buy or sell from a dealer if this is what you plan to do, their mark-up is too high.

Cheap or smart? You be the judge. Considering that a car is not an investment but a tool that loses its value and must be sold (or given away) after a finite period of time, it's obvious that a car represents a person's ego more than anything else. Driving a nice car is an expensive hobby.

— quizz (View Profile)

Posted on 2/28/2007 11:23:21 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

He said he's a doctor but in South Florida, you also have to ask "in what country...". :)

— aussie2u (View Profile)

Posted on 3/1/2007 4:54:09 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

This is a 2001 mdoel, more than a couple years old.

— ctsang (View Profile)

Posted on 2/28/2007 11:13:16 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

IMHO it's a good way to weed out the obvious no-nos, despite not being perfect. I mean, any of you that's ever been in or known anyone that's been in an accident knows that you could just not report the accident and pay cash. With the carfax you can narrow down your list of potential used cars to buy, then still go and check the chassis of those cars.

— A4ORCE (View Profile)

Posted on 2/28/2007 8:09:46 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

In my opinion, if you're buying a high end vehicle -especially a mercedes, don't rely on carfax - You may want to research the vehicle service history.

— clsboy (View Profile)

Posted on 3/1/2007 6:26:50 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Ricemaster says "Honda shocks will easily go 200K miles". That may be true in the past. I had an 1990 Civic whose struts were replaced at 145K. But the new (2006)Civic's struts are a joke. Just got rid of the POS @ 9K miles after replacing the front left struts twice and the right rear was making noises when I traded it in on an '06 Mazda 6. Go to the Civic forums and read all the complaints.

— dano100 (View Profile)

Posted on 3/4/2007 11:31:45 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1