Is there a Carfax alternative? (less expensive)

[Oracle]

Hi.
I am about to buy a car and while trying to get the history I came across Carfax prices and I'm appalled... its so expensive!

The service is now at $40 CAD. Used to be half of that not that long ago..

Does anyone know of a less expensive carfax-like service?

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Thank you

[Dantilla]

In my opinion, Carfax is great example of great marketing of a worthless product.
Notoriously inaccurate.

Plenty of formerly-totaled cars out there with a clean Carfax report.
I used to attend insurance auctions. While the auctioneer never used the words "Clean carfax", they did a good job insinuating this pile of crunched metal would not show up as an accident victim.

Last car I bought, the seller was surprised when I ignored his report and crawled around and under the car with a flashlight.

[Oracle]

I just found vincheckpro and seemed to good to be true, so after a little bit of research that website is a total Scam!

[JackDidley]

I used autocheck one time. Similar to Carfax but I do not recall the cost. Carfax is ok for basic information but not much else. They can only report information given to them and not every thing is reported. I totalled my Vette back in the 2000s and it never showed on Carfax.

[cabmandone]

Better thing to do is have the car inspected. I went to buy a car with a "clean carfax" in Columbus OH. I didn't notice in the pictures that the drivers side was a slightly darker color but when I arrived to look the car over it was clear the car had been T boned. The front and rear door had been repainted and the rocker panel clearly had work done. Lesson? Eyes will tell you what carfax doesn't know.
I used autocheck once too. Car was supposed to have low mileage... turned out the Odometer was replaced and not reported.

[stomachmonkey]

Let's see, Carfax, the best known brand, can be highly inaccurate, but a cheaper option might be better?

Spend the money on a quality PPI.

[Oracle]

Originally Posted by cabmando

Better thing to do is have the car inspected. I went to buy a car with a "clean carfax" in Columbus OH. I didn't notice in the pictures that the drivers side was a slightly darker color but when I arrived to look the car over it was clear the car had been T boned. The front and rear door had been repainted and the rocker panel clearly had work done. Lesson? Eyes will tell you what carfax doesn't know.
I used autocheck once too. Car was supposed to have low mileage... turned out the Odometer was replaced and not reported.

I'm buying the car from a reputable (as far as I can tell) Garage. The owner 27 years in the same spot assures me that that car was purchased from a client of him with a busted transmission. He replaced the transmission and did all maintenance: Sparkplugs, brakes, etc.
So he is pretty open but very clear there is no crystal ball and he doesn't know what he doesn't know.. e.g. will break down the next day, etc..

So I'm comfortable with the mechanical aspect of the car but I keep wondering if there has been a mayor issue that we don't know.

For the price and no hassle seems to be a low risk purchase.. I really need to replace my existing car that is rusty (all over) and needs work to stay on the road.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Oracle

I'm buying the car from a reputable (as far as I can tell) Garage. The owner 27 years in the same spot assures me that that car was purchased from a client of him with a busted transmission. He replaced the transmission and did all maintenance: Sparkplugs, brakes, etc.
So he is pretty open but very clear there is no crystal ball and he doesn't know what he doesn't know.. e.g. will break down the next day, etc..

So I'm comfortable with the mechanical aspect of the car but I keep wondering if there has been a mayor issue that we don't know.

For the price and no hassle seems to be a low risk purchase.. I really need to replace my existing car that is rusty (all over) and needs work to stay on the road.

If the car were $100.00 more would it be a deal breaker?

If the answer is no then spend the $40.00 on the CarFax and rest easy with the knowledge that there are possibly no major issues that you don't know about.

Looked at a used SUV for the wife.

Obvious the thing had been hit (among other issues).

Brought it to the dealers attention and his response was "yeah, but the CarFax is clean".

[dad911]

I run the report if it's a car I plan on re-selling, and not driving into the ground. When you go to sell it, the buyer will likely run it at that point.

If it comes up with a bad carfax now, it's a negotiation tool also.

May be clean of accidents, but what if there is a mileage discrepancy/ odometer rollback?

[Arizona_928]

plug it into the eBay as selling it. Should pop out a free vin report. Will be pretty worthless on a clean, low # owner car.

[RKDinOKC]

PPI is the best for information about a used car.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by RKDinOKC

PPI is the best for information about a used car.

Yup, Carfax is useless and an easy thing for people to hide behind.

[red-beard]

Can I offer to send you are car report, that is about as (in)accurate and 1/2 the price?

[Brian 162]

Seeing you're in Calgary what about Car Proof Canada? I don't remember the cost.
I purchased a vehicle in New Brunswick and I got a Car Proof. It was pretty accurate plus it also showed no outstanding liens Canada wide.

[Oracle]

thank you all for your comments..
I did go the ebay route and sure, I got a basic report..
Good enough, mechanically the car is sound and the original owner is local.

I just need this little car to last a few years until I get another one (that feels less cheap inside, Dodge is the cheapest, second is Subaru)

[RSBob]

Bought a 957 (Cayenne S) out of Canada so had a Canadian CarFax pulled and it was worthless. It gave me two “ service” dates but zero specifics. The rear bumper cover had been replaced but no mention of an accident. I called and complained that it had no info compared to the US version and their reply was that they had no control over spotty reporting. Too bad, so sad and we’ll keep your money anyway.