CarFax....can we trust them?

[Drdogface]

I've been in the market lately to get a new-er truck to tow my fifth wheel. While my aging '95 Dodge gets the job done it is an auto (my mistake), rides like an Abrams Tank, and is only a regular cab. Yesterday I drove 60 miles to a dealer in Woodland, Ca. to see an '01 Dually with 90 grand on the clock but it was equipped the way I wanted it and that's not an outrageous milage for a Cummins diesel. I must mention here that I found the truck thru www.cars.com and the dealer had already done a carfax which was posted for free. It was totally CLEAN !!

I first noted brand new front (only) tires and they were ultra cheap off brand rubber....rear ones were nearly shot. Ok...so I drive it for a few minutes and get it out on the fwy while trying to learn the stick shift, get thru town traffic, and so forth. Once cruising straight and level I finally look down and the steering wheel and see it's canted way to the left...like about 10:00 O'clock. WTF? Upon further inspection once back at the dealer it seems the driver's side door is somewhat poorly fitting and possibly sprung.

I approached the salesman (my test drive was solo) and told him I thought the truck had, in fact, been wrecked and had a bent frame. I showed him the problem and he was puzzled..or so it seemed. At least this place was honest ? enough to have not removed the wheel and re-alligned it on the splines to hid the problem.

Like I said, the Carfax was clean and said 'Guaranteed no problem' in regards to wrecks and other major damage. So...can we really trust them????

As an aside to this, I'm still looking for a good '00 or '01 Dodge Dually stick. If anyone has more or better search tools please chime in.

[kaisen]

All search tools are based on REPORTED history. No police report, no insurance claim-->> no way it will ever show up on ANY report. If a tree falls in the woods....

Many big pickups get 'injured' on the job site and get fixed. No reports.

You own a 95 Ram, and a 2001 should be no different. The front track bars (and every front suspension component for that matter) were crap and made those trucks crab down the road. I wouldn't necessarily conclude that the frame was bent just because the steering wheel wasn't straight.

E

[Rick V]

No, Like E stated if no insurance claim the report will be clean. My SC has a clean report but I have a reciept from the origional owner where the Rt front fender was damaged. He replaced it and foot the bill himself. My Mercedes is clean even though my wife backed into a truck and bent the decklid in. I replaced it and had it repainted out of pocket. I did it that way to keep the records clean. Carfax is ok but more of a selling gimmic than anything.

[bell]

in my case a local dealership entered an incorrect milage (they had my wheels only....no car) and it now shows up as a milage descrepancy on the carfax for my 911......they say they can't "get into" that information in their computer system.....f'ing a-holes.
rant over

[Racerbvd]

Nope, I bought a cab a while back, CF came up clean (well after the fact of me buying the car, and I found the problems) yet it had been hit hard on the drivers side, the 2002 Z06 we just bought to build our Route 66 Vette retro on came up clean, but this is how it looked when we bought it.

[john70t]

-take a tape measure and a friend for the frame point(if necessary)
-a good vacuum guage for the intake manifold pressure(a lot of info there)
-check panel edges for respray/bumps
-doors should close easily and equally
-make sure CEL/SES light and all dashh stuff is on at "on" position and off while running, and see if trans holds on a steep hill
-take it to the nearest freeway, floor it, and let go of the wheel
-slam on the brakes
-check tires in/out for even wear

Records are only a starting point, and as acurate as the people updating them.