Reply from my buddy who is THE man at Carfax.

"I'm not 100% familiar with the line, but as long as one isn't reselling the reports you can use them on any VIN you like. Of course, you can always ask a used car dealer to give you a free Carfax Report."

i brought this up several months ago, and was immediately chastised. if carfax still had the unlimited reports with a monthly subscription, i would gladly help pelican brothers out (albeit, offline.)

what i do with carfaxes that i PURCHASED is my business...

Thanks for asking, Rick.

For the record, I agree with you 100%, Embraer.

You guys are missing the point. If Wayne was anti xxx and decided that he did not the topic of xxx brought up and discussed on his site then those are the rules.

We pay nothing to hang out here and there are few restrictions and really none of them are unreasonable.

I don't understand why it is so difficult to respect his wishes.

If you want the policy changed then bring it up with him. But if he does not want to discuss it then that is that.

i don't think wayne has taken a position after carfax changed its rules. the ban was based on the old rules (when cfax was 30 days unlimited searches). under the old rules, cfax was VERY strict about people giving them away, including on car boards like this. they would contact the board owner if they found out it was happening.

under the new rules, I don't think cfax is concerned at all anymore. They get paid for their 5 searches (and paid big), I don't think they care how those 5 are used. there is no more room for significant abuse (like in the old days, when 1 guy could buy a $30 unlimited, and do hundreds of searches for friends and anyone else on the internet).

as far as cfax being useless, it is and it isn't. It's useless if you think a clean cfax guarantees a no accident, no "history" car. b/c obviously it doesn't. Still, I think it is crazy to buy a car without doing one. B/c a negative report can greatly reduce the value/saleability of the car. You should know if a carfax is clean or not b/f making an offer, esp. if you think you may ever want to sell it in the future. for example, if the cfax shows an odometer rollback (even if it is incorrect) it can be very hard to resell the car in the future.

it sucks, but props to cfax for creating a useless product that you still, as a sensible buyer, really should buy.

most, I should say all, dealers and sellers gave me their carfax when I asked. I guess as long as you are not selling it for $, then it's ok. I totally understand that Wayne doesn't want headache, so as long as we don't do it in public here, then that is fine, correct?

I'm not into buying and selling cars but I bought an easy to use DeFelsko paint meter and use it each time I go look at a car. This provides objective data points that tell a story CarFax can't. It is very useful and only has to save you once to pay for itself. Another useful tool is a title search.