Quote:
Originally Posted by kaisen
And it very much depends on how old the car is
Trying to buy a 1989 911 Coupe based on Carfax?
The thing could have been hit by a train and welded from two junk stolen tubs and CarFax could be clean
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That's a good point. Carfax culls data from various computer databases. Like DMVs, for example. But as I once found out, in CA if a car has not been actively registered in the state for 5 years, any old registration info gets tossed. I found this out when I purchased my car, which had originally been sold in CA, but was then-registered in NV. Because it had been NV-plated for long enough, CA tossed all original registration records dating back to the original purchase. So if there was anything shady from way back when, that info had been lost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Z-man
This is the way I've used Carfax in the past:
- If there are a lot of issues reported on a car in carfax, then walk away. IE: it verifies anything negative.
In other words: If the carfax comes back clean, that doesn't necessarily mean the car is clean. But if a carfax comes back with problems (odometer mis-reads, car passing through lots of owners...etc) then I know to walk away from the car and search for another.
I would never buy a car based on a positive carfax report alone.
-Z
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I think that's the right way to use Carfax.