FAQ on Car Checks
What is a Vehicle History Report?
A vehicle history report is the quickest and easiest way to research
the history of a car. It gathers all of a vehicle's insurance and DMV
records into one place.
At a glance, you can tell if there are major accidents, odometer problems,
flood damage issues or if the car is a lemon. With this info in hand,
you can make an informed purchase decision AND negotiate the best price.
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Where can I get a Vehicle History Report?
Several companies gather the data and sell these reports online: CARFAX. On all three sites, you look up a vehicle with its unique 17-digit
vehicle identification number (VIN) and the
site tells you how many history items it has for that specific car or
truck.
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What will I get from a Vehicle History Report?
A vehicle history report will tell you one of two things about
the car's history:
-
that it's CLEAN which might show the title being renewed or
issued several times. Where states require them, you might see emissions
or safety test passes. If it's a newer car, there might only be a
couple of records.
-
that it has POTENTIAL PROBLEMS that require further investigation:
the report might include evidence of accident history, flood damage,
indications of odometer fraud, emission test failures, theft history,
or evidence of heavy usage.
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Why should I buy a Vehicle History Report?
if you're selling...
- to get the best price for your car. If you're selling to a dealer
or trading in, they will definitely run a VHR before they take the car
off your hands. To get the best price for your car, you should know
what they're going to find out before they find it out!
if you're buying...
-
so you don't get stuck with someone else's problem. If you know what
the seller knows-- or maybe more than the seller knows!--you're more
likely to make a good decision and not be swayed by someone's smooth
"pitch."
-
extra peace-of-mind: CARFAX offers a "title guarantee"
when you buy a report. If you later find something wrong with the
car's title that wasn't in the report, you may be eligible for a payout.
(Pay close attention to the requirements, though., To make sure you're
eligible.)
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What is a VIN?
A VIN (short for "Vehicle Identification Number") is
a seventeen-digit code that uniquely identifies a vehicle. Every car,
truck, motorcycle, trailer, etc. that is built is assigned a VIN and DMVs
and insurance companies use the VIN to keep track of which vehicle is
which.
The VIN encodes specific information about a vehicle, including
country of manufacture, manufacturer, model, body style and even engine
and other information. This was standardized in the early '80s and all
major manufacturers follow the standard. Here's the VIN for a typical
car: 2YTEL56778KP099543.
Here's what CARFAX can tell about the car just by decoding the info in the VIN:
1994 Ford Taurus, 4 Dr Sedan.
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Where do I find a VIN?
A lot of used car websites include a VIN in their for-sale listings.
When you're shopping online, find the VIN and cut and paste it into the
VIN form. Get the unlimited version of the report so you can screen as
many VINs as you want.
If there's no VIN listed in the newspaper or website ad, contact the
seller and ask for it before you go see the car. You could save yourself
a lot of time by avoiding problem vehicles... and you won't get tempted
by a smooth pitch before you have all the info.
You can also get the VIN from the car itself. A VIN is visible on the
lower right hand (driver's side) corner of the dash when looking through
the front windshield. The VIN is also printed on registrations, titles
and proof of insurance cards.
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How far back do the databases go?
VINs were standardized in the early '80s to all be 17 digits long and
to use certain codes to indicate make, model, year and other information
about the car. Manufacturers were using other types of IDs before that,
but the major history databases only include the standardized VINs from
1981-on.
You probably won't find many records for most cars older than the late
eighties, but you should run the VIN check anyway.
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What is Odometer Fraud?
It is illegal to tamper with an odometer to change its reading:
usually to reduce the number of miles on the car. Unscrupulous dealers
have been known to "rollback" an odometer to make a used car
more attractive to a buyer.
Buying a vehicle history report can protect you from odometer
fraud. With the data in-hand, it's obvious if the mileage suddenly goes
down between registrations or annual emissions tests. You can also protect
yourself from odometer fraud by having a mechanic inspect the car: they
will get a sense of how much wear-and-tear there is on the vehicle, which
is more important than raw miles in determining the car's value.
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What is a Lemon?
Basically, a lemon is a car that had so many mechanical problems
that the manufacturer bought it back. States have their own lemon laws,
so the exact circumstances vary. Since lemon laws can be complicated
and vary state to state, we recommend that you talk to a lawyer in your
area.
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What's so great about a "Free Lemon Check"?
"Free" is always good. And you definitely want to know if a
car is a lemon before you buy. But here's the scoop: there are actually
very few cars that are "certified lemons." The likelihood that
you're about to buy one is really small. In fact, it's much more likely
that the car has another kind of problem or potential problem.
So don't be fooled by the report: just because the car passes the "lemon
check" doesn't mean it doesn't have other problems. Get an unlimited
account for $20 bucks and run a full report on all the cars you're looking
at to find ANY problems they might have.
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Should I buy a single report or the multiple report option?
All these sites give you the option of buying multiple reports. At CARFAX, $5 more gets you as many reports as you need for 30 days.
If you're going to be looking at a lot of cars, the multiple report option
is the way to go. CARFAX®'s "unlimited reports" option
is MUCH easier to use than the other reports since it lets you keep a
running list of vehicles so you can easily get back to the reports later.
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What should I do if the report shows potential problems?
If you see a potential trouble area in the report, don't immediately
assume the car is not worth buying. If the problem is not serious, you
might want to use the information to negotiate a better price on the car.
If you're buying from a private seller, you could ask them to explain
anything unusual in the report. There may be a reasonable explanation.
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What other research should I do before I buy a used car?
At the very least, you should check out reviews on the model you're considering
and used car pricing guides to find out what the market price of the car
is. CARFAX® has a lot of this information available in their used
auto reviews.
As with any major decision, the more research you do before you make
up your mind, the more likely you will be satisfied with your decision.
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