04ctd

i have been trying to sell a car we bought for my kid a few years ago.

young guy & his wife come look at it, they want it. they leave.

he calls me on phone, DEMANDS that i pay for a Carfax & I deliver it to him, before he even applies for the loan.

he INSISTS that only a Carfax will certify the car is damage free.

i told him I have owned the car since it was new, and i would probably know if it had been crunched hard.

i also told him that probably 75% of the cars on the road have been dinged/rear end'ed or some other damage (90% of statistics are made up on the spot, and that's what i did)


so, i tell him GOOD BYE.

then he calls back, and tells me he wants my car still, but now can i take his old car in trade?

i don't care, long as i get the bulk of the $$ in big green folding money, the last few thousand don't matter, i can just resell his car.


so i go look at his car, and where the rear passenger door arches up over the back tire, there is fresh paint (the car was a victim of poor Maaco Paint Job).

and then a hint of primer, then a swipe of bondo that had not been painted,

then a bunch of sanding marks. and a HUGE rusty streak of bare metal, and then the old paint.

so i tell him, this car has been hit HARD to cave that part in 3 inches.
he said "ah, you don't know what your talking about, the car salesmen we bought it from said that was from the door seals scrubbing when it closed"


so i looked it over some more (i have had a few cars)

the front driver side door, inside where it meets the hinge, had rust about 3 inches long, where the door skin comes around and meets the inner panel, and there was huge BONK dent that was smashed in an rusty.

i showed him that, and said, this old girl was hit hard on both sides, and they were too cheap to replace the door, and not skilled enough to reattach the skin, so it's gonna keep rusting.

he basically called me a liar, and said they had a clean carfax from the day they bought it, and they could SHOW IT TO ME.

said there was no way it had been hit, if carfax did not say so.

i exited stage left...like a cartoon character: so fast it was a blur.

Dieseldude4x4

Carfax + Computer = garbage in garbage out...........

madhat

HAHAHAHAHA!!

How much do you want for it, Senior? PM me...

oscaroc

Correct me if I am wrong but I think a carfax only shows up damaged vehicle report if it goes through insurance and then sometime it can be overlooked.

My wife and I looked a an Audi TT a few years ago at a used dealsership, as I was looking at it I noticed the paint on the rear of the car had a different texture and there was overspray on the windows and in the wheel wells. Asked the salesman if he knew any history on the car. he asssured me it had never been wrecked and had a carfax to prove it. I then pointed out to him the few things I noticed, He still denied that it had ever been wrecked and showed me the clean carfax.

I know a little about body work so i looked under the car and there it was, the unmistakable marks that this car had been on a frame rack. That car had some serious damage that was never reported and wasn't on a carfax . So beware Of what you do or don't see on those things.

I still think the best way to choose a good vehicle is to know what you are looking for and what you are willing to live with.

TreeFarm

Carfax says it gets its accident data from states that record that sort of thing, insurance companies, but only for total loss claims, and some body shops. Just what percentage of body shops report to them isn't said.

Bottom line seems to be, if it was totaled and an insurance company was involved, then it should be in Carfax. Other than that, I don't think you can count on it.

Dieseldude4x4

The dealer tried to impress upon me the fact that the Grand Marquis I just bought had a clean carfax record and even printed it for me. I took it and said I may need this in the future. He said for what to which I replied, I'll keep it in the outhouse out back. He didn't think much of that.
They seem to act like we are supposed to be amazed and comforted at that report. It's not worth the paper it's wrote on.
Sorry, just my opinion.

archer39

i trying to sell my car right now and it has a bad history according to carfax. Apparently it was in an accident with 3,000 miles and now has 75k. That being said i had people interested in it and were deterred because of the carfax. According to the report the car has frame damage. Before i purchased it i took it home and put it on the lift and went over the whole car. I have been over this car from top to bottom and the only part that was replaced/damaged was a fender. After having it for 30k i have never had a problem but according to carfax it is a bad car.

So i completely agree with the statement above about looking over it yourself

Jfaulkner

Carfax is a joke. Your right all it shows is what was reported by the insurance company and title transfers. I looked up a car I owned a few years ago and it came back with 5 things. So I was curious and paid the money only to find out it was where the car was bought and sold before I got it. A complete waste of money.