Originally posted by: GPz1100
Good deal for the free carfax report, BUT
I don't think car fax is worth much.
In 1998, I had a severe crash with my car. Over 10 gran in damages. 1998!!!
The car fax report shows my car as being in excellent shape with no major damage.
Surely the insurance co has reported the payout to whomever such things get reported [by now].
I have a similar experience.
In 1998, my 1995 Cirrus was rear ended with over $9,000 in damage (why they did not total it, I have no idea). The damage was paid by insurance and the work was done AT THE DEALERSHIP.
I pulled a Carfax on it last year before trading it in, and lo and behold, there was not a thing on it.
I would be very wary of using these to determine if a car you are looking at has had major damage. It might detect a salvage title or odometer fraud, but I would not bet on it...
My best advice is to get someone in the body repair industry to go with you to look at a car or pay for an independent inspection... stuff that the untrained eye would never notice are red flags to these guys. I learned a few "tricks of the trade" a while back that have helped me avoid these cars- a quick search turned up a good guide
here.