Buying Help:
Purchase Inspections
and Mistakes
Used Car Inspections
are Critical
Alerts and Scams
Titling Information
Beware
is Not an Inspection
Purchase Inspections
Road Again
Individual Seller?
 For years, auctions and used car dealers were the only people that had access to title histories. A company called Carfax was the major supplier of those title histories. Thanks to the Web, vehicle title histories are now available to consumers. However, Carfax has come under attack for promoting information about vehicles that their data bases don't have. CARFAX (and AutoCheck) are internet companies that originally sold title history information on used vehicles. These companies now claim to have extensive accident and mechanical information on used vehicles. However, these companies do not guarantee the "ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF ITS INFORMATION". These companies have reliable data only on vehicle titles. For example if a vehicle was titled from one state to another, CARFAX will have that information. However, if a vehicle has been totaled, CARFAX will only report this if the State branded the title "salvage or reconditioned". There are many totaled vehicles that never received a salvage or reconditioned title. There are also many illegal ways to change, alter, or clean a vehicle's documents and history. For example, State Farm Insurance totaled over 30,000 vehicles but never had their titles branded and totaled. If the vehicle's title is never reported as "totaled" to the State, then CARFAX data base will show that these damaged vehicles as good vehicles to buy. CARFAX admits it has very little data about vehicle accident and repair history. There are thousands and thousands of accidents that happen each day that will never get reported to CARFAX. There are no central databases for accident information and/or repair history. Insurance companies do not share vehicle accident information with CARFAX and accurate repair history is even harder to get. A vehicle title report or history report, will never tell you if there are existing mechanical or electrical problems, or if the vehicle has been abused or properly maintained. If the CARFAX reports an accident, it can not tell you the extent of the accident damage or if it was ever repaired to industry standards. There are many dishonest salespeople and individuals that use a "clean" CARFAX report to sell vehicles with known problems such as previous accident damage, mechanical & electrical troubles, odometer discrepancies, flood damage, frame damage, etc... Knowing what states the vehicle came from can be good information. However, below are current complaints and problems associated with there companies selling vehicle history reports:
ConsumerAffairs.com complaints on Carfax CBS News consumer alert report on CARFAX Click Here (30mb MPG file) Deceptive TV ads used by CARFAX Click here Lawsuits against CARFAX Click here MSNBC article against CARFAX Click here Only a physical inspection and evaluation of every components and system can give you the true condition of a used vehicle. Auto P. I.'s 600-point pre-purchase inspection provides a professional physical inspection and a title search from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles for title discrepancies. ______________________________________________________________________________ Any vehicle document can be
"cleaned" or "washed" by the unethical. However, physical inspection of the
vehicle by Auto P. I. Used Car Inspections will discover odometer discrepancies,
excessive wear and tear, flood damage, accident damage, mechanical problems, electrical
problems, frame problems, and more... before you purchase the vehicle.
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