by B. L. Babb

Created on: December 03, 2008   Last Updated: January 25, 2011

CARFAX is neither friend nor foe. CARFAX is a tool to be used by car buyers to aid in the decision to consider a vehicle for purchase. The report is only as good as the information provided to CARFAX.

CARFAX obtains their data from a variety of sources. Dealers report repairs to cars. Consumers who owned or test drove a car can also report details of a vehicle to

CARFAX.

If a car was wrecked, flooded, or had airbags deploy repaired by a shop, it may be reported. Repairs by a shop that does not report these same repairs will result in incomplete or inaccurate repair history. As a result the information may not make it into a report for the buyer to see.

There is no substitute for a thorough inspection of a car BEFORE you give your money. If you are unable to perform this yourself, take the car to a trusted mechanic YOU know, not someone recommended by the seller. You may have to pay for this inspection, but a $50 loss is far better than buying a $5,000 car to have severe and costly problems crop up within a short period of time.

Use a CARFAX report to drop a car from your list to purchase, but do not use it as the sole means to buy a car you are looking at.

This is a tale of two cars. A CARFAX report on two vehicles, both owned by the original purchaser (me) from their date of purchase through today.

A 1986 Nissan 4X4 Pickup and a 2000 Chevrolet 4-Door 4X4 Tracker had CARFAX reports run. Knowing the history of both vehicles as they both reside in my garage, I was able to match information in the reports to actual events.

Both cars were purchased by me from a new car dealership when the vehicles were new.

NISSAN

According to CARFAX, this vehicle has two records; in 23 years! One indicates the vehicle was shipped to the dealer and the other shows a registration updated 16 years after that! No other records are listed. This vehicle has been licensed in two states and had the tags renewed yearly, yet it never gets reported. Even renewal of the tags recently is omitted from this report.

In addition, CARFAX states that some 1-owner vehicles may be worth more due to the vehicle receiving routine care. However, this vehicle, even with its advanced age, has only had one owner, yet it is not reflected in the report. This could result in someone not wanting a vehicle believing it has had multiple owners.

It was involved in two minor traffic incidents. One damaged the rear bumper; a rear end collision on the interstate involving a U-Haul truck full of construction debris

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