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When buying used...


Liz CA
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...vehicles from private parties, can you run a carfax report or what is it called to check on prior accidents?

What else would this report tell you?

Can a mechanic tell you if the vehicle has been in an accident during pre-purchase inspections?

 

Blah, blah. I always feel like this when there is a decision to be made that involves a substantial amount of money. :glare:

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We just did this but I didn't get into all the details; dh did all that. I think the Carfax will not just tell that there was an accident but also if there was certain types of damage. It will tell how many owners the car has had (and if they were private or not, i.e. dealers, leases) and where it's been registered. I think you buy a subscription that allows you to get 3 reports. It's pricey so use them wisely. I believe there is also a free version that is less detailed.

 

Our mechanic was able to tell that one car we looked at would need the head gasket replaced really soon. And it died on the highway on the way back so, yeah, that was *really* soon. I have no idea if they can tell about accidents.

 

Finding a good used car is a lot of work--good luck!

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We recently bought a used car for/with dd. We learned a lot. Carfax isn't as accurate as the AccuChek service is. I think you could sign up for a year's subscriptions for $50. When you look at a nubber of cars over a period of a few weeks, it makes a lot of sense to pay for that.

 

To answer your question, the mechanic inspection and the Accucheck should be complementary. We had the Toyota dealership look over the car, and danged if they didn't turn a blind eye to the known problems with the car. We paid for the inspection so they should have been looking out for us, but they sure did not. We ended up walking when we realized there was no way to get a straight answer from anyone on that car.

 

And yes, the car report is necessary on every car, even ones that had one owner. The owner should be able to document their maintenance of the car, or the maintenance should show up on the report. : ) And any accident that has been reported or repaired will show up on the report as well.

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