zeitgeist57 Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 This past week while I was in FL, I sold our 2000 Passat to CarMax. The guy there remarked at a 15 year old car that only had 1 owner...very rare in the used car industry as even the older man next to me was trading in a leased 2014 Stingray with 2,000 miles on it. But I digress... On Labor Day weekend in 2000, with only a couple thousand miles on the odometer, we were driving in Cleveland when a drunk lady plowed into the back of us on the highway. The Passat was amazingly solid, buckling the trunk almost up into the rear windscreen but I was still able to pull over and stop safely. It took Doersham's over 6 months and $9k (in 2000) to rebuild it and they did a great job. The Passat was traded in with 180k miles on the odometer and served us well. When the CarMax rep pulled the Experian history report, NO ACCIDENT RECORD came up. I thought this was odd, but since Caveat Emptor and I wanted as much out of CarMax as I could, I said nothing. Now, as I look at Audi V10 R8's on eBay, I'm now treating every "1 OWNER!!1!!!1" used car like a tainted chick: who's lying about never being hit? How much has our society come to rely on an electronic third party doing a flawed background search to determine a cars' "true" worth? Just sad how many stories we hear these days as car guys of people/shops scamming their way out of a bad CarFax check. Whatevs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbospec29 Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 They are tools for buying not the rule. Just like KBB helps you in value and pricing. Car fax helps you with condition. 99% of the public couldn't tell you if a car had body work done from an accident. I also feel like accident don't ruin cars like they did in the past. They absorb hits much better and usually are just fine after being repaired. As you stated your wrecked Passat lasted you 15years/ 180k miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordell Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Some shit gets reported, a lot doesn't. A lot of people have an accident and replace the car after it's fixed so I think Clay is the exception to the norm on that regard. Take the Miata I bought with a clean carfax, as I decided to sell it there was a major accident reported 2 months after I bought it because these things can take some time to show up on carfax. I inspected the car and it was repaired very well, I really wasn't sure why it had one of it's fenders replaced, and I figure it screwed up a wheel or two causing to be towed from the scene, and that would make it a major accident. Personally I think people should worry more about branded titles and having a qualified third party do a thorough inspection. The point to my post is this: used car inspections are just as important as ever. Trying to give people a warm fuzzy feeling just because they have a peice of paper saying it's a "good car" almost never tells the whole story of a car. Get a qualified technician who is familiar with the car you want to buy and worry more about the car then carfax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Karacho1647545492 Posted July 13, 2015 Report Share Posted July 13, 2015 Pre. Purchase. Inspections. Every time. You date a chick for a few years before you wife her. You have all kinds of inspections and appraisals done on houses before you buy them. Why people won't drop a C-note to have a professional mechanic and/or body shop inspect a car for evidence of crash damage before sinking thousands of dollars into them baffles me. CarFax is just a fantastic marketing tool for a mediocre aggregator service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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