Car Fax's not all is cracked up to be!

[lincolnmatthews]

So last week I fly to Vegas to pick up my 07 GT I bought off eBay. A 48k mile Torch Red car, original TX owner kept it till 2023 then it changed hands a couple more times. Car Fax shows no damage, but when I saw it the hood's front pass side just touched the fender (by the headlight). An adjustment by the hood bumpers & re-alignment would correct it.
On the test drive it drove, tracked just beautifully! I did notice the paint didn't match perfectly (I think red is a difficult to match). I should maybe have walked away. Also the fender mounting hardware wasn't right on the driver's side in the engine compartment.
Sorry for the long post, but long story short I went ahead & drove the car 1300 miles home, (80 mph most if the way!) Drove perfectly. The guy didn't admit to anything, but has offered to pay for polish, or a hood repaint. Who knows what happened, but I think his buddy at the dealership had a Micky Mouse repair done there & nothing got reported.

 

[86GT351]

Depends on who did the repair. Was it an insurance job? Was it a generic shop? Many still do not report to Car Fax

 

[86GT351]

Especially if it was owned by a Rental Company

 

[Juice]

So you drank the carfax coolaid.
Lets be clear, carfax was created to make money for carfax. Not so ppl can avoid buying a lemon.

 

[JC SSP]

Obviously, nothing beats a good personal vehicle inspection, but CarFax is just another tool, so you know what you are potentially getting into (i.e., Previous ownerships, recalls, service records, accidents, title status, etc.)

If I am paying money for a used car (e.g., $10K-$50K), a $20.00 invest just makes sense to me. Also, can be used as negotiation leverage if you find something out of the ordinary.

 

[Juice]

Sellers pay for carfax in my world. Not buyers.