CarFax – Your Guiding Light
Update…Update…Update…
I’ve found something MUCH cheaper than CarFax and a hell of a lot better – it’s AutoCheck and you can read about it here!
It’s all about the VIN.
The VIN is on every car and light truck manufactured model year 1981 and later. You can find it in the front window near the driver – it’s that metal strip. The VIN is 17 characters long and uniquely identifies each car, no two cars/trucks have the same VIN. That VIN makes CarFax work and makes buying a used car less risky and downright fun.
Every time a car dealer or garage works on a car/light truck they enter the VIN and what was done into the CarFax database. Every oil change, every inspection, every car crash, any water damage, you name it – the work MUST be reported and the VIN identifies the car/truck the work was done on. There are over 6,000,000,000 CarFax records that make up their database.
If you buy a used car and you don’t get a CarFax you must enjoy risky living! It costs a few bucks or is free from the dealer. So CarFax is a big deal – you need to master CarFax before you get going. CarFax has 20,000 sources of vehicle input – check it out.
Go get a VIN from any car – your car, your neighbors truck, anyone’s car and let’s start.
Enter a VIN below and give a look:
Right off the bat, CarFax tells you:
- Vehicle description
- Records found
Of course you have no idea what those records are and CarFax wants a credit card to pay for their report. Don’t pay yet!!! Don’t pay now! If you have a cell phone with an internet browser look up the VIN now too – it helps to know you can do this while out car shopping.
Sample CarFax:
Click and look at a sample CarFax report.
CarFax Lemon Report (Click the lemon)
Recalls – do you recall?
Has the used car been recalled and the work never done? Click here to find out.
Costs:
- 1 CarFax Report costs $29.99
- 10 CarFax Reports costs $34.99
- 30-day unlimited number of reports costs $39.99
The 30-day option is probably the best choice – that way you can do a lot of shopping for a car/truck and not worry about each search costing you more.
Link to this page