Carfax Ripoff

[oldoutboardjim]

I've signed-up for Carfax before, and bought unlimited reports for 60 days for about $40. Since I am thinking of buying another car for my wife, I went to the Carfax website to sign up again. Guess what? Those crooks no longer offer unlimited reports! Now you only get 5 reports within a 60 day period, and it costs $45. What a rip!
Autocheck offers unlimited reports for $45 (for 60 days). Anybody have any experience with Autocheck? Are they any good?

[ZX2_racer]

Buy from a stealership and make them pay for it.

[hermitmaster]

[oldoutboardjim]

Uh, interesting responses, but not much help. Anyone have any HELPFUL input

[Steve@Tasca]

My two cents?

Carfax or anything like it is only any good if you trust it, they can only report stuff that was done under warranty or reported to insurance.

So you could have a car with a spotless carfax that spent two months underwater in the last flood but wasn't reported to insurance or that was rolled up into a ball and then stuck back together with some JB weld and zip ties or some kid bought brand new and beat the living crap out of but never took it in for warranty work.

If you ask me Carfax is nearly pointless.

[Monkey-Gein]

they use to offer unlimited unlimited reports. steve has a point. if you by from a dealer they give you one free. i can look up plate nums and get you owners and if the title is branded and if you sweet talkj steve he might look up ford dealer repairs if that'll help you any. if not, sorry i'm no help.

[Steve@Tasca]

I can check the Oasis report for warranty work for anyone on any Ford but again, it won't show any work done outside the dealership.

I always laugh when someone says "But the Carfax was clean"

[Louis Zerr]

I've used autocheck and it is the same shit.

I guess I'd rather know anything i could rather than nothing at all. Might as well buy sight unseen.

[HotRodWagon]

I can't say I've heard of Auto Check, but I also haven't been in the market for car reports either. I'll guess Carfax got tired of doing so many checks that were obviously too numerous for one person to actually need. I've seen many requests on forums for free Carfax checks.

I see a double edged sword with these reports, on one side you could easily get burned by missing information while on the other hand you might find out some worthwhile information. I guess it's a gamble, and completely depending on them probably is over reaching. Taking the chance on finding out worthwhile information may be worth taking the chance if the cost is acceptable.

If anything, I would think you would find out if any mfg recall work has been completed.

Sorry I can't answer your question about Auto Check...and my 2 cents.

[Steve@Tasca]

I've used autocheck and it is the same shit.

I guess I'd rather know anything i could rather than nothing at all. Might as well buy sight unseen.

That is true, if something was reported then at least you know that much. Just don't take it for gospel that those were the only issues with the car.

[Redlineracer12]

It's nice to know if there was an accident claimed that wasn't enough to give it a salvage title. Autocheck seems to be nearly the same deal. I got one (auto check) on the truck I bought only because the dealer provided it. Every other car I've bought has either been dirt cheap or had a salvage title anyways

[oldoutboardjim]

That is true, if something was reported then at least you know that much. Just don't take it for gospel that those were the only issues with the car.

I was looking at one car on Autotrader that had a free Carfax report . This car was really cheap considering the make, model, year, & mileage. It turns out that the first owner is listed as "rental". I'm pretty certain that I don't want to buy a car that has accumulated 50k miles as a rental car! So in this case, the report provided some valuable information. Having said that, there are no guarantees except death, taxes, and increased government fees.