ive heard from many people on this forum and others that carfax doesnt really do justice for used cars?

any opinions?

 

Carfax and/or Autocheck can only report on the information they have. If someone gets a car repaired off the books, that's hardly Carfax's fault for not knowing about it.

A VIN check is just one part of the used car buying process. Unless you're buying something CPO, or with some kind of bumper-to-bumper coverage, you should always have it checked out by a mechanic before buying.

 

This....^....is just about all you'll ever need to know about buying a used vehicle!
Gary

 

yea totally bs, i was on the market for a used car for my dad...and the car salesman was proudly telling me that the car has a clean carfax report with no accidents. so i ask him if i can have my mechanic friend take a look at the car. well it turns out that there were parts of the car that was repainted, like the hood, bumper, pasenger side fender. so guess what, it was in an accident, just not reported......

oh and not to mention that carfax is kinda expensive....

 

Like I said, they can only report what they're given. I would hardly call that "totally bs". If you know of a better system, by all means tell us about it.

As for cost, I went with Autocheck instead. Unlimited uses for 30 days. They actually contacted me thinking I was a dealer using it because I ran something like 75 or 80 VINs through it in about 3 weeks.

 

yea totally b.s
my cars carfax showed up clean

but after a few months of driving i had so many problems
and found out i have 2tone paint on my rear quater panel and 2tone paint on the front 2 fenders!!

 

Nice! Thanks guys that clears up alot.

so you'd just take it to a mechanic thats trustworthy and can inspect it???

Anyone know of one in OC or Riverside?

 

Take it to someone that specializes in Infinitis, if possible, mainly G35s. When I bought my car, I took it, as well as a prospective one, to an Infiniti dealer to have them inspected. Best $150 I've ever spent, as after a once-over, the technicians found that the other car had been in a rear accident, had 75% of the car repainted, new bumper, etc. Apparently, it was lucky, because there wasn't any sign of frame re-alignment.

 

Wow, everyone should be so lucky. I didn't have anyone to take mine to, but it's still under powertrain warranty, so I hope that's enough. I got to spend a couple of days with it (2 weeks now) before I bought it, and everything runs great from what I can tell. The closest Infiniti dealer is over 100 miles away, but the local Nissan shop guy actually owns an Infiniti and I'm scheduled to take it in next week for a look over. I knew what I was getting into when I bought it (well, the obvious anyway - no local dealer), so was prepared to spend a little more on maintaining it if needed. I do love it so far, though.

I was a little surprised to read all the comments on this forum about cabin noises and rattles. Mine is rock solid without a single irritating noise at 60,000 miles. Just for the record, I've gotten rid of vehicles just for dash/door/whatever cabin noised before, so it's a pet peeve of mine. I'd certainly notice one if/when it happens.

Anyway, I'm loving my coupe. I hope it stays that way.

 

Like I said, unless it's a Certified Pre-owned or comes with an extensive warranty, you should ALWAYS take a used car to a mechanic before buying. It shouldn't be optional.

Uhh, how about Riverside Infiniti? They're sponsors on this site. PM Tony or Rick @RiversideInfiniti (members here). Maybe they can help set up an inspection, or possibly give you a discount on it.

 

My Pathfinder after 2 weeks of owning it was in a collision for $15k of damage. Almost totaled. It was repaired by State Farm by a certified shop. Took 6 weeks. It never showed up on Car Fax ever.

Car Fax sucks.

 

i actually bought a month's worth of carfax and went to every dealership looking up the vin... found out my current g35 had a minor rear bumper accident but it was repaired and i brought it up with the dealer who lied to me about it so i ended up knocking off like $4k on the car saying how ooo im driving around in a car thats been in an accident and how im doing them a favor of taking it off their hands...

 

Carfax is helpful and worth the $ to check out your intended purchase. That said, my previous car had a major accident when I was driving which was repaired well, but never showed up on the Carfax later.

 

CPO is the best way to go! I got mine in February from Infiniti of Montclair. I’ve put about 6K miles on the car and I ride with confidence I got a good car. Yeah, I know I paid more ($19K) than what many other G35 owners, but it was worth it for the peace of mind. If you know a good mechanic that can inspect your car that’s an option for you…I don’t know any, so CPO was my best option.

I had an accident a few years ago with my Honda Civic. I never reported it, so unless the body repair shop reported it, the CarFax won’t show the accident. Are body repair shops required to report stuff like this?

 

I own a bodyshop & can say first hand that carfax is bs... if it shows something then fine, but if it shows nothing that means nothing. dealers love carfax... it allows them to use the "not to our knowledge" answer when questioned about prior damage & it allows them to use the "clean carfax" as a false sense of security in the advertizement of a used car. ask them to guarentee in writing that the car has had no prior paint work... very rare that that'll happen...

up until now many things that should be reported by even insurance companies just are not... there are many damaged & repaired cars with clean carfax records, nothing but a false sense of security there...

I agree, the best & only way is to have a good trained pro look it over... many times a body shop technician is a better eye to look at a used car than a mechanic... I've seen many mechanics miss signs of body repairs for whatever that's worth... I'd put more value in a reputable body shop looking at a used car than even a mechanic... especially later model lower mileage vehicles.. better repairs can be good enough to fool a mechanic easier than a good body/paint tech...