Carfax is a mostly free service that gives you the opportunity to check the history of a used car before you buy it. This ensures that you can buy the best vehicle possible with the money you have. The only information not included in a carfax is the names, phone numbers, and addresses of the previous owners. The only instance where a Carfax history may not be free is if you are not buying from a dealer but from a private person. This person may not want to include a free history, so you can pay carfax for this.
The information can be found online or on their website at carfax.com. A customer can search for the car they want to buy and the results will return cars at various dealerships associated with carfax. It allows you to read all the details about the vehicle of your choice online before going to the dealership. Not only do they provide used car histories, but they also provide a buyback feature where after a customer purchases a vehicle, if it is found to have any defects that were not mentioned, Carfax will buy the vehicle back from them.
The services or reports offered by Carfax are not limited to history reports. They also do free lemon checks, record checks, recall checks, and car trouble alerts. A lemon check, look to find out if a vehicle was designated as a manufacturer buyback. This verification is done with the vehicle identification number (VIN). Record checks tell you how many vehicle history records are in your car’s carfax report. Information that can be found on this check includes; number of owners, service records, registration information, among other things. A recall verification provides information about open or unresolved safety recalls on your vehicle. A Car Trouble Alert lets you get information about cars with DMV accidents, salvage titles, flood damage, and odometer setbacks. These additional services do not provide the same amount of information found in the history report.
Carfax is a useful tool for anyone in the car buying business; they give you history reports including other reports that help ensure you get value for the amount of money you have to spend. This service ensures that you don’t get a bitter deal as you can know everything about your vehicle up front. Services are free unless you require a more detailed report or you are not buying from a car dealer.
In the latter case, the seller may not want to give you a free report, but you can request one from carfax at a cost. If you already bought a car and didn’t check carfax before, you can still check it now. It will give you a better understanding of where your car is coming from and can help you diagnose potential future problems. The next time you go to buy a car, as they say “ask for the carfax”.