If you are shopping for a used car there is one tool that stands out head and shoulders above all others, it’s called CARFAX. CARFAX is an inexpensive service that provides you with the following information:
- Title Check
- Odometer Check
- Vehicle History
- Registration Information
A CARFAX report helps you get a glimpse of a car’s history and today that is more critical than EVER! If you are shopping for a used car you need to be aware that there are thousands, if not tens of thousands of used cars on the market today that went through Hurricane Katrina. Cars, trucks and SUVs from the Gulf Coast have been bought and sold to all corners of the US and beyond.
A CARFAX report (available at carfax.com) will assist you in finding out if a car was re-registered, re-titled or had a vin number change. But you need to be careful, after the hurricane when many of these cars were bought and sold they acquired new titles and sometimes new vin numbers from very unscrupulous people who are looking to sell people cars that are ruined and not fit for the road.
So what do you do? Start with the CARFAX report and if ANYTHING does not add-up or make sense, move on to another car. For example, if the odometer reports are off (no car loses mileage, its not like weight or if it reports only 112 miles for the year, that would send up a red flag to me). Also, if there are gaps in the car’s history or records in ANY manner I suggest you look for another car. If your response to this is, “but it’s a great deal,” think again. You might not be looking at a car; you might be looking at a HUGE headache!
Used car shoppers need to also closely inspect any new car that they are considering buying. It is possible for a car to go through significant flood damage and its CARFAX report might not inform you of any problems (some crooks will always know how to fool the system). So, before you buy a used car, if you can not have a mechanic that you trust look at the car, I strongly suggest you do the following:
- Look for a slit (dirt line) in the trunk, door jams, foot wells and engine compartment
- Look for signs of rust (any rust inside should send up a big red flag)
- Look at electrical connections for signs of corrosion.
In closing, shop smart and if the deal looks too good to be true, be extra careful!