On 09/25/2009 05:13 PM, AZ Nomad wrote:
> On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:11:54 -0700, jim beam<me@privacy.net> wrote:
>> On 09/25/2009 07:46 AM, AZ Nomad wrote:
>>> On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:27:07 -0500, Iowna Uass<iownauass@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> "Elle"<honda.lioness@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:373440f4-8ddb-4486-9c00-2be6d7b7879f@r36g2000vbn.googlegroups.com...
>>>>> Is there anyone with either carfax.com or autocheck.com service right
>>>>> now that could run one check for me? Please email me. I will pass your
>>>>> favor along to someone else somehow. Thank you.
>>>
>>>> Up here in Canada, we have a show called Marketplace.
>>>> They did a story on Carfax and showed how inadequate it is.
>>>
>>>> I concur with the other posters that suggest a physical inspection is the
>>>> only way to go.
>>>
>>> Both are the way to go. Learning wether a car was used as a rental
>>> car or totaled in an accident can be invaluable information.
>
>> nope. rental cars can be abused, or they can be well maintained.
>> "totaled" can be physically utterly trivial depending on what the
>> insurance company deemed value to be at the time. relying on anything
>> other than physical inspection is an exercise in self-deception and
>> gullibility to advertising..
>
> It is still useful information. Would you want a car that passed
> inspection with a glowing report that had been totaled previously?

unless your carfax report states the nature of the damage, you have no
idea what "totaled" means other than that the insurance company
considered it "uneconomic to repair". it doesn't mean squat in terms of
structural integrity. oh, and vehicles are are repaired, but don't have
any record on carfax, can be chop-shop repairs - i.e. uber dangerous.



>
> I do both.

you should only spend you money on the one that matters - physical
inspection.

friend had their teenage daughter joyride their new lexus over an
embankment. the vehicle was inspected, repaired, and given a clean bill
of health. but it didn't drive right. after getting the brush off from
the insurance company several times, he submitted a report from an
independent inspector revealing the problem - irrepairably bucked
subframe. insurance company wrote off the vehicle and paid for a new one.

without that insistent and pedantic owner, inspection and subsequent
write-off, there would have been no carfax, and you could have been
driving that vehicle right now.