On Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:55:06 -0700, jim beam <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>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.

It is still useful information.