On 09/28/2009 12:50 AM, AZ Nomad wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:43:56 -0700, jim beam<me@privacy.net> wrote:
>> On 09/27/2009 08:29 PM, AZ Nomad wrote:
>>> 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.
>
>> how? it can't be relied on for proof of condition, either good or bad.
>> why would you spend the money on carfax when you can spend it on
>> something reliable i.e. physical inspection?
>
> If you have the knowledge, you can act on it. This is really basic
> stuff. Ignorance isn't bliss.

indeed, ignorance isn't bliss. but with carfax, the ignorance not only
remains, but one can be misled.