Help - Lexus Carfax

Geez, I hate it when cheap ass little morons try to get something for nothing. This appears to be an unfortunate remnant of the "dotcom boom" when it was thought that you could give everything away free and make money on advertising--didn't work. Pull out the credit card big boy and pay the money.

If Carfax provides a worthwhile service, pay them the couple of bucks for the automobile information. If everyone did everything for free, none of us would have jobs and we would all live in the jungle eating nuts and berries and living in mud huts.

Since I never buy used cars (only sell mine after the BECOME used cars), can someone explain how Carfax works? How would they know if the car was wrecked? Joe the corner mechanic doesn't report to databases?

Given the problem with oil gelling in the V6, I would rather have the service records.

A Toyota that was involved in an accident that required the passenger-side frame-rail replaced in an insurance-covered collision-repair did not show up on a Carfax report when the car was about to be sold 2 years later.

But if a salvage-title had been issued on that car, it should show up on the report.

I agree, but it gives you some other information: where the car has been registered/transferred (my Lexus was initially registered by someone who lives about 20 miles from where I live, and I don't like buying cars that had been registered out-of-state), mileage readings at different points in time (possible odometer rollback), etc.

It was worth the $20 for me, but it would be a better deal for someone buying a slightly older car, IMHO. And buying a used-car will always have its risks.

Buying a new model has its risks too. Like the transmission-shifting software problem in some cars that requires a $1600 chip to fix :)

I think reputable used-car dealers should provide the report to prospective used-car purchasers.

"B.D. Newman" snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net wrote: