MikeinLA

I am posting this as a warning to forum members, NOT to disparage any particular company. However, I notice in a lot of posts that the buyer relied upon getting a clean report from a company who will FAX you a report on the CAR. In 2012, I was struck from behind in my 2008 LX while sitting at a light. The guy was doing 45 when he hit me and went right under my car with his Saturn. The impact damaged my frame, the rear end and I hit the guy in front of me, so there was front end damage too. The damage was initially assessed at $ 7,000 by the inept adjuster, so they wouldn't total it out at the $ 24,000 value. I took the car in to one of the best body shops in L.A. and after they took it apart to explore all the damage, the estimate was much higher. Given the $ 6,000 in exploratory costs, the insurance company would still not total the car. Instead, they paid the body shop $ 27,000 to rebuild my car which included an all new frame. The car sat in pieces for 6 months as the insurance company fought with the body shop. Long story short, when it was time to trade the car a few years later I pulled a report from the company who will FAX you a report on the CAR and my report came back completely clean with not a word about the massive amount of body work which had been performed. I ended up trading it for a Honda for my kid and I told the dealer the history of the car. Their response was, "as long as the report is clean, we're fine". So, buyers beware. Don't rely on a single report, have a mechanic/body shop look the car over just to be sure it's OK. Hope this story saves someone from buying a bad car.

Mike

Devh

Mike thank you for your post. Carfax and a lot of other buyer related research are tools that fool educated people into buying bad cars for more money.
Educated people tend to be the most gullible because they lack a lot of street smart skills that are necessary for purchasing a car at the right price and condition. A collage professor in economics tend to be the ones that end up with the worst deals which is not surprising.

Wandl

agreed - buyers need to take additional due diligence and inspect these vehicles via a professional body shop/mechanic.

I've had instances where a report shows it is clean, while an Autocheck will show its damage. Can't ever be too presumptive.

thbrewst

I am in no way affiliated with the company that you are referencing but your concern should not be a reflection on the quality of their service, but certainly an education on it's shortcomings. Carfax is a gathering and reporting service. They gathered all of the information that was available about your car and reported it. The issue here (and education to those not aware) is that not everything is reported, or at least not reported to a place where Carfax aggregates their data from. There can be holes in the Carfax report in those types of situations. If you want to be more sure you most certainly should have a 3rd party look over the vehicle.

R Z

It's true that these reports are not always accurate. I found that out. You can pretty much feel comfortable with the Lexus Drivers site, but a CarFax is not the end all just because it says no problems reported. In fact, I have no faith in a CarFax anymore. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I can't print that here.

Gbp

I don't think "shame on me" violates any usage rules here.

As you said, a Carfax report is just one tool to use when trying to ascertain the service history for a Lexus. You can also look up the Autotrader report and the best option of all -- short of the owner(s) keeping complete service records -- the online service history, documenting work done at Lexus and apparently Toyota dealerships:

https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/home

Unless one is a DIY'er, it seems most Lexus LS460 owners have their maintenance done at a dealership. I've seen Lexus LS460's whose online service history indicates an accident likely occurred, yet the Carfax report is clean.

The usefulness of the car's online service history was one of the reasons I shopped for a used LS460 rather than other luxury brands. Of course, a pre-purchase inspection is a great idea, but I was able to eliminate quite a few possibilities due to the maintenance history (or lack of one).

BB11

Absolutely. When I sold my daughters car for her the carfax did not show a small body shop job, not a big deal, I disclosed it anyway, but it made me be aware that carfax cannot be trusted.

Nospinzone

If you do look at the CarFax report in the section on accidents/damage, it reads "No issues reported". So that doesn't mean that the car had no accidents/damage, only that if there were accidents/damage either it was repaired outside the insurance company, or that the insurance company did not report it.

The only thing they guarantee is that the car does not have a salvage, or similar, title.

I think CarFax is good in that if it does report an accident/damage it saves the buyer time trying to discover that on his or her own.

Although I must say in Mike's case, it is incredible that the accident didn't show up.

dlbuckls10

Useful information.

gxrunner

I agree that it's best to get a mechanic to give you the final green light on a used car purchase, but how many times would you pay for his service on each used car? This can quickly add up

swfla

iTrader: (1)

Here's one way to minimize hiring a mechanic more then once. Once you find a car you like, you make a deal for the purchase price predicated on everything in working condition, not needing repair or replacement. Any repairs discovered by the mechanic come off the agreed price.
If the seller isn't willing to do this, then walk away. Many types of purchases are done this way. Hope this helps you.

gxrunner

Astute observation! I will employ this route the next time I'm in the market. Have you tried this method before or heard of similar examples?
Luckily for some previous used purchases, I found low mileage (less than 10k) cars that are running great so far (didnt want to get a mechanic for such "fresh" models).

swfla

iTrader: (1)

I've done this with private sellers a couple of times. A few refused, making me wonder what they're hiding.
This is very common when buying boats/yachts/aircraft. You don't get to take a test drive until you've agreed on a price/mechanical condition.

Nospinzone

+1 Excellent advice swfla!

Heard of it and done it.

Remember, everything is negotiable (except maybe between Goodell and Brady).

Unsober1

I have used that method in negotiations a few times. As far as a car having low miles, that can also be a red flag. The car could have had significant damage and took a very long time to rebuild. Years even. I have personally seen a car that was 5 years old with less than 20k miles. The price was great. But after some inspection, I could see the repairs and walked from the car. Sometimes there is a good reason why that car had low mile and low price. Sub par mechanic and it was in the shop more than on the road.