SC400slide

iTrader: (11)

tdt2, we all won't make an assumption that Carfax is a waste of $40 based on an individuals experience. Fact is, we have all had excellent results. You have your opinion regarding Carfax, we have ours. Heck, why pay Carfax $40 to find out what you already know?

oldManTan

don't sell your car, build a race car

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Okay, but none of that is actually what I said. Go back and read the flow of the discussion...

One, I have no reason to care if anyone else values Carfax more than I do. My initial comment was in response to ThomasGS4 giving the OP grief for not using it. I said I consider Carfax a waste because of the inaccuracies, so I don't blame anyone for not using it. See the difference? Additionally, my experience is not an isolated incident. A very large number of people have reported similar inaccuracies.

Two, while I admit I was vague on the topic, you read into more than what was said, which tells me you already made up your mind on one side of the debate. I didn't pay the $40 to look up what I already knew. I paid it while shopping for the second car, and I still had either free checks or time left on the subscription (I don't recall which way they did it 10+ years ago), so I ran it on my nine year old single-owner car out of curiosity.

irondonkey

there's a machine you can buy to rollback your mileage. it's as simple as that. highly illegal though.

blkonblksc

I look at carfax reports and autocheck (auctions use this report) reports everyday. Here are the truth's (as some people have already stated).
1) Carfax is only a reporting service. Not the bible and not everything gets reported.
2) Some things show up on Carfax but not on autocheck and vice versa
3) Some accidents take years to show up...if at all. I bought a Lexus that I knew had a replaced fender...it took several years for the accident to show up on carfax
4)Service stations that do the inspections are the biggest offender of reporting the wrong mileage (I once saw 123,456 written down as the mileage)
5)Reports can be corrected but you will need documentation. Carfax might not erase the entry but they will remove the mileage reported if you can prove your case.

TaninAuto

Since there were so many issues with the early Lexus vehicles there was a lot of cluster swapping going on to get needles, lighting, etc to work again.

Either way, we can get that mileage back to what it should be on nearly any vehicle.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

I had a car once that was a victim of #4. The mileage was never tampered with but carfax had a flag out for it, I eventually got the report and it was clear someone wrote down the odometer down entirely wrong as all the mileage numbers before it and after it made perfect sense. You really have to read the whole report to get an idea if there is really a problem or not but if there were several records above your mileage and not just one then I would suspect someone swapped a cluster and did not know you can change the mileage or did not care but they should have told the next guy about it. Just get it set to the right number if you want to set the record straight but I doubt you are the only one out there with that.

you can also go to the toyota/lexus owner website and enter your vin number and pull all the dealer records. that will also give you an idea of the mileage if it was ever taken in for service at lexus or toyota.

scRuss

Thanks for all the info everybody!
Life lesson carfax a vehicle before buying 👍
Really considering now swapping it to a manual and DD it, but then again a few extra grand in the pocket is always nice 😆

King700se

As previously stated, you CANNOT always trust a carfax, its just a reporting agency. I had a 2005 Mustang GT a few years back. The car was factory yellow(hideous i know) but i got it for a really good price and it only had 14k miles on it. Long story short, i had been in a few accidents with it before I let it go. None of these accidents were my fault. Car was custom painted two tone(top black,bottom white) when i traded it in at the dealership I had bought it from in South Carolina. Not a single one of those accidents i mentioned were reported to car fax. It all comes down to if the repair shop chooses to report them. By law, if i am not mistaken, they ARE required to report any work on a vehicle. Both of these accidents were a minimum 6k in repairs. So they were not minor fender benders!

King700se

As you can see from the picture above, NOT a minor fender bender. This wreck never showed on the carfax for the car.




...and the final product. Miss this car dearly, but im falling hard for my sc4

scRuss

Id believe it if it was a typo or something. The car is super clean.
What i meant to say next car I buy im getting a carfax Lol
And for the Mustang dang haha

Kris9884

iTrader: (7)

I guess if we get down to details and inspect every part then sure, it has its flaws but for a majority of the public, its at least a start. A way to see even the most generic events in a cars history. I'd say your odds of finding a mostly accurate carfax about a car are pretty good on any vehicle mayb e less than 10 years old. Maybe the older the car gets, the cheaper it gets to repair and there's no need for insurance claims or body shops etc etc...

1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

Its easy to get around , they simply rename 'tampering with the mileage" to " odometer correction"

Im sure it comes in real handy if the odd chance you actually legitimately need to correct your mileage, but as we all know 95% of the time that's not the case.

Im surprised the site itself allows odometer tampering to be allowed on its own forums.