VIN for possible car purchase -- what can I learn from it?

[Doc]

Have a pretty good deal on a used car and have the VIN. Curious to know if I can find out any car history (number of owners/accidents...) with it?

[arabian knight]

See if the dealer uses CARFAX. That is being highly advertised on TV.

[Doc]

Not Carfax but something like it -- Autocenter, or some sort.

[plowjockey]

With Carfax, you can get the owners, but not always accidents.

The owners part is the most telling part of a carfax, IMO.

If a car changes owners quickly (within a few months) or often, or it has set on a dealer's lot, for 14months, chances are good, is has a serious problem, that can't be fix (mystery electrical failires) properly, or it is too expensive to fix.

If no one else wants to buy it off the lot, or keep it more that a few months, why would you want it?

Good luck.

[Danaus29]

Carfax will give you only info that has been reported to them. A dealership search is a good place to look at the early vehicle history and will tell you if there have been any recalls. But if the owner did the work themselves or paid another private party or small shop to do work there will be no record anywhere. One of those search places gives you reported accidents because they get the info from the insurance companies.

[travlnusa]

I am one of those dreaded car salesman.

The VIN can tell you quite a bit. Yes there is CarFax and AutoCheck, but there is much is more you can learn.

You can find out the exact build of the car/truck from the factory. You can find out any warranty work ever done. You can learn about any work ever done at a dealership. You can learn of any past or current recalls.

If it is a GM, private message me the VIN and I will tell you what I can learn

[Danaus29]

travlnusa, without car salesmen nobody would have a car to drive. Just like other professions, some are honest and some are not. I've met some nice car salesman. I've also dealt with less than honest car salesmen. Unfortunately most people have met with only the less than honest salesmen.

[tiogacounty]

Nice to see solid information from everybody who understands the limitations of the Carfax type products and how to read what really matters. They have done a great job of convincing a lot of the public AND many in the industry that they are far more accurate and valuable than they really are. They are collectors of publicly available data, nothing more. If the car is a lemon that lives in the shop, it may or may not be obvious with their report. If it has been totaled and rebuilt, same issues. I nearly bought a three year old car from a dealer who provided a glowing carfax. As they were finalizing the paperwork, I was inspecting the car. I noticed that the badging on the car body did not match the tailgate. Either the tailgate, or the emblem on it was from another vehicle. A close inspection revealed that the car had been totaled and reassembled from two different vehicles, as in the entire rear half was cut off and replaced with one from another wreck. When I told the dealer that we were done here, they got a bit arrogant and I was told that I was wrong, since it would of been noted on the carfax. Once a few salesmen and the sales manager were on their backs looking at all the fresh welding, undercoating and clear coat over-spray, they had to admit that their sacred Carfax was pretty worthless in this case.

[Yvonne's hubby]

I have often wondered why people are so afraid of the rebuild described above.

[Doc]

travlnusa: I think it is kind of fun to talk with car sales -- "people", although I don't do it much. However, this is a used car and the guy didn't know anything about its history. I figured the VIN would tell me more -- thanks for answering my question -- which was about the VIN, not Carfax.

[Harry Chickpea]

Originally Posted by Yvonne's hubby

I have often wondered why people are so afraid of the rebuild described above.

A neighbor in Florida bought one of those. The frame was skewed enough that he was going through tires like they were oil changes. Another issue is that a pieced car may not be as structurally strong in a crash, or may be TOO strong in the wrong spots. There are other issues - not insurmountable, but enough that any job needs to be CLOSELY inspected, and the selling price reflect the loss of value. For most folks, walking away is a better option.

[Doc]

What's the connection with the VIN question?

[Parttimefarmer]

Ford has a spot you can enter the VIN and tells you recalls, engine, factory, etc. It is the only one I have used, but it was helpful.

https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenan...ls/default.asp

There are VIN decoders online by make. I have only used Ford though, good luck!

[Danaus29]

The connection would be to double check the VIN in all the places where it is displayed and accessible. You don't want to find that the car you are considering has several different VINs.

[plowjockey]

Originally Posted by Yvonne's hubby

I have often wondered why people are so afraid of the rebuild described above.

Maybe it's because these cars often go down the highways like a sidewinder and eat through tires in 15K miles. These repairs are never as straight as when the vehicle was built. They often end up with "mystery" drive train and steering problems, also, that no one can seem to fix.

The unfortunate buyer is now on the hook, to order expensive repairs (at his own cost) and "hope for the best", that there is someone who can actually fix the problem for good, which is usually never the case.

He/She gets fed up pouring money down a rathole, and trades it in, so that it can become someone else's problem, which it eventually does.

Seen it a million times.

[fishhead]

I'm driving a totaled vehicle. It came with a MN 'salvage' title. I bought it in 2006 for $3800 and have put about 90,000 miles on it if I remember correctly.

I'm taking it on a 2-3,000 mile trip next week once the mechanic looks it over. If something major happens to it on the trip I'll just fly home.

It tracks a little funny but doesn't seem to be too hard on tires.

[Danaus29]

Always, always, always check the tires before you buy. It's not very often the dealer changes tires on a car they bring in on trade. If the tires are brand spanking new or worn funny then run, don't walk, away from that car. Dh actually gets down on the pavement and looks at the frame under a vehicle before he considers a test drive. Check the paint color and door, trunk deck and hood alignment carefully. If something seems off the car has probably been wrecked in the past.

[travlnusa]

I would disagree with this. You would be amazed how many people have never heard of the idea of rotating their tires. People will at times trade a car in as a set of new tires is the straw that breaks the buyers back. Also there are many people that never heard of an alingment. I have had many buyers who make an offer on a car based on us putting new tires on that car/truck.

Always, Always, Always take a used car to your own tech to look over. Keep in mind that he will find things wrong with it for two reasons. A) it is a USED car. If you want one with nothing wrong, buy new. B) It is in his best financal interest to find something to fix. That is how he makes his income.

Originally Posted by Danaus29

Always, always, always check the tires before you buy. It's not very often the dealer changes tires on a car they bring in on trade. If the tires are brand spanking new or worn funny then run, don't walk, away from that car. Dh actually gets down on the pavement and looks at the frame under a vehicle before he considers a test drive. Check the paint color and door, trunk deck and hood alignment carefully. If something seems off the car has probably been wrecked in the past.

[Danaus29]

I've never rotated tires on the van. But it has 3 pair, one back pair for winter, one back pair for the rest of the year and one pair for the front. We keep on top of alignment issues and if a tire starts wearing funny the car gets checked out. Usually you can tell if the alignment is off by the "pull" to one side. A shimmy in the front end at highway speed is another good tip-off that something just isn't right. There is so much more to an alignment than just the adjustments. You have many parts involved which can cost a small fortune unless you can do the work yourself. Our last alignment cost over $500 because of the extra parts involved. If dh hadn't done the work it would have cost a couple grand.

You wouldn't believe how many salesmen have told me a car has never been wrecked when it obviously was. The worst was one that kept telling dh I was full of s. He popped the hood and one cross piece had been replaced and the metal framework over the fan cowling was crumpled.

I did make an offer on a car once provided it included new tires and a brake job. That was because the tires were bald and the sidewalls cracked. The tires were worn evenly, just bald.

The only new car we considered buying was a piece of junk. We had ordered that one and it was damaged in transit, never properly repaired, had serious alignment issues, ran rough, dieseled like nothing I've ever driven, in short just plain trash. I've bought a lot of used up cars and put a few grand into them then driven them for several years. If you know what you are doing you can get a good deal that way. Sure I look for problems with the car. I don't want to put as much into repairs within the first year as the car cost. And I can truthfully say I've got my moneys worth out of every single car I've ever bought.

[tiogacounty]

Originally Posted by Yvonne's hubby

I have often wondered why people are so afraid of the rebuild described above.

I just read an article about several families coping with the loss of their sons and daughters, killed in cars that were "rebuilt". The only problem is that the air bag cavities were filled with rags and soda cans, a real replacement air bag was too expensive for the scum-bag who "flipped" the car. Without spending the night on the keyboard, I can think of dozens of reasons to stay away from a salvaged vehicle, given how insanely complex they have become. In my case, I walked because there was fraud involved. The car had been a total loss, and it was being sold as a nearly new lease return with low miles. I was told the vehicle was be returned to the auction house, as it was not a legitimate transaction. It should of had a reconstructed title, and be valued as such.

15-20 years ago, I had several salvage cars that were great buys. My mechanic claims that my current Tahoe has almost 30 computers on board, it has 6 or 8 air bags and countless other complicated systems that would not fair well if it was cut in half and mated to half of another Chevy. Not saying it couldn't be done, or done properly, but I'll pass on buying a $45K vehicle that was reassembled from a few wrecks.