Vehicle History Reports

CARFAX ® runs a lot of commercials with a furry stuffed animal named the Car Fox. They keep telling you to have the dealer "Show me the CARFAX ®". Why would you trust the dealer selling you the car to show you an accurate report? And how do you know this report is up to date? Dealers sometimes show you a Used Car History Report from before the vehicle was bought or acquired through trade

Now I'm not saying that every dealership does this but can you be sure your dealer is honest? To be protected, you should always run the current vehicle history report during negotiations to see when the dealer bought that car and whether the title was branded. This helps you verify that the car is what the dealer claims it is.

In fact, recently, a car dealer was arrested a few miles away from my house for phony reports and providing them to their customers -- innocent buyers like you. Getting your own vehicle history report is your only defense.

What is in a Vehicle History Report?

Vehicle History Reports search millions of vehicle records including data from state DMV's, auto auctions, manufacturers, car dealers, police reported accidents and repair shops. A car history report may reveal more about that used car than the seller is willing to tell you. What's in the report:

• Number of previous owners, when it was sold, what states it was sold in. Awesome!
• Police accident reports if available for your VIN Number
• Major accident data, including total loss, flooded, rebuilt wreck, salvage titles & airbag deployment
• Odometer rollback check, truth in mileage consistency check
• VIN Number Decoder shows year, model, engine, place of manufacture & standard equipment
• Check if the car has been turned in under the "Lemon Law"
• Sold at auction
• Open recalls on your car, remaining coverage on the vehicle's warranty
• Indication if vehicle has been certified used, leased, car rental, fleet or government vehicle
• Date when dealer took delivery. Use this to haggle a lower price, it's sitting on the lot for months.

AutoCheck Reports feature the AutoCheck Score in addition to the raw records which allows you to easily compare vehicle histories. In addition to the score for the specific vehicle you have searched, all reports contain the score range. This range will show you where similar vehicles score so that you'll instantly know if the vehicle you are researching is "in range".

CarBuyingTips.com Exclusive
CarBuyingTips.com readers who purchase an unlimited vehicle history report package with or without TitleGuard before the end of will get 60 days to use the Unlimited package instead of the standard 30 days. Buy now and take advantage of this special offer. Sometimes shopping for the perfect car takes longer than you think and those extra 30 days will come in handy. Click Here To Get Started.

CARFAX ® vs. AutoCheck - Why we recommend AutoCheck over CARFAX ®
Good News: Unlimited Used Car History Reports are back!

• Single Vehicle History Report: Only $29.99 for AutoCheck vs. CARFAX ® for $34.99
• Multiple Vehicle History Reports: AutoCheck Unlimited* only $44.99 vs. CARFAX ® 5 pack $44.99
• AutoCheck Unlimited* Vehicle History Reports 60 days (when purchased through CarBuyingTips.com) vs. CARFAX ® 60 day for 5 pack
• AutoCheck reports more accident data than CARFAX ® and has exclusive data on auction frame damage
• AutoCheck reports contain exclusive auction data and the AutoCheck Score

Never heard of AutoCheck?
AutoCheck is a premium vehicle history report product from Experian Automotive. Experian Automotive is a business unit of Experian Group Ltd., a company with annual sales in excess of $4 billion (you probably know them best as the credit report people). Experian Automotive is able to use all of Experian's data collection expertise to give customers a comprehensive used car history report including the exclusive Autocheck Score (its like a credit score for your car).

If you want to see additional comparisons between CARFAX ® & AutoCheck used car history reports, click here.

The media is never short of natural and man made disasters to report on. I bet you've never thought of how many thousands of cars were damaged in these disasters. Guess what happens to a lot of them? They are salvaged, rebuilt, sold at auction and have their titles cleaned. Your best defense against ending up with one of these vehicles is to make sure you run a used car history report. If you are still in shopping mode and have not yet decided on a specific vehicle the 60 day unlimited report is the best option.

Recent major vehicle disasters that might show up in a Vehicle History Report:

• Hurricane Irene 2011 - Flooding on the East Coast
• Flooding - Spring 2011
• Tornadoes in the Southern States - 2011
• Flooding in Iowa, Tennessee & Rhode Island - 2010
• Hurricanes Gustav and Ike - 2008
• Hurricanes Katrina, Rita & Wilma - 2005

Canadian visitors: Looking at a used vehicle in Canada? Click here to visit our Canadian car buying tips page.

There's no VIN Decoder for used cars made before 1981
Not even AutoCheck can get you a car history report for cars before 1981, because the VIN did not become a standard until then, and every car manufacturer had their own format, so you're out of luck. There is no VIN decoder for this. But for late models years, the VIN decoder section of a AutoCheck report can help you tell if the seller is lying about the model, for example, calling it an EX, when the VIN decoder shows it to be an LX.

Some car accidents won't appear in an AutoCheck Vehicle history report
Some municipalities don't supply accident report data, and some accidents below $1000 are not reported. Nothing is fool proof. That's why I stress so much that you still need a certified mechanic to look at the car on a lift to find accident damage not reported by the car history report. Vehicle history reports are only as accurate as the data from their sources.

Get Yourself An Extended Warranty For That used Car
The best advice on this page is to get an extended warranty whenever you buy a used car. We'll review car warranty companies like CARCHEX and Warranty Direct. Be sure to read our chapter on buying an Extended Warranty. It's required reading!

Odometer Rollback Myths
Many people wrongly think digital odometers can't be rolled back. With digital odometers, the current mileage reading is stored in a memory chip. A skilled scammer can remove the chip and reprogram it with lower mileage, so you must run an AutoCheck Used Car History Report on the VIN to know for sure. A car's mileage is recorded when it's inspected, when the title changes hands, when it is traded in at a car dealer or turned in after a lease. As you look at an AutoCheck Vehicle History Report the recorded mileage should increase each year. If an AutoCheck mileage event shows less mileage than the last event, you know there is odometer fraud.

AutoCheck can also alert you to potential Airbag Fraud
Airbag fraud is widespread and very profitable. When cars are wrecked, insurance companies pay for damages including airbag replacement. Some unscrupulous repair shops take the money without replacing the $800 airbag. Many companies sell fake airbag covers so that you falsely think you have an airbag. Could you be driving around in a car with no airbag, even though you think one is installed? You can't see through the airbag cover. That's why you need to know if the car was wrecked. If the car had previous accidents on its AutoCheck car history report, you should be suspicious and have a certified mechanic verify that airbags are properly installed. In some cases, AutoCheck can tell you if the airbag was deployed in an accident, but only if it is checked off in the accident report.

You would hate to buy a used car without an AutoCheck Report, spend hundreds on your extended warranty, then when you need to file a claim, the warranty company finds out your used car was salvaged and voids the warranty.

VIN Numbers & where to find them
Many visitors tell me they ran an AutoCheck vehicle history report and found the used car they almost bought was a rebuilt wreck. You can find the VIN# on the a plate on the dashboard by looking through the windshield. Some cars also have the 17 digit VIN# printed on stickers on the drivers side door, trunk, other doors. Then you can run a AutoCheck Vehicle History Report to see if it has a rebuilt title.

You need to do more than run an AutoCheck Free VIN Check and Record Summary!
Don't just run an AutoCheck Free VIN check and think your job is done. That's just a teaser showing you how many records exist for that car, so run the full AutoCheck Vehicle History Report. Experian AutoCheck also has an excellent buyback guarantee. If for some reason a problem title is later found on a vehicle that shows a "Clean Title" in their system, they will buy back the vehicle from you. The AutoCheck 60 day Unlimited Vehicle History Report gives you the ability to check the history of every used car you are looking at.

What about the free Government report and other cheaper reports?
The "free" Government vehicle history report is called NMVTIS and it isn't really free to start with. You have to purchase the report for a few dollars per VIN from one of the NMVTIS data providers. Some of these providers charge a little more and provide a little bit of data beyond what the Government database contains. All of these NMVTIS data providers fall into the category of a second tier vehicle history report and all of the cheaper reports are from NMVTIS providers. They provide information about the Title but do not provide much data beyond that. They do not make any attempt to provide a repair history and the basic low cost reports do not include any accident data. AutoCheck and CARFAX ® are what we consider to be top tier providers. These companies are constantly purchasing as much data as possible to provide a comprehensive vehicle history report and give you as much information as possible to make your used car purchase decision. They purchase accident data and repair data wherever possible. Plus, they back their reports with protection. AutoCheck includes Buyback Protection at no extra cost. If it turns out that they missed a title brand that shows up after you purchased the car they will buy the car back from you under the terms of their program. Also, if you buy the unlimited package chances are that you will run enough reports during your shopping process to make the cost per report just as low as the "cheap" reports.

Maximize the value of your AutoCheck Vehicle History Reports. Get the 60 day Unlimited plan!
If you are still is car shopping mode and have not yet found the used car for you, the AutoCheck 60 day Unlimited Vehicle History Report gives you the ability to check all the cars you want for 60 days. It gives you the chance to check the vehicle history of every used car you are shopping for. Think you don't have a VIN number to check yet? Yes you do, run the VIN number on your own car first. It's instantaneous, then run your parents' car VIN Number to get a feel for reading the reports. It's an all you can eat 60 day AutoCheck Used Car History Report buffet!

Use your vehicle history report to haggle a lower used car price

• One nice feature of the AutoCheck Used Car History Report that several of our visitors have made clever use of is the delivery history of the car. Some people get the car history report to determine when the dealer took delivery of the used car coming off a lease. You might find the car was sitting on the lot for 6 months. You can use this powerful ammunition to knock down the price of the car. If it's been on their lot for 6 months, no one wants it, name your price. Many of our visitors have reported excellent success with this strategy.
  
  
• The AutoCheck Vehicle History Report lists the in service date of the car and thus how much warranty is left.
  
  
• Most people love that the AutoCheck Vehicle History Report shows the states a car was registered in, and when it was bought. This is useful data, because a 2010 car could have been bought in 2009, so it's really older than the other 2010 models you are looking at.
  
  
• My friend's vehicle history report for his used Lexus RX300 he just bought has a VIN decode showing the car was 4 wheel drive. The dealer did not know it because you cannot tell from the outside, and they only charged him for the standard 2WD, so he made out quite well.
  
  
• If the car went through an auction, the AutoCheck Vehicle History Report vehicle history report will show it. This is a great way for you to catch insurance companies who skirt the law. They resell a totaled car through a salvage auction, evading your state's minimum threshold of damage disclosure laws on the title. They are only required to brand the title if the damage exceeds a percentage of the value of the car. If they can get enough for the car at an auction, they won't have to brand the title even though the car should be totaled. Then you lose out. In 2006 AutoCheck announced the inclusion of new, exclusive data sources providing nationwide coverage of police accident report sourced information along with real frame damage data. These new data sources provide AutoCheck with specific police-reported accident information gathered from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as frame damage events to create a more complete view of a vehicle's title history.

Buying a used car in California? You better run an AutoCheck Vehicle History Report
California has the toughest emissions laws in the US. If a car has failed emissions, it could cost you big bucks to get the car to pass the emissions test. An AutoCheck Vehicle History Report will inform you if the car has failed emissions tests in past and if it eventually passed. If the vehicle is currently under a Gross Polluter violation and it has not been repaired, then you should avoid the car. An AutoCheck Used Car History Report is a great weapon in your used car buying arsenal.

Every VIN Tells A Story
The 17 digit car VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) is on all cars, usually found in the dashboard as a metal strip with numbers that you can't get at. The VIN usually appears on multiple factory sticker as well. Normally you should be able to find it inside the driver side door, passenger side door, under the hood and possibly the trunk. Sometimes the engine and other major parts have it stamped or engraved. The car manufacturers usually place VIN stickers on the major accident parts like doors, engines, and quarter panels. These are the parts that are stripped off the car when it's stolen. If they show up in another car, you know something is wrong. Either the car was stolen, a victim of grand theft auto, or previously junked and rebuilt. Check all the doors and panels for the VIN, making sure that ALL of them match. If even one of them is a mismatch, something is wrong! If the seller denied that the car was in a wreck, it's time to leave. Ask them why the numbers don't match and watch them squirm. This is one way to protect yourself and it only takes a minute.

Evidence of a previous accident or rebuilt cars
Check the tires and windows carefully for evidence of paint over spray. Many sellers will put a cheap paint job on the car and lie about it being in a wreck. The cheaper the paint job, the sloppier the body shop gets. They get over spray all over the place, and that's your singing telegram that the car was in a wreck or rebuilt. Most people don't just paint a car for the heck of it.

*Note: In order to prevent fraud, Experian has implemented security measures which may temporarily disable an unlimited used car history report account. If this happens to your account, you will have to contact their customer service department to have the account re-enabled.