Looking for a new car rn (want to buy a used one). My previous one was the one from my family, so I knew all the history (well, my dad repairs everything lol), but right now I have read here that I need to use a VIN checker and look through the history.
Friends recommended me EpicVIN. Have you used this service? What is the quality of their reports? I’m not asking about the price. I’ve looked through their site and understand their subscription model, and that’s okay for me. My main question is about the info that they have in the reports.
Additionally, can you give some advice on what’s more important there? I know that most of the time people say mileage, but is there anything else that is crucial?
Not familiar with it. Is it like Carfax? The thing to remember these services rely on what is reported to them. A vehicle may have had every maintenance service performed on time, but never reported to one of these services. On the other hand a service might be reported, but that will not tell you if correct parts or fluids used. The general advice for a used car is have it inspected by a trusted shop. Mileage, hard to say. A car with 30K on it may have been abused, whereas a 100K car may have been gently treated. How about the car with 10,000 miles, but those miles were created 1/4 of a mile at a time?
Don’t waste your money on a “vehicle history report” from Carfax, or similar services. The ONLY thing that’s important is that the vehicle has a valid title with no hidden liens, and the way you find that out is by doing it “vehicle lien search” through your state’s DMV. Here in Arizona, that costs $5, money well spent. You would be amazed how many vehicles I called about, or looked at, only to find that there were hidden liens on the title for parking fines, criminal fines/court costs/restitution, child support arrearages, or online title loans. And of course the seller acted like there must be some mistake when I told them.
Did your dad report ALL the maintenance and repairs to any “VIN checker” that he preformed to every vehicle he ever worked on at home??? Now do you see why those checkers are mostly useless???
Yes if a vehicle has a fender bender or worse and it is reported to their insurance company, then it should show up on a VIN checker, but if it was not reported, then it will not show up on a VIN search…
Most chain and indy repair shops Do Not report maintenance/repairs to VIN checkers, so VIN checkers are not a good source of info…
As mentioned above, the Best thing to do is to have a prepurchase inspection done on the vehicle by a shop of your choosing…
So, if the vehicle comes with a FREE “VIN checker” then look at it to make sure nothing bad on it, but don’t assume a clean VIN check means a clean vehicle…
Meaning, if a wreck shows up on the report, then it probably has been wrecked and repaired, but it still could have been wrecked and never reported, and still have a clean check…
I find the vehicle history reports useful as one tool in the process. Typically, I use it first and as a means to exclude vehicles from further consideration. Things like accidents, multiple owners in a short time period, multiple repair instances, expected mileage inconsistent with vehicle age (e.g. super high mileage/year), etc. Most reputable used car dealers already supply one of these services for their cars. Private sale means in-person inspection because I trust my own experience, observation and assessment over what’s going to be in the report…
I used CarFax when researching a base model 2010 Cobalt. It was for sale as a used car in 2012 All the maintenance was done on time at the new car dealer and there were no gaps in usage, as might be the case for an accident. It was also a very low mileage car. I was still concerned about the low mileage and why the owner would sell it so soon. My oldest daughter said that friends would buy the cheapest car they could when graduating college then get a more fully featured car when they could afford it. Good explanation, clean CarFax, and I bought it. The car ran very well for about 8 years, then the gas leak that every Cobalt got showed up.
Can you elaborate about this? I am not familiar with this problem, and I still see the Chevrolet Cobalt on the road fairly often. Did you repair the leak, or did you junk the car at that point?
There a u-shaped bend in the gas line just in front of the rear wheel well. A leak develops there eventually. We sold the car and bought the Odyssey we currently drive. Here’s the summary from NHTSA on their investigation.
On July 5, 2020, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened PE20-011 to investigate instances of metal fuel lines under the vehicle corroding and leaking fuel in model year (MY) 2008 through 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt and 2008 through 2009 Chevrolet HHR passenger cars manufactured by General Motors (GM). The metal fuel lines are corroding and leaking fuel in the area between the front and rear wheels on the driver’s side of the vehicle before the muffler. Most consumers allege a fuel odor and/or an observable fuel leak that alerts them to the condition.
The subject metal fuel lines have a protective “AGE” coating and, in the vicinity of the left rear wheel, are further wrapped in a foil heat shield. The “AGE” coating consists of an annealed zinc aluminum alloy metal coating with extended corrosion protection paint. Under certain conditions, water and corrosive road deicing agents may enter a crevice between the heat shield and the AGE coating. With extended environmental exposure in high corrosive environments, the AGE coating can degrade. If it degrades enough, the base metal lines may begin to corrode beneath the heat shield.
Corrosion to the fuel lines may eventually cause a perforation to develop in the line, allowing fuel vapors to escape from between the line and the heat shield, emitting a fuel odor that will be detectable to the vehicle operator. If the corrosion progresses, fuel may begin to weep from the line. Further metal degradation due to corrosion could create a drip or a mist of fuel. If this occurs, vehicle owners may see drips, spots, or puddles on the ground near the rear portion of the vehicle, primarily along the driver’s side rear wheel.