Buying a Used Car: Funny Business With The Title? Carfax?

It just proves, once again, that CarFax is NOT INFALIBLE. I don’t set any great store in their accuracy. Believe me they make mistakes every day. One car I checked very recently had a seven year gap in its history, and I KNOW its history because I sold it seven years ago. The current owner and his state are not shown on the CarFax history.

I have also known of SEVERAL cars with a damage history that did not show on CarFax. How’s that happen? If no police report was made at the time of an accident, and an insurance company didn’t have a hand in fixing (or totalling) the car, no report will be made to the titling DMV. It happens all the time.

Is there a problem with the Jeep you’re looking at? Probably not. The only way to know for sure is to have it thoroughly checked out by a competant mechanic. I’d suggest a independent shop well versed in Jeep 4X4s.

I totally agree about CarFax. My old Subaru was on a Salvage title and CarFax showed it as a clean one. CF also showed my old SAAB as a stolen vehicle even though this was not, nor was it ever, the case.

If it can’t be completely trusted then why put any faith in it at all.

I agree. I have heard of far too many cases of CarFax giving out inaccurate information for me to have any faith in that service. Certainly not every record that they return is inaccurate, but if there are known problems with the accuracy of their reporting, how can someone rely on their reports?

Well, I didn’t pay for the Carfax, it came with a free one because it was supposedly “certified” or some such thing.

But like you guys I have heard mixed reviews on Carfax in general. Its a nice idea but I’m not sure it will ever be perfect or even close. Too many possibilities for things to get missed.

We’ll see what the shop has to say today.

Well, I bought the car.
It appears that this guy was pretty anal and kept all the oil change receipts. One of them from the Ford dealer said “Employee”, so I suspect that the previous was an employee of Ford dealer, whatever that means.

Is the dealer still in business? Contact them and explain the situation. Maybe they will share information about the first sale, if not to whom they sold it. Try talking to the business manager.

Just had a thought. What if this dealer also owns a Jeep/Chrysler dealership in the same town? And, the Ford dealership is headquarters for the joint operation?