I did a Carfax on a used car and it reported a minor accident under $500. In looking at this car, should I be overly concerned.
Not about that, but about what’s not on the Carfax. I’d pay to get it inspected.
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If the car passes your mechanic’s inspection, I’d buy it. A Carfax report is only a starting point. A full inspection by a mechanic that you are paying (to remove conflict of interest) is a lot more reliable.
Depends on how much money you are spending. If I am buying a 2 yr old car, if it has damage reported, I pass. Mostly because I find shopping for a used car a bit time consuming, so I try to choose my battles.
If it is an older car and you have time to check it out, then I would take a look, test drive and then have a mechanic check it out. The carfax report would give you some negotiating power.
Even “minor” accidents cost over $1000 these days. I wouldn’t even think twice about “under $500”
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Carfax can only list what has been reported to them. Many large car rental fleets self insure the physical damage on their cars. They may not report repairs to Carfax or Autocheck. (Why would they?) In my opinion, a clean Carfax means next to nothing on a fleet vehicle. There is no substitute for a pre purchase inspection.
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I would not trust a carfax report, I know A guy who bought a brand new car & kept it well maintained & kept all record’s. five year’s later bought new car did not get offered enough for trade in so decided to sell his self. He got all his record’s together decided to get carfax report to use as selling point carfax repoted car had been stolen & totaled three years bofore,
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This is going back a number of years but just for giggles i ran a CF on a couple of cars I owned at the time.
My “Been on a Salvage Title for 8 years” Subaru showed to have a clean and clear title.
My SAAB 900 was shown to be “Currently stolen” even though I was the second owner and the Air Force Captain who bought it new said it had never been heisted.
CF can be an aid of sort but you should not put your full faith in it. As for the 500 bucks, that’s essentially a scratch job. The scratch may have been reported but a broadside against a stationary train may not have been so do a thorough inspection pre-purchase.
Carfax is good to see the ownership history but that’s all I’d rely on it for. Incidentally, I had a lady back into me in the drive through lane and the bill was $3000 for a bumper cover, headlight and painting. So $500 would be a scratch these days.