You took it out of context. OK4450 is mentioning it in the context of a used car. People buy used cars thinking - because it is a {fill in the blank} it will be reliable. But a lot depends on the care it received from the prior owner(s).
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Yes…you are correct… none of this information is going to be available to me… I was lucky enough to get a Honda SHop 8 hrs from where I live to respond by emailing me the actual invoice of THAT date listed on the car fax… by sending a detailed email to the Service Manager and BIG BOSS of that shop showing I am the new owner… I won’t get anything more out of that situation… they did say the mechanic that did that Service job no longer works there… who knows if this is the truth or not. We decided to wait a little while,… maybe till summer… maybe next year to drive this vehicle more IN CASE ANY OTHER ENGINE issues surface before doing the belt… I spend hours researching , and copying WARNING SIGNS of the belt and Water Pump going and will be very careful to get it in the shop immediately if anything like that starts happening.
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I know what he meant. I buy new and used because of their reliability. Honda’s, Toyota’s brands on average have been far more reliable then GM, Ford or Chryco.
Thank you all for responding to my post… I was disheartened to realize how worthless a CAR FAX actually is though. THat was an eye opener… I think they should make more RULES to what MUST be reported … at the very least from LARGE bonafide dealerships LIKE HONDA , CHEVY, etc…I understand smaller shops don’t report… but the Larger ones… I expected much more Detail.
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Well , you are wrong . Even rules ( why you need to use Capital letters so much is annoying ) still would not make the sites completely accurate . Also Carfax is not the only site that does that kind on lists .
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what other sites have these lists ? Sorry not trying to annoy anyone… just a habit.
This is a business - not a government program. It’s a marketing tool used to sell cars. Some of their data they get from insurance companies. And some states have laws against that data being reported to third party sources. The only problem I have with carfax is they aren’t up front with the quality of their data.
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So basically speaking , the majority of posters on here think it’s fine for Large Dealerships to not report swapping an engine , since “Reman” can mean many things, even salvaged according to some. That this is fine to not be reported on a Car Fax. Seriously?
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Correctamundo.
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But why… I don’t get it… less info is good, then what is the point of a car fax at all, mileage , how many owners, what is of value on a carfax if these things aren’t important ? I think TIming belt changes should be important and when Engines are changed, to mention a couple…
That is a question that the majority of the veterans of this forum contemplate very often.
Car Fax is a highly-flawed marketing tool that–unfortunately–some people have been led to believe in, as a result of that company’s advertising.
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So you want a law that supports a specific company to enhance their profits?
What about Autocheck or Truecar or Autotrader? Should dealers be forced to report their data to them also?
The dealer you bought the vehicle from may or may not have known about the engine replacement. It could have been done elsewhere.
Some states require that any known repairs must be reported to the person buying the car. But not all states have this. But again…the person/business may not know past repair history.
@VOLVO_V70, you are wrong to claim that a matter of opinion is subject to your arbitrary standards of right and wrong.
…and you are rude as well. It wouldn’t kill you to treat the OP with respect, even if you disagree with her opinion of the way things should be.
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Thank you Whitey… I am used to rude posters on forums…just comes with the territory of being anonymous I guess… Posters are asking me questions about their profits… see I know nothing about this … and am Learning… I just mistakenly believed that a CAR FAX meant something… and I was mistaken… that’s all… I guess the rest of you Veterans already know this… but yes… being a Mom with 6 kids where its’ too expensive for us to buy new vehicles… the car fax was something we look at and took some stock in…
and Yes… I do wish there was some mandatory reporting on the Big things… I do… that’s my opinion… How it gets done and what that involves… I have no idea… you guys know much more… but I do wish such a thing was in place for used car buyers.
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If you are buying a used car, you are assuming more risk than a new car buyer. The fact that consumers rely on Carfax reports without first researching the severe limitations of the Carfax system is not my (or society’s) problem. Prior to the recent Advent of Carfax,if a consumer deemed the information that Carfax provides to be critical, he researched it himself.
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Exactly. And that’s why I don’t like Carfax. They advertise like they have data about every car and every repair and accident. They don’t. Not even close. As I stated before…the problem with their data is what’s NOT being reported to them.
There are other ways to find history of a car. And best thing you can do before you buy a used car is get it checked out by a good trusted mechanic.
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I certainly understand there is risk in buying used cars… we basically look for older cars that have low mileage… this is the 1st time we ran into a remanufactured engine being in one (that we know of - of course)… we have saved a ton of $$ over the years buy buying used cars, and it has helped us raise our large family… we were debt free at age 40 with 6 kids… if we bought all new vehicles… we’d still be in debt in our 50’s… I have zero regrets of buying older used vehicles… even if I won the lottery… I would not buy a new vehicle… I consider it a colossal waste of money.
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I guess the best rule is “Let the buyer beware”. I know things have changed since I bought my first car 59 years ago. I knew my first car, a 1947 Pontiac, wasn’t perfect. One doesn’t get a great car for $75. However, I did mess up on the purchase of my next car–a 1955 Pontiac. I bought it from the Rambler dealer. His mechanics had overhauled the engine. Just as the term “remanufactured” can have different meanings today, an “overhauled engine” back then could mean anything from removing the engine, reboring the cylinders, fitting oversized pistons, turning the crankshaft and installing undersized bearings, resurfacing the cylinder head (s) and reseating new valves to a sloppy patch which just meant pulling the pan and cylinder head(s), installing new rings, honing the cylinder walls, grinding the valves and slapping the engine back together. The overhaul on my 1955 Pontiac was a sloppy patch
I blame myself for not doing the research. Consumer Reports indicated that the 1955 Pontiac was a reliable car. However, an oil filter was an option on the 1955 Pontiac and the Pontiac I bought didn’t have that option. That may have accounted for the fact that the engine needed an overhaul. The Pontiac I bought was a manual transmission. Common knowledge back then was that manual transmissions were more reliable. I had to have new bearings in the transmission. The column shift linkage was always difficult to shift. By 1955, more people were going to an automatic transmission and the
four speed GM Hydramatic was a very good transmission.
I think that the best way to buy a used car is to do preliminary checks to narrow the possibilities, then pay a mechanic to thoroughly check your too candidate.
There is no guarantee that any car, regardless of name plate, won’t need a repair. In 2006, I bought a 2006 Chevrolet Uplander that was a “GM program” vehicle with 15,000 miles on the odometer. My son now has the Uplander and it has gone 200,000 miles with no major repairs. I bought a new 2011Toyota Sienna. At 90,000 miles, it had to have a new water pump which cost $975. I could get 15,000 more miles on a set of tires on the Uplander than I got on the Sienna and I bought top of the line Michelin tires. Now I am not saying that GM vehicles are better that Toyota. In fact, I bought another Toyota Sienna in 2017. We bought a new Toyota 4Runner in 2003. I had to threaten the dealer with the lemon law to make it right. I agree with ok4450 that some nameplates don’t attract as many bullets, but I don’t limit my auto purchases to a particular nameplate.
I’m almost 70 and have a lot of debt. As long as the payments are within my cash flow budget, I sleep well at night.
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