Autocheck vs. Carfax

[Jerry Bruette]

Looking to buy a used truck and I'm wondering if anyone here has experience using either of these services and if they're worth the price paid.

Is one better than the other i.e. more info, better info, more usable info, etc.

[Justin Ludwig]

If the vehicle is at a dealer there will already be a carfax report. I'm not sure if it's a federal or state law, but in Oklahoma (where I sold cars for a short stint in '04) they have to show you the report if you request to see it.

I've never seen an Autocheck report so I can't specifically answer your question.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Everytime I see one of those commercials, I think has all common sense evaporated from our culture? It doesn't take a genius to see if a used car is good or bad, and it certainly can't be done by a computer that basically compiles the criminal history of one. All these "services" do is encourage the few sleeze balls who are trying to take advantage of someone to cheat differently.

[Jerome Stanek]

The only thing a carfax tells you are reported problems. My daughter was looking at a used car and the carfax came back clean but when I checked it there ws bodywork done to the door and looked like rear quarter that was replaced as it was repainted and new tail light.

[Phil Thien]

Everytime I see one of those commercials, I think has all common sense evaporated from our culture? It doesn't take a genius to see if a used car is good or bad, and it certainly can't be done by a computer that basically compiles the criminal history of one. All these "services" do is encourage the few sleeze balls who are trying to take advantage of someone to cheat differently.

Oh I'm not sure I'd agree with that. I can say that, without Carfax, there would be a lot more tomfoolery going on at dealerships. And even when the Carfax report doesn't provide all the information you need, I've seen instances where a car dealer has a dozen cars on the lot, all with clean reports, but where every single car came from an area where there was widespread flooding just a few months previous.

I'm not saying Carfax is the be-all and end-all, but it can sure be helpful.

My suggestion is to check a Carfax first. If the car is from anther area of the states, check a few other car reports and see if they're all coming from the same area (and ask why).

If the Carfax report is clean, then perform a thorough inspection of said car.