Is this reliable or not?I have 2 reports,pretty detailed,but how reliable is it?

 

You can do some research on the net about carfax. They only report what is available in public databases. If a car was in a wreck and the owner didn't report it to the police then it won't show up in carfax. Also, some states don't publish the info so incidences in those states will not show up as well.

 

Whether Carfax is reliable comes down to what you mean by that term. Just about everything Carfax reports will be 100% accurate, butas riley pointed out, they collect and report only public information. Thus, if a car was a "bad one" taken back by the dealer under a state lemon law, or has a surplused title because for some reason it was once judged unrepariable, or ever stolen, or in a major wreck requiring substantial (more than 25% of value) repairs, or had a major insurance claim put in on it for damage (flooding, vandalism) Carfax will tell you. If the car's mileage was ever reported and stored, they will tell you the max registered for it, etc.

The greatest risk is probably from something like this: the owne had no insurance and the car was under water in a flood. The owner never filed for insurance since he had none, and instead found some cheap shop to dry the car out and get it looking good, then dumped it as a trade in on some dealer without declaring the damage. The dealer, unknowing, passes the car on thinking it is good, but it is basically a nightmare of future repair bills,but as faras Carfax knows, it has a clean bill of health.

Lesson: if Carfax says its got some problems it has some problems. If they say its a good car it might be a good car, butregardless, have a pro look it over carefully.

 

Good post, and let me also add that if the car you are looking at is Vette, you can take it to any GM dealer and run the VIN in their database (no charge if they are a decent dealership) and you can find out about everything any GM service department the car has been run through to find out if it has been serviced and what the service was if the previous owner(s) took it to a GM dealer for anything from the day the first owner took delivery. Additionally, I would be wary of any car orignally registered in Florida, the Gulf Coast states or Louisiana. My first Vette was out of Florida, I did a CARFAX on it and confirmed that fact and also discovered that it was a corporate fleet vehicle which means that it was driven by a lot of folks who I am sure didn't have careful and responsible driving in mind when they had it and it showed because in the 4 months that I owned it, (a red '01 Vert) it was in the shop 6 times for mostly computerized component problems. I took it back to the same dealer I bought it from, showed him the Carfax and GM reports and that is how I got into the Vette I have now (no down payment) which incidentally, I also ran the VIN on before I bought it and confirmed that it was a one-owner with every available option available in 2004. Bottom line: check ALL available sources and make an informed decision before buy any previously owned vehicle, especially a Vette.