i was told by a reputable dealer that my car had a negative carfax report and that it is worth many thousands less than expected. i bought it at auction and didn't check carfax. is this something all you guys always check? i looked into checking it myself and it looks like about 35 bucks, but at this point is it even worth it? they said it showed a front end collision. how do you know how severe it was? if i spent the 35 dollars would it tell me? surely they wouldn't just tell me that to low-ball their offer...right??

 

get a PPI done, and they can tell you what kind of repairs have been made and if it was done correctly.

 

Tell them to show it to you!

 

I didnt check before buying - and it was not good, and really hurt when I went to sell....no one wanted the car despite it being re-done again after the fact by me to the tune of nearly $5k so everything was as good as it could be. - people would not even come to look at it once they found out it had carfax accident history

sorry be be Dr Glum, but thats what I found

search "deminished value" there is fact to the fiction

 

Carfax is good for filtering... but def not the end game. I always do carfax before buying, but also take it with a grain of salt. I remember paying $35 for unlimited checks for a month... not sure how that works today.

 

My son had a Miata for 4 years during college. The car had 3 significant accidents and when he sold it the Carfax was clean!

The report can confirm a problem, but can't prove a clean record.

 

Where you trying to trade in your car or you were merely just curious? The unfortunate thing about the CARFAX is when you sell. Even if you swear that car has not given you any issues it will lower the value to the buyer.
If you want piece of mind and you should dig into more and see if you can find more records of the accident. Or even get a reputable body shop to inspect the car and tell you what was done. Then keep it for your records for future buyer

 

When I purchased the 996... the sales source showed me a clean carfax... But... He told me that the Drivers door had been replaced... Not reskinned! That was the only damage no other! Well, long story short... the car had been hit in the drivers side, damaged rear quarter, lower control arm, trailing arm (was cracked & not replaced~ found that out at LimeRock in No name when it came apart), hub, Front Strut was bent, Front LC was bent... I found all this over the course of the first summer when I started to track the car. As a street car... it would have taken several years before it would have all "COME" to light. Because the car drove and looked great from the outside... (did not find the qtr panel was replaced until the following season when I installed the cage)

I'll never buy another used car based on a Carfax... Site Unseen! It will have a PPI by me or a local shop if the distance doesn't permit my personal attention.

 

I do not believe the dealer would lie about something so easily checked.

As another poster suggested (and it is a good suggestion) ask for a copy of the CarFax report.

The best time -- I can say with the benefit of hindsight -- is when the dealer told you about the report to exclaim "I don't believe it! I was told the car has no no negative entries. Show me the CarFax.".

But better late than never.

Or pay the money and get a CarFax report for your car. The cost is nil.

Now the dealer would not be a dealer if it didn't undershoot your car's value by magnifying the seriousness of the CarFax report.

The dealer almost certainly isn't too concerned or it would have simply refused the car.

Thus this suggests the dealer is using the negative report to justify offering you less for your car.

In car buying the price is not a fact, only an opinion. What the dealer was giving you was his opinion as to the car's worth, his price.

Because you were caught unprepared, you need the report. Then you need to take the car to a high end reputable body/paint shop one with no money in the game and have the car checked out and an honest assessment made of the repairs to the car.

Additionally, I know from experience while body shops do a good job on the body/paint work they do not do so well on the mechanical repairs. Thus you need to consider taking the car to a Porsche dealer and paying to have have the front bumper cover removed -- I think you said the damage was to the front of the car? -- and having the tech assess the condition of the mechanicals underneath.

This involves checkign wiring/hoses for proper routing, that they are secure, removing the headlights and verifying the wiring is good behind them, that everything is where it should be, that everything looks as it should look.

Porsche techs tell me -- and my experience has confirmed this -- that invariably when a bumper cover is removed after the car has been at a body shop the techs find things wrong.

Usually not big things, but things that need to be put right.

Ideally you want to see factory parts under the bumper cover. Things want to fit. The tech can tell you if he sees anything amiss and you can decide what to do about it. Misrouted hoses, wiring, I'd fix. If a non-factory radiator was found -- for instance -- and as long as the tech could assure the thing fits properly is hooked up properly has about the same dimensions, etc, I'd be tempted to leave it in place.

At the same time have the tech put the car on an alignment rack and verify the alignment is good and this is important that the alignment is good or can be made good (if it is off) without using up too much adjustment.

If the adjustment is used up, or has to be used up to bring teh car into proper alignment this is an indication the car was not properly repaired.

But assuming the car checks out ok, then you have the copies of the reports Carfax, what the body/paint shop found, and what the Porsche tech found, and you can go back to the dealer and negotiate a higher trade in allowance for your car.

Oh, it is a good idea to get a CarFax report on a car before you buy it. But the report is a two edged sword. As another poster said "The report can confirm a problem, but can't prove a clean record." I can't say it any better than that.

It is always a good idea to have a car PPI'd before you buy it.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

I agree the carfax is a good filter, but not all acidents appear on the carfax - even severe ones. I bought a GT3 with a clean carfax but the PPI revealed it had been is an serious front end accident. I bought the car anyway but at a very significant discount.

 

CARFAX is never the complete story. My car's report is clear - and incredibly detailed to include all of the original owner's service records at the dealer! However, my car was hit on the passenger's side at some point and repaired to a very high standard, as was reported in the PPI. As CARFAX draws data primarily from insurance claims it is a safe assumption that the original owner paid for the repairs out of pocket. That is not altogether rare in higher end cars.

So, when buying a car there is no substitute for a thorough PPI. A CARFAX report is helpful, but not the final answer in any fashion. And when buying sight unseen it is a good idea to get another set of unbiased enthusiast eyes on the car. This is where PCA and Rennlist can be a huge help.

 

Most of the issues with CarFax is that it is only as good as the reporting agencies. If the car was repaired out of sight - as in a non insurance claim repair or the owner paid cash at an indy autobody shop and not at Porshe dealer then no report is sent to CarFax.

There are good reasons why some of these Porsche are at auction's - dealers and higher end car lots have already run the #'s and got the reports and take a pass on repaired units. The auctions are the final dumping ground for these trade in's that don't pass muster. I don't know why a dealer is telling you this NOW unless your trying to trade it into him?