On the outside, the car looked good. Black car with black leather interior, sun roof and of course those “to die for” Bose speakers. I think the Bose speakers and the sun roof were a major draw for him.

Usual Wear and Tear

Of course, when you purchase a 15 year old car Nissan Maxima, you expect for it to have some wear and tear. It has about 100,000 miles on it and needs a tune up, brakes, oil change and the usual. What he didn’t take into consideration was that the car was driven in the “salt belt.” Old cars and salt belt spell rust and corrosion.

Not so Usual Wear and Tear

After purchasing the car (yes, I said after), he had a mechanic friend gave it a once over. He discovered that the bottom of the car is rusting out. There’s excessive corrosion on the underside to the point where it needs to be reinforced so it won’t lose its integrity.

As an ex-football player, he’s not a little guy. Driving around in a car where the bottom is about to fall out isn’t a good thing. The seller of the car (who took the money and ran), must have known the condition of the car. A CARFAX report after the fact is pretty much useless.

School of Hard Knocks

Here’s another car lesson learned via the school of hard knocks. Get the CARFAX and the vehicle inspection before handing over the cash!

Many car buyers understand the importance of obtaining a CARFAX history report (learn how to get a CARFAX report for free) on a vehicle prior to purchase, however, a CARFAX report is only necessary when the final decision is about to be made. Before potential car buyers get to the decision phase, there are preliminary phases they must go through first.

While in the preliminary shopping phase, car buyers are faced with a plethora of purchase options. Most shoppers usually have a good idea of the budgetary limitations and whether or not to buy a private passenger car or a sports utility vehicle, but that doesn’t narrow the playing field very much. Whether the consumer decides to go with a used car or pre-owned sports utility vehicle, the choices are many.

Pre-Owned Vehicle Reputation

A used car’s reputation is one way to help narrow the playing field. Anyone old enough to have lived through or had owned a Ford Pinto can vouch for how a car’s reputation can affect the way shoppers view a car’s reliability. The Ford Pinto won the dubious honor of being included in Time.com’s list of the Worst 50 Cars of All Time. Hardly a vehicle buyers would flock to.

CARFAX Free Safety and Reliability Ratings

Consumers can now avoid purchasing car models with a known history of safety defects and poor reliability. By visiting the CARFAX Safety and Reliability service, car buyers can narrow their used car selection.

The CARFAX service offers safety and reliability ratings for vehicles manufactured from 1991 to current year. The benefit of this service is that car buyers can narrow the pre owned auto playing field. For example, if Suzie happens to browse the morning paper and finds a seemingly great deal on a particular car, she can access the CARFAX safety and reliability ratings to see if that model car has any known safety or reliability problems.

She doesn’t have to wait until she obtains the vehicle identification number before she starts her preliminary auto research. Suzie can go to the CARFAX site, select the year, make and model of the car to find out a host of information to help to her narrow her car selection choices.

Free Used Car Reliability Information

Once a car buyer locates the vehicle in CARFAX’s safety and reliability service, the buyer will gain access to the following reports specific to the auto:

Safety reports from:

• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Crash Test Results
• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Crash Test Results
• IIHS Low Speed Damage Repair
• Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) Injury, Collision and Theft Indicators
• NHTSA Safety Recalls

Reliability reports from:

• J.D. Power and Associate Ratings
• Identifix Reliability Ratings
• Intellichoice Cost of Ownership & Value Rating
• Original Manufacturer Warranty
• New Car Test Drive Automotive Review
• Vehicle Awards

The vehicle reports are extensive and potential car buyers should allow ample time to review all of the information provided. Depending on the data found in the reports, the consumer can either take it to the next step or go back to the drawing board to find a different car.

How to get a CARFAX report for free? Easy. CARFAX makes it easy and so do their dealers. Here’s how:

1. Option I: Buy your car from a dealer that is a member subscriber of the CARFAX online dealership program. Participating dealers get a discount when ordering CARFAX reports. To find out if a dealer is a member, go to Carfaxonline.com and type in your zip code for a listing of member dealers in your area. Once you find out which dealers participate in the CARFAX online program, you know they get CARFAX reports for a discount. In your negotiation process ask them to throw in a free report. They’d rather throw in the free report than lose a potential car sale.



2. Option II: Use the CARFAX database and shop there for your used car. Their database contains a listing of used cars for sale throughout the country that are backed by their buy back guarantee. If you buy a car from their database and find that there are title problems, such as flood/fire damage or a salvaged or junk title, they will buy the car back (make sure to read the terms and conditions). Each car listed in their database has a link that says “free CARFAX Vehicle History Reports”
3. Option III: The final option is to go to any used car dealership and request a free CARFAX report even if they’re not a member of the CARFAX online program. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. If they refuse to give you a free report, leave the dealership and go to one that will.

Car dealers want to sell cars, not haggle over a CARFAX report. You stand a pretty good chance of getting one if you go through a dealership. Private sales require a different approach (we’ll discuss that in a future post).