Okay, had a nice deal on a 93 Vette all lined up. Owner has title and it's clean. So I decide to run a Carfax on it anyway. Well, the Carfax shows the car as a total loss in 2002. The strange thing is that in the record of the incident it says "Carfax began reporting this incident in 12/2007". Seems strange to me that it would take over 5 years to show up on the record. Or is this pretty normal operating for Carfax? The car does not have a salvage title, which you would think it would have if it was repaired from a total loss accident. Car is in Michigan. P.S. I am not buying the car now that I have this info, unless it proves to be incorrect.

 

When I bought my 92, back in 2001, the seller told me that it had a salvage title, but the deal was good and I bought it. It had been totaled back in 1994, repaired in 1995, and registered that year in RI with a salvage title. Carfax didn't list the car as having a salvage title until after I registered it as a salvage in Massachusetts.

By the way, since I bought it I've put over 90,000 miles, and I couldn't be happier. Not all salvage cars are lemons.

 

Carfax reliablity?


For CRAP!

Carfax and Reliability...2 words never to be used together in the same sentence

BTW, they miss a lot!

 

You have mail

 

Did a carfax on my son's Saturn a few years after it was salvaged from an accident. We bought it back from the ins. co for a few dollars and the report never showed any salvage. It must be reported by the parties involved or it'll never show up.

 

Carfax or any other reporting company is not a know all tell all information bank. Their reports are only as good as the info they receive. Any info you get from them should only be used as a guide in your car purchase...

 

Very true Too bad they bill themselves as such Very misleading to the general public

 

Carfax reliablity?

Jumbo Shrimp?

Biggest Loser?

Oxymorons.

 

 

Your best bet is to take the car to a mechanic or body shop of YOUR choice and have them look the car over. Even if a car is a rebuild, any competent body man will spot it a mile away. Carfax and Auto Check are only as good as the information they receive.

 

I'd like to do that, except the car is a good 2 hours away from me and I don't know anybody in that town.

 

There should be a garage somewhere in that town, right? It's like this: you can trust a piece of paper or you can trust a good set of eyes. I don't know how much you're paying for this car, but whatever you spend in gas running over there to get the car checked out will be worth it if it's a rebuild and you know about it now instead of a year from now.

Never buy a car based solely on emotions or "the deal". Buy a car based on sound mechanics and value. There's no reason to buy a rebuilt salvage when there's a lot of clean cars out there too.

 

Three years after I totalled mine the Carfax was clean. I have not run one for about 2 years.

 

CarFax at best should only be used as a guide!

 

Well, I have found that Autocheck is a bit more reliable than Carfax but both are OK. Most of the time an insurance claim or title change or accident report is what triggers the record and that's when it shows up. But. . .there are ways around it. For instance, after Katrina it was reported that scammers were going around buying damaged cars from people. These people had no home, no clothes, no groceries and no money. A guy walks up with cash, offers to buy whats left of the car outright before insurance has settled or the state has had a chance to figure out what's going on. The scammer gets the title clean, does some cheap repairs and sells the car with clean title for full retail.

 

GO TO THIS LINK FOR CORVETTE CLUBS IN YOUR AREA
http://www.michcorvette.org/id7.html
There are clubs shown in Battle Creek and Kalamazoo or any of the others shown that might be closer to where the VETTE is that you can contact for local help. Maybe a call to one of the Michigan Vette clubs will get you results.
Also, Corvette Club of Michigan formed in 1958 is one of the oldest Corvette clubs in the United States. They meet monthly at
Les Stanford Chevrolet (their club sponsor)
21711 Michigan Ave.
(Between Southfield Rd. and Telegraph Road).
Dearborn, MI 48123
Les Stanford has been very involved in Corvette activities for many years. He was a sponser of Jim Van Dorn's Pirate race team.(AutoMasters Bowling Green, http://www.automastersofbg.com/ )
If no one else can help you I bet someone at Les Stanford will come thru for you.
Here's a picture of a Pirate race car

 

 

If the report shows something, good.

If the report shows nothing, that's what you know - nothing.

Whatcha' can't see is what hurts ya'. Whatcha' see, ya' see.

 

Thanks for all the info/advice guys. Especially Zrwon. I thought I'd update you on the situation:
I called the current owner, who I know through a friend, and he was not happy. He bought the car as a clean title unwrecked car about 1 year ago. I sent him a copy of the carfax and he is going to try to get ahold of the previous owners to try and find out what happened. (like I said in my first post even though the total took place in 02, it doesn't show up in carfax until 12/17/2007).
Right now everything is on hold anyway because we are in the middle of blizzard season here in Michigan. Last week when I talked to the owner (before Carfax) he was reluctant to take it out of storage and I really don't want to drive it on roads in their current condition, plus his pole barn is about 100 feet off the road and he hasn't plowed the drive to it in a couple weeks so there's probaly about 20" or more of snow to be moved first.
So right now I'm waiting for the roads to clear and then I'll post up on the Great Lakes forum and see if I can get someone to meet me there or go look at it for me. I will be happy to pay someone for their time.
If it was fixed correctly I would not rule out buying it since I'm basically looking for a daily driver and not an investment. I have about a 9k budget and this car comes in quite a ways under that. Giving me extra $$ for mods.

 

Just remember that a salvage title car is worth about 25% or more less than a clean title car. There are plenty of C4's for sale, so no need to feel like you have to buy this car. Unless you are a very experienced Corvette mechanic, make sure to have it examined but someone who is!