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A CARFAX report costs money, and the car in front of you might look perfectly fine. So is it worth paying for? For most used-car purchases, yes, but not for the reason people think. A report doesn’t tell you a car is good. It tells you what has been reported about it, and that’s often enough to walk away from a bad one before you pay.
What you actually get
A CARFAX report collects records reported about a VIN: title brands such as salvage or flood, reported accidents and damage, odometer readings over the years, the number of owners, and service records from shops that report to CARFAX. CARFAX describes what goes into its reports on its vehicle history report page.
The key word is reported. A repair paid in cash at a shop that doesn’t report, or a crash that never reached an insurer or the police, won’t appear. A clean report is good news, not proof.
When it’s clearly worth it
Buying from a private seller. There’s no dealer standing behind the sale, so the report is one of the few independent checks you have.
Buying online or from another state. Title brands can be harder to spot when a car has moved between states. The report shows the title history in one place.
Buying at or after an auction. Cars sold at insurance auctions often carry damage records. Pair the report with the auction record to see the photos and the recorded damage.
Anything with a price that seems too good. A low price is often the first sign of a branded title or a rolled-back odometer.
When you might skip paying for one
The dealer already gave you one. Many dealers show a report for the cars on their lot. Check that the VIN on the report matches the car, on the dashboard and the door frame.
You’re only browsing. Start with free checks: the NICB VINCheck for insurer-reported theft and total loss, NHTSA’s recall lookup, and our free VIN decoder. Buy the full report once you’re serious about one car.
What a report can’t replace
No history report replaces an independent pre-purchase inspection. A mechanic can see rust, leaks, frame repairs and worn parts that no database records. The US Federal Trade Commission recommends both a history check and an inspection in its advice on buying a used car from a dealer.
Getting the same report for less
You don’t have to buy from carfax.com. We resell the same CARFAX report, as CARFAX produces it, for less, and you can add AutoCheck or the Copart and IAAI auction record for the same VIN. Most reports arrive within a few minutes, they stay in your account, and if a report can’t be produced for your VIN its cost comes back to you automatically. See today’s prices on our pricing page.
Smart VIN Check is an independent reseller and isn’t affiliated with CARFAX, Experian (AutoCheck), Copart or IAA.
The short answer
If you’re about to hand over real money for a used car, a history report is one of the cheapest ways to avoid an expensive mistake. Run it before the deposit, read it next to an inspection, and walk away if the two don’t agree.
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About the author
Tayron Bram
Data Validation Officer
Tayron Bram is the Data Validation Officer at Smart VIN Check, with 41 years of experience in used-car sales, auto auctions and vehicle data. Tayron has checked thousands of vehicle history reports and worked with dealers importing cars from the US. At Smart VIN Check, Tayron checks that every fact in our guides matches its source, from state title rules to NMVTIS and NHTSA records, and goes back to those sources when they change. Before a guide is published, Tayron reads it the way a buyer would, looking for anything unclear, out of date or not backed by a source. Tayron also keeps the prices we quote from other sellers current, so the comparisons on our pages stay accurate.
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