Buying a Used Car: Did it come from Houston???

[Coldjensens]

Carfax is not always reliable. Often it has no information. Sometimes it has wrong information. It certainly will not tell you whether the car was in a flood unless an insurance company reported a claim. It is simple, but the simple answer is not carfax, the simple answer is do not buy a car where you do not know or cannot unquestionably confirm its history. Wherever possible I look for original owner cars. Cars owned by a friend, neighbor, or relative are the best. If you have Carfax records of registration and maintenance, and they are all in specific locations that do not get floods, you are probably safe. Sometimes Carfax has records of every oil change and repair. Sometimes it has nothing more than no negative history. It occasionally has wrong information or, more often, missing information, but if it has records of every oil change etc, it is unlikely that will be wrong.

Of course if you are looking for a car from 1973, you are SOL. There are not going to be any records and there is almost no chance of finding one that is still with the original owner.

[Adam smit]

The easiest way to get previous history of any vehicle is to run an online VIN check that provides you with detailed history of any vehicle.

This will ensure that you are not buying a damaged car or a car with defects

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by Adam smit

The easiest way to get previous history of any vehicle is to run an online VIN check that provides you with detailed history of any vehicle.

This will ensure that you are not buying a damaged car or a car with defects

5 yr old thread.............

But if it was a flood car, carfax would likely note the insurance payout and car would be marked salvage.

Need an easy way to spot water damage, take a look under the front seats, if too low then snap a few pics with your phone. If the bottom of the seat is all rusted, it has likely been wet. Everything will rust but when you see a flood car it is really apparent, really rusted.

I looked at a Corvette once that had a "high tide mark" on the door panels.