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Was looking at some used Honda Pilots online. Apparently the 2003 model had a recall on the timing belt and tensioner bar. This is interesting to me because I'm looking at cars with around 100k miles and factoring in if I would need to have the timing belt changed soon. Anyway, when I looked at the Carfax on 4 or 5 2003 models, there was no mention of a recall. Could this be because Pilots are made in different locations and maybe the recall was for one facility, or...? Thanks for any education.
CarFax is the ultimate evolution of the old GIGO principle, or Garbage In Garbage Out. CarFax is only as good as the data sources used to feed it. In some cases they miss things like the vehicle being involved in a major accident. Sometimes they miss the extensive repair records on a vehicle because the shop did not report them. Your recall could be a case of that. Either the VIN's you were looking at weren't part of it, or the only ones who show it were ones where the shop reported the repair.
Basically, don't trust what CarFax says beyond the status of the title, which FWIW, is the only thing they guarantee to be accurate.
CarFax is the ultimate evolution of the old GIGO principle, or Garbage In Garbage Out. CarFax is only as good as the data sources used to feed it. In some cases they miss things like the vehicle being involved in a major accident. Sometimes they miss the extensive repair records on a vehicle because the shop did not report them. Your recall could be a case of that. Either the VIN's you were looking at weren't part of it, or the only ones who show it were ones where the shop reported the repair.
Basically, don't trust what CarFax says beyond the status of the title, which FWIW, is the only thing they guarantee to be accurate.
You hit the nail right on the head. I have friends that have asked me to go out and look at used vehicles with them, because they value my opinion when it comes to cars (I KNOW THAT'S HARD FOR SOME OF YOU TO BELIEVE). I have on more than one occasion, called out a salesman or sales manager and called BS on them because they were touting that a particular vehicle had a "CLEAN CARFAX". I have pointed out obvious body damage that has been repaired and the salesman has responded "NO WAY, IT'S NOT ON THE CARFAX, SO IT CAN'T BE". I will say that carfax is just another tool to use when looking to purchase a used vehicle and should never be relied on solely. In my opinion, there is nothing better than a thorough mechanics evaluation before making a used car purchase.
Was looking at some used Honda Pilots online. Apparently the 2003 model had a recall on the timing belt and tensioner bar. This is interesting to me because I'm looking at cars with around 100k miles and factoring in if I would need to have the timing belt changed soon. Anyway, when I looked at the Carfax on 4 or 5 2003 models, there was no mention of a recall. Could this be because Pilots are made in different locations and maybe the recall was for one facility, or...? Thanks for any education.
As has been stated, a Carfax report is good only up to the amount of information that has actually been reported on the car.
To find out whether any car has outstanding recalls just take the VIN number to a dealership for that make and they should be able to tell you. There may be some online resource as well, but if there is I'm not aware of it.
Was looking at some used Honda Pilots online. Apparently the 2003 model had a recall on the timing belt and tensioner bar. This is interesting to me because I'm looking at cars with around 100k miles and factoring in if I would need to have the timing belt changed soon. Anyway, when I looked at the Carfax on 4 or 5 2003 models, there was no mention of a recall. Could this be because Pilots are made in different locations and maybe the recall was for one facility, or...? Thanks for any education.
I took a quick look and didn't see any recall involving the timing belt. It don't mean that there isn't one. If you find a car you like, go to this web site https://www.ahm-ownerlink.com/SEO/Ho...20RECALL%20IDS
type in the VIN, and you should get recall info on that particular vehicle.
You hit the nail right on the head. I have friends that have asked me to go out and look at used vehicles with them, because they value my opinion when it comes to cars (I KNOW THAT'S HARD FOR SOME OF YOU TO BELIEVE). I have on more than one occasion, called out a salesman or sales manager and called BS on them because they were touting that a particular vehicle had a "CLEAN CARFAX". I have pointed out obvious body damage that has been repaired and the salesman has responded "NO WAY, IT'S NOT ON THE CARFAX, SO IT CAN'T BE". I will say that carfax is just another tool to use when looking to purchase a used vehicle and should never be relied on solely. In my opinion, there is nothing better than a thorough mechanics evaluation before making a used car purchase.
My parents were buying a car through my job and the CarFax had a reported accident claim. Of course, CarFax can never say what it was. In this case, the previous owner had the car repaired through the dealer because the rear bumper had been scraped by a shopping cart in the parking lot. The repair was less than $500 which basically included a minor repair and paint blend on the bumper. Just a casual read and most would have passed it over since "it had an accident" and they would have never believed the dealers explanation.
I don't like CarFax just for this reason. You can have a vehicle that was damaged to within a breath of being totalled and it's "clean" with no record of an accident. You can then also have a car with something so minor that most people wouldn't have fixed it end up with a recorded accident. If my parents weren't buying the car through my employer, I probably would have told them to pass on it because of that and the simple fact you just don't know.
CarFax is the ultimate evolution of the old GIGO principle, or Garbage In Garbage Out. CarFax is only as good as the data sources used to feed it. In some cases they miss things like the vehicle being involved in a major accident. Sometimes they miss the extensive repair records on a vehicle because the shop did not report them. Your recall could be a case of that. Either the VIN's you were looking at weren't part of it, or the only ones who show it were ones where the shop reported the repair.
Basically, don't trust what CarFax says beyond the status of the title, which FWIW, is the only thing they guarantee to be accurate.
+1
I really have to hand it to the advertising agency that CarFax uses, because they have apparently convinced a large percentage of the public that they will find out everything that they need to know about a used car from a CarFax report. Unfortunately, that widespead misconception has allowed a lot of folks to unknowingly buy clunkers.
The only value to CarFax is IF a problem is listed, you can be reasonably sure that the problem is reality. However, reasonably sure and absolutely sure are still very different things.
What am I referring to? I know a mechanic who bought a used car and--just for kicks--he decided to spend some money on a CarFax report about the car. The report stated that the car had been stolen a couple of years before and had not been recovered. He read this report as he gazed through his shop window at the car--which he had purchased from his son who had bought the car as a new car a few years prior, and--yes, you guessed it--the car had never been stolen.
Anyway--as was already mentioned by others, the biggest problem with CarFax has to do with all of the missing information. But, even the information that is included can be inaccurate!
As someone else already stated, CarFax is just ONE tool to use when buying a car, but it is not a viable substitute for viewing actual maintenance records and an inspection by your own mechanic.
I suppose that CarFax is better than nothing, but not a whole lot better.
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). I have on more than one occasion, called out a salesman or sales manager and called BS on them because they were touting that a particular vehicle had a "CLEAN CARFAX". I have pointed out obvious body damage that has been repaired and the salesman has responded "NO WAY, IT'S NOT ON THE CARFAX, SO IT CAN'T BE". I will say that carfax is just another tool to use when looking to purchase a used vehicle and should never be relied on solely. In my opinion, there is nothing better than a thorough mechanics evaluation before making a used car purchase.
