Carfax on used motorhome?

A Jaguar that we had was totaled in an accident and we were paid for the vehicle. Two months later the Jag had a clean Carfax report and it was sold to an overseas buyer.
Carfax depends on the insurance companies and repair shops reporting the damage. No report to Carfax and the vehicle history stays clean. If you, as a shop, or insurance company, are trying to sell a vehicle, it may be in your best financial interest NOT to report any damage.
After hurricane Sandy I am sure that there are many RV's that suffered water damage. As we have seen with other major disasters, it is pretty common for damaged vehicles to be moved from the affected area to be sold. No Carfax report can replace a very thorough inspection by a qualified mechanic to discover hidden damage or other hidden problems.

I have also used Carfax on both cars & motor homes and it has been accurate. A Carfax report should not be used alone in determining weather to purchase or not. BTW the expense of running the report needs to be on the seller not you. If he won't spring for it I would walk based on that alone.

On very important thing that a CarFax will not tell you is whether or not the coach has had any recalls by the factory and if they have been completed. On some Workhorse chassis there were brake issues and dash read-out problems that were covered by recalls. The Ford chassis also had a recall on an item that could cause an engine fire. It is not uncommon for any vehicle to have a recall, but it is important to find out whether it has been done or not. In some cases you can take the coach back to an authorized dealer and get things taken care of. If the used coach is an orphan, you may have to pay to have the recall items taken care of yourself.

I see a lot of responses about inspection by a qualified tech. How does one go about finding one?

This website can help to find a service center to do work, or an inspection. RV Service reviews

As others have said: CarFax is only as good as the reporting agencies that supply information back to it.

I bought my current 2000 Class A a couple of years ago at a wholesale auction. It was a Bank of America repo and you don't get any history or know anything about them other than what you see at the auction.

The CarFax showed only the DMV Registrations and Inspection records, however it did tell me where the motorhome had been mostly located since new. It was several towns in west Texas and eastern New Mexico. That info was one of the deciding factors in my interest in the unit since I knew it was not from a coastal area or far northern area which could have been prone to flooding or salty roads.

Just my 2 cents worth.....

Michael

Car Fax + Recall searches for chassis and systems + inspection + road test + PDI…….there ya go!