Totaled Truck...CARFAX

I hit a deer with my 2012 Challenger RT doing roughly,,,ahem,,,80 and did $6000.00 worth of front end damage to the right quarter panel, grill, etc. Traded it in two years later on my wife's BMW X3 i35 and they did not even mention anything to me at the dealer. I was sweating it a bit. O'well, the car did not have frame issues tho.

From my experience, CarFax reports mostly on the mileage of the vehicle.

But they don't know the difference between KM and miles....

My old 97 F150 was a Canadian truck and imported to the states as a used vehicle. It had 99,000 KM on it when imported and CF reported that as MILES.

When it was imported, it had it's instrument cluster switched to one for MILES and the odo was adjusted accordingly to approx 61,000 miles.

They showed me the import and the certified paperwork and I bought the truck.. I traded it about 13 years later and that same CF trail followed it. The dealer asked about it. I showed him the paper work and they took the truck in trade.

CF to me is a waste, but some swear by it, so there you go..

It's always buyer beware whether you trust an internet source or a trusted mechanic or whoever...

Just my opinion of course.. :)

Mitch

Trackrig wrote:

kalynzoo wrote:
When you say totaled, hopefully DMV will show salvage on the documentation.

I agree with you, but unless there's a national law or a law in that state, I doubt the insurance companies are going to take the time to notify DMV. And I doubt the DMV really goes looking for the extra work.

Bill

DMV and "looking for work" in the same sentence. Now that's something you don't see very often.

I had the opesit a car ran in to back of my F250, only damidge the plastic step tread popped op slightly must have had a smal tvist in bumper bar, the insurance paid for a new number, when I later traded in it shoved op and I was paid a couple of thousand less than it shud other wise traded for.
Frank.

NEVER TRUST CAR FAX. they don,t no any more than what you can find out yourself.

WayneLee wrote:
Don't know about your state, but my understanding is that in California the law says that any vehicle that was "totaled" by an insurance company, later sold at auction and repaired, must state on the owners statement that it is a "Salvage Title".

I'm not sure that is correct.

I've been searching all the western states for a new van, and I looked at auctions in CA. One site I looked pretty seriously said that, if sold to a private party, their vehicles would bear a salvage title, but if sold to a dealer they would not.

Interesting find. Buyer beware I guess!
I watch CL a lot here for used cars and the number of private owner branded titles is astounding. I'd bet your old truck has a branded title. But I'd also bet the car lot will try to pass it off as a cream puff to the first person they can....

kalynzoo wrote:
When you say totaled, hopefully DMV will show salvage on the documentation.

If a California title shows "Salvage" they can take that car to say South Carolina, and register it there. Then change it to North Carolina, and the "Salvage" certificate many times gets lost, so it looks like a clean car at that point. Then it can come back to California, and be sold as a used car, no problem here!

My buddy replaced the frame in his dad's truck, and rebuilt it better than new. He worked in a body shop for many years. You could not tell it was not factory built once he was done with it. His dad had been run off the road in Yosemite while towing a fifth wheel. It twisted up everything, and the insurance wanted to total it. Many times they will total a vehicle because they do not want to face a second repair cost 5 or 8 years down the road if the first repair does not work right.

Also auto body repair places in many states must warranty their work for life of the car, or until it gets sold to another party. I just had the rear bumper replaced on my handicap minivan with a lift in the back door. It cost $1,500 to repair the ramp and replace the bumper, paint it. This in part was due to the body shop needing to hold back some money in case we return in 8 years and say the paint flaked off, or something. They will have to repaint it every time it flakes off until we sell the car. Or if the plastic bumper cracks, they will have to install a new one each time, until we sell the car. What if that is 50 years from now? They will still have to repair it that length of time, so they must cover the costs in advance, then hope you sell it soon! Their warranty is over as soon as you sell it.

Thanks for letting us know about your used truck.

Fred.

Hundreds of vehicles go south into Mexico each year that are totaled, or just declared to expensive to repair by the insurance company. The vehicle will eventually makes it back to the states with a "salvaged" title, or maybe not.....

Go to Google earth and look up Gadsden, Arizona. Look for a huge lot on the south of town. Then go to street view and look at the used car lots in town. The circle of life for automobiles...............

wanderingbob wrote:
I worked in the "salvage " business for thirty years . The word " totaled means nothing . An auto is either legally rebuildable or it is not IN THAT State. .Take it across a state line it may be OK to rebuild .
Carfax is wrong as many times as it is correct !

I totally agree with this statement! My brother was involved in a crash where his car suffered severe damage, close to being "totaled" or un-repairable. Later on he traded the car in and NO damage or record of damage was reported to Carfax! The Carfax report came back "clean", he couldn't believe it!!

Dan