It's not Carfax's fault it's the states themselves. If you wreck a car and it is
totaled in Florida then whomever buys it must get a salvage title for it. If it
repaired then sold to a dealer then they also must have a salvage (or at least a
title declaring what happened to the vehicle) title for it. If, and when, the
vehicle is purchased by someone then they can request a clean title from the state
and since it has passed through the dealers already they get one. When they trade
in the car it's clean again. The most common way for dealers to beat this is the
owner buys the cars for himself from the dealership then gets the clean title and
then sells them back to the dealer. Kinda of like laundering dirty money but
instead it's car titles. The sad thing is this is completely legal her in Florida
and when I went to dealer school it's pretty much the same in most states. One
funny thing I learned from the school was that if a dealer slaps on a plate for a
test drive and doesn't send someone with you and you take off with the car all you
have to do when the police catch you is say you took it for a long test drive. All
they can do is take the keys since the dealer was the one at fault. This is only
with a dear tag of course.
Jeff Durling
'01 4x2 QC SLT+
Andy Levy wrote:
> Where in NY, and what's it look like? Just so I can steer clear :)
>
> Wesley Beck wrote:
>
> > I would not put too much faith in what Carfax reports. I totaled a 97
> > Blazer (wrapped it around a tree) in early 99. I looked it up on Carfax
> > recently and it was registered in Missouri in 11/99 and then Arkansas in
> > early 2000 with a clean record (I'm in Louisiana). No salvage history, no
> > nothing. Also, my mom totaled my dad's 97 Caravan (she got broadsided,
> > wheel went flying down the road about a 1/4 mile) and it is registered in
> > New York with a clean record. So if I were you, I would go over the vehicle
> > in question with a very fine tooth comb.
> > Good luck,
> > Wesley Beck
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