First off, I NEVER put 100% confidence in a Carfax report. I use it as a GUIDE only.

As far as your salvage vehicle sale went, I applaud you.

I checked out your website. It looks like you have a nice business there.

Best of luck!

There are a lot better title searches out there than Carfax, but they (Carfax) know how to promote themselves.

Carfax is to title searches what Bose is to speakers. There are lots that are both better and cheaper, but none that have the marketing savvy of Bose.

Thanks for your story Indy. BTW, it's never the other way around, in case you were wondering!

thanks, all I can do is try.

Are the better ones available to consumers? If so, which companies are they?

AutoCheck, a subsidiary of Experian, probably has the most information available.

Thanks for the info Troop!

I don't put a lot of confidence in Carfax either, it's just another tool. A lot of the dealers on AutoTrader provide a link to "View the free Carfax Report" and if they don't, most I have spoke to are glad to run one for you. So I'm going tonight to look at the car I found for my daughter, as I said in an earlier post, the Carfax comes back clean and I have access to all the service records after speaking to the servicing Honda dealer, I'm looking at a 2001 CR-V EX BTW.

Taking Troops advice I just signed up for a 60 day unlimited check on AutoCheck and ran one for the CR-V. It also came back clean with one exception, there is a "Loan / Lien record" but no details about it. Should I assume that if the dealer has a clear title, I pay cash, get a receipt, and hold the title there should be no issue?

Other than that it looks great, it gives me an "Autocheck Score" of 87. Similiar vehicles score at 72-84.

What do you guys think about the Loan / Lien record?

Yeah, I know it is. In that accident, the Lady who ran a stop sign and T-boned my son at 30 mph tried to claim she had stopped at the stop sign, then T-boned my son at 30 mph - which is a physical impossibility unless she was driving an F1 car.

I've found when people are describing an accident they had, you can tell when they are lying by whether their mouth is moving or not.

So, I'm sure your job is not easy. However, it doesn't justify the type of dishonesty I experienced from that particular company.

what is showing is that they traded it while there was a balance on the prev, loan. The dealer has to pay it off to get a title. In Pa. you are not supposed to sell a car until you have the title in hand, but most dealers do, and there isn't a problem. There just may be a few days wait until the DOT gets your paper work and processes it.

DAMMMMM. This is going on forever!

It is because people are crying like little babies...

When I bought my (now) 17 year old daily driver I worked with one salesman at Scoggin-Dickey Chev in Lubbock for a few months looking at trucks. Not being sure I would be stationed in the states I held off buying until after my assignment night when I found out I would stay in Texas. S-D had a truck I liked, but there was a dealer across town that I went to just to see what kind of deal they would work.
The "sales-manager" decided on using the line of "you've just got to set aside your pride and realize this is the best deal you will get" The following Friday I hooked my boat up to the truck I had at the time and towed it to the dealer. I told the salesman "I am buying a truck today! I just want to make sure the truck color matches the boat. What's it going to take to move a truck off YOUR lot?"
When he came back with the same price I told him I was going across town to check the truck SD had, but if his was a better deal I'd be back.
The salesman called SD twice and tried to get me to come back, he called my admiral at home to try to get me back, then called me first thing the next morning to see what happened.
I told him in no uncertain terms that there was nothing he could have done to keep me on his lot the day before, but that I had planned on buying from SD because of his Sales managers attitude and was just towing the boat through there to rub it in his face.
And yes I did get a better deal at SD.
When we bought the admirals Tahoe a few years back we found one we liked at Riverton Chevy right across the Freeway from my Boat dealer. We came to an impasse on price so I left the dealer. Thought about it a couple days then called the salesman and discussed their final price, which included "Window etching" of the VIN for $200. I told him if they would eliminate the "Window etching" and come down the $200 I would be there in 45 minutes to buy the truck. He agreed so I packed up the boys and headed down to sign on the dotted line. The salesmanager came in and actually slapped down an offer at the last price we had discussed previously, along with a pen then walked out. When I mentioned this was not what we had agreed to over the phone the salesman checked with the manager and he got snotty about it and said, no that's our final offer and that price is without the window etching.
I walked out, called one of the admirals (numerous) cousins who works at Quality Chevrolet in Toole and he found a truck with a window sticker about $800 less than the one at Riverton and got it for us for $1400 less than Rivertons best price.
When it came time to buy the Duramax I called this same cousin while I was at Lake Powell, gave him the 5 requirements I had for a truck, the various discounts and rebates I would use said "Just get it in ASAP and let me know how much." 10 days later I was driving home in my new truck after 35 minutes at the dealership.
I enjoy the wheeling and dealing but the Duramax purchase came with much less stress, a great price and no dealing with jerks.

if you had family in the business, why did you go somewhere else in the first place?

The admiral has a very large family. In fact next weekend is my favorite weekend of the year cause she goes to a family reunion with the boys and leaves me home alone. This reunion is from her mothers side of the family and over 600 people show up. These are descendants and spouses from her maternal grandparents. and not everyone shows up Since I am basically antisocial and have a hard time remembering my own kids names I get a kitchen pass.
Anywho, I felt uncomfortable asking for a "family"deal from someone whom I had only met once or twice, but when the original dealer turned into the stereotypical schmuck I thought I'd give it a go... and it turned out for the best. In fact we have started discussing pre-ordering a new Camaro when they start taking orders.

I have always said that when you buy a major investment like a car or boat, the dealer is your most important option. Monday, I took my new car into the dealer for routine service (first oil change). I had a squeak that was bothering me, and it was getting more pronounced. The mechanic took a test ride with me until he was certain that he knew exactly what I was talking about. They ordered a new bearing for it, and it would have been ready Tuesday, but Fedex lost the part. The part will be in today, but I had to get back to work. I am now driving a new Sable with all the bells and whistles until I can get back up there.

Good service does not cost a dealer. One of the owners has just taken over the local Chrysler dealer that went under, and another Ford dealer about 40 miles away that went bankrupt. The Chrysler dealership is a tragedy from my understanding. A top rated family business, where I bought my truck, it was a shock to the small community. Within the last year, the old man died, and then shortly after, one of the brothers died. The remaining son, lost all interest in the dealership and was not paying attention to the finances. I figure he was going through a bad bout of depression, which I know can be crippling. Chrysler was taking payments for new cars and applying it to other notes. It sounds like he just wasn't paying close enough attention to what others were doing, but now he has lost the family business and is being charge with embezzlement. People forget that car dealers are human, and there are a lot of honest ones out there.