autocheck/carfax saves me from a bad purchase

[austintaco]

I would have been doing a 9 hour drive to pick up an 85 Supra in Arkansas, but Autocheck saved me from a big mistake. The car looked clean, and was originally a CA car, but the last reported mileage in CA was 220K. The mileage now was 197K, 3 years later. Of interest, it had one of the 2.8GT emblems on the front grill.

On another note, I ran another VIN for a a vehicle in Chicago that was originally from TX. The car shows 129K on it now, but according to the car history, it had 123K on it in 2000, and 127K in 2006. Shortly after, it was titled in Illinois. There are no more mileage reports after it was in Illinois, but the dealer has it on their lot with 129K. Too good to be true?

[lechner]

I don't think so, probably just owned as a 2nd or 3rd car and maybe sat for a while in Texas before being sold and moved to Illinois. As for the Arkansas car, mileage on a car with that many miles is rather irrelevant IMO. It's all about condition at that point anyway.

[82 Lover]

be careful about what you buy. my friend owns a body pick up service. im gonna try make it as short as i can. guy flew out of his car. van in opposite direction was driving by. guy flew threw the windshield and back threw the window. guy was missing no warm, torso ripped to shreds, and missing an entire leg. found parts in the bushes and what not. grab the parts went to the office. got a call from the tow yard 5 hours later. went down, 5 lbs of intestence in the back seats where it got ripped out from the front windshield. Keep in mind blood and guts everywhere and the people who were driving got splattered in blood and watching a guy beein killed shreded threw there van. guess what. the insurance company are going to try and save it. LOLOL WTF! no joke. so someone is gonna end up buiying a van where a guy got shrded on... or in... kinda nasty. im scared as hell buying new cars after that one.

[maximaj30]

CarFax screwed me over once, i bought my truck abandoned at a farm in the middle of nowhere. ran a CarFax on it, said it was a Alberta vehicle and has been for the last 5 years. clearly said "last Province registered in- Alberta"

so i go to register it, registries computer says it was last registered out East, so it needs to be inspected. showed them the CarFax papers and they said they didnt care. it was out East about a decade ago, but thats it. i ended up fixing everything so it would pass, but im suprised CarFax would be wrong

[pdupler]

I would have been doing a 9 hour drive to pick up an 85 Supra in Arkansas, but Autocheck saved me from a big mistake. The car looked clean, and was originally a CA car, but the last reported mileage in CA was 220K. The mileage now was 197K, 3 years later. Of interest, it had one of the 2.8GT emblems on the front grill.

It would not be unusual for the instrument cluster to be changed out with no intention to defraud. Anywhere near or around 200K tho and you've got to expect the car is near worn out mechanically unless you have a bunch of paperwork documenting that stuff has been recently worked on. I would say that condition is a much better indicator of the value than the mileage at this age. I've seen some very well-cared for mk2s with lots of miles. I bought one locally with 330K for parts (it had been freshly wrecked) but it was an original owner car which had been daily driven a very long distance for over 20 years, kept it in a garage and the fairly wealthy owner was meticulous about maintenance. I'd dare say it was in better shape than any 100K mile mk2 on this forum (at least prior to the accident). Was a real shame that one got bent up, but about a half a dozen of our forum members benefited from those parts.

On another note, I ran another VIN for a a vehicle in Chicago that was originally from TX. The car shows 129K on it now, but according to the car history, it had 123K on it in 2000, and 127K in 2006. Shortly after, it was titled in Illinois. There are no more mileage reports after it was in Illinois, but the dealer has it on their lot with 129K. Too good to be true?

Its also not unusual for cars of this age to sit unused at all for several years. Parts are getting difficult to obtain and unless you work on your own cars, mechanics are often loath to work on older cars. They'll quote outrageous repair costs which serve two purposes: 1) to dissuade you from having them to repair it and 2) if you do tell them to go ahead with the repairs, it covers their ass when they have to spend twice or 4x as long because of rusted bolts and various broken fasteners. This car may have had something wrong with it and it still might have something wrong. I wouldn't discount it completely, but I would probe into why the carfax shows what it shows. It may have been a pawn in a families battle over inheritance or as somebody already said, just a weekend toy car.

[austintaco]

Good points on both cars. The chicago area car has really piqued my interest, and you have to feel good about bringing one back to TX. My wife would like this one because it would involve a weekend in Chicago for her, but I don't know if I can get the time off between now and the holidays to make the trip.

I'll post up if I make a move on either car.