Vehicle History Report: What To Look For

What You’ll Learn

As you read about vehicle history reports, you’ll learn:

• Getting a vehicle history report can be a great first step that helps you decide if it is looking at a specific used car.
• The best vehicle history reports should always contain key data that gives you important insights into a car’s past.
• Even though vehicle history reports aren’t perfect, they can give you a lot of great information about a vehicle that you might not be able to get from a test drive alone.

The name says it all. A vehicle history report is a collection of information from throughout a vehicle’s entire history. It includes some of the key information every car buyer should know to make an informed purchase, and it is one of the best ways to ensure you don’t end up with a lemon or waste time looking at a car with obvious problems.

The reports are tied to each car’s vehicle identification number, also known as the VIN. This makes it relatively easy to track everything that has ever been reported about a vehicle and get it consolidated into a single report with a lot of great information. Occasionally, there will be things missing from the report, such as people who perform DIY service and don’t report it or services performed by dishonest mechanics who don’t report their work.

Almost every reputable car repair shop, insurance agency, and inspector is in the habit of reporting their work, though. That means that a new record about a car goes into the database every time the vehicle goes in for anything, whether it’s an oil change, a smog test, or something more serious. Since these reports are entered with the VIN, they’re connected to every other instance where something has been reported about the same vehicle.

Many different companies offer vehicle history reports. AutoCheck and Carfax are some of the most popular, but there is some cost associated with getting those reports. Some dealerships may offer their reports for free, but you can expect to pay for them if you’re getting them on their own. In many cases, though, you can buy a package of multiple reports, which will help you get through your car shopping experience with much less stress and uncertainty.

It is generally worth paying for vehicle history reports because they can save you from such expensive mistakes. Understandably, though, this isn’t in the budget for everyone who is buying a used car . If that’s the case, you can find a few different free vehicle history reports online. The free versions won’t offer quite as much information, but it’s still better than nothing. Do some searching on the internet to see what you can learn about a vehicle before checking it out.

History reports can help you catch things like the following:

• Odometer Rollbacks – No one will be able to fake the mileage if you have an entire history of every odometer reading.
• Previous Owners – If a vehicle has had many owners who used the vehicle for demanding things, you’ll be able to take that into account.
• Maintenance Records and Accidents – Know what has happened to the car and how it has been serviced.
• Title Information – Check to see if the car has a salvage title or a clean title. You can also see if there are any liens on the car.
• Recall Information – You can check this for free in most cases.

Always ask for vehicle history reports, but don’t stop there. It’s still important to take the vehicle for a thorough test drive and make sure a trustworthy, skilled car technician has inspected it. You can find great used cars anywhere, but it is almost always best to buy from a used car dealership with a strong reputation in its community.

Here at Cactus Auto in Tucson, we’re happy to provide vehicle history reports for every vehicle we sell. We take pride in buying and selling the best-used cars available to us. We have nothing to hide, and we want to show the ownership history of our vehicles. We’ll help you confirm that the vehicle you’re looking at has a clean title, show you the repair history, and include the number of previous owners along with a general vehicle description.

Becoming the best-used car dealership in Tucson is about more than just offering vehicle history reports. We are proud to do business the right way and provide excellent service throughout the entire car buying process and beyond. We’re even the home of the “72 Hour Exchange.” If you’re unhappy with your vehicle for any reason within the first 72 hours, just bring it back to us! Contact us today to inquire about vehicle history reports, learn more about our selection, and start shopping for your next vehicle!

Some car buyers aren’t very familiar with vehicle history reports yet. Here at Cactus Auto , we always want to create informed buyers. The more we can teach people about buying used cars, the more likely they realize what makes us different from other used car dealerships in Arizona. Here are some of the main questions we hear from our customers about vehicle history reports.

This may sound obvious, but vehicle history reports are only as good as the data that goes into them. In other words, it’s important to get a vehicle history report from a company with a reputation for having reliable access to complete information. Of course, even the best vehicle history reports might be missing information because there are so many different car repair shops, vehicle registries, insurance agencies, and other reporting sources that it’s impossible to avoid errors sometimes.

Still, respected vehicle history report sources like Carfax and AutoCheck are known for finding the best information they can. These companies may even offer buyback guarantees in some cases. That is, if you buy a car based on their inaccurate information, they will buy it from you. Inspecting a car and taking a test drive is always important. Still, vehicle history reports can help you find out about major problems before you waste time, money, or energy looking into a vehicle with a suspicious ownership history or repair history. At a minimum, these reports should help you be sure that the vehicle has a clean title.

A vehicle history report is like a vehicle description that also includes information about its past. It should always include a few key points such as the following:

• Vehicle ownership history, including how the previous owners used the car
• Accident history, damage description, and repair history
• Recall notices and a service history that makes it clear if those recalls were addressed
• Odometer readings from different points in the vehicle’s history
• Title information, such as whether the vehicle has a clean title or there are any liens on the vehicle

While both AutoCheck and CarFax charge subscription fees for their detailed vehicle history reports, there are other options available. Some websites offer free VIN lookups, which will give you general information, but they don’t dig deep into vehicle history, maintenance and title information.

We know that buying a car is a big decision, and that’s why we include a vehicle history report for every single one we sell and our vehicles are professionally inspected. Why? Because at the end of the day – the best car buyers and sellers are informed ones.

Come see us today and get behind the wheel of a good vehicle purchase from Cactus Auto in Tucson.