Page 11 - AAA Now! – AAA Schuylkill County – Winter 2021

MEMBER SERVICES
HOW TO READ A CARFAX VEHICLE HISTORY REPORT
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DETAILED HISTORY
The final section of the Carfax Vehicle History Report is the overall timeline, with a chronological list of key events. That list may start with the first pre-delivery inspection at a new-car dealership. Subsequent sales, purchases, accidents and service visits can all follow. The Detailed History even tracks vehicle loans (often called liens) and emissions and safety test results.
Consider a vehicle with reported accident damage. The Detailed History may include a Damage Severity Scale, which can have two parts: The first is a graphic that locates where the vehicle was damaged, and the other is a scale that indicates how severe the damage was.
Never buy a used car without knowing the details about its past! The Carfax Vehicle History Report will make sure you have everything you need to know before you buy. Remember that AAA members can get a discounted CARFAX report at AAA.com/carfax.
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Every Carfax Vehicle History Report offers a detailed snapshot of a car’s condition and value. More than 20 different factors are taken into account and cover a vehicle’s service, accident
and ownership histories. Carfax then puts all those details into one simple, easy-to-understand format.
HISTORY-BASED VALUE
The first thing you’ll encounter in a typical Carfax Vehicle History Report is the car’s History-Based Value. It evaluates a car’s value based on many of the factors listed later in this report. Other websites try to give you a value determined only by mileage and a rough-guesstimate of a vehicle’s condition,
but Carfax goes deeper. Our History-Based Value considers service records, title concerns, open recalls, past accidents and the number of previous owners.
Carfax provides a History-Based Values that detail your car’s trade-in value, or retail value if you’re looking to buy. Typically, trade-in values are lower than retail values.
VEHICLE OVERVIEW
The next section of the Carfax Vehicle History Report lays out the basics. Highlights include a brief top-level description of the vehicle with information including its model year, make, model name, trim level, vehicle identification number (VIN), body style and powertrain.
Here you’ll learn how many owners a vehicle has had, whether it was used for personal, commercial or rental purposes, how many miles it’s been driven and whether or not it’s ever had damage reported. This is the section where potential red flags are raised, with details provided deeper in the report.
The report can include dealership information, if the car you’re examining is being offered for sale.
That information can include verified reviews and ratings from customers.
OWNERSHIP HISTORY
The Ownership History area is where the data becomes more detailed. Here is the individual information showing when each specific owner bought the car, how long it was owned by each, where it was registered and the estimated number of miles driven each year. The type of use – whether it was for personal or commercial purposes – is
also indicated.
TITLE HISTORY
This section also provides information on an owner-by-owner basis. It’ll let you know if a vehicle has had fire, flood or other damage that can result in a title defect. Keep in mind that cars with salvage titles often can’t be retitled as roadworthy vehicles. Carfax also lets you know if the reported odometer reading is accurate in this section.
ADDITIONAL HISTORY
This area of the report centers on accidents and damage, from airbag deployment to structural damage
to a total loss. You’ll be able to discover
if the vehicle remains under warranty, or if there’s an open manufacturer recall that needs repairing.
DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR USED CAR HAS BEEN?
(ARE YOU SURE?)
CARFAX has free tools to keep you informed. Learn more at www.AAA.com/CARFAX.
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WINTER 2021
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