How to Use a Vehicle History Report and a History and Condition Report When Buying a Car Online
How to Use a “Vehicle History Report” and a “History and Condition Report” When Buying a Car Online
How to Use a ‘Vehicle History Report’ and a ‘History and Condition Report’ to Make a Wise Used Car Purchase
BUYING A USED CAR – YOUR BEST FRIEND OR WORST ENEMY?
Sometimes you hear great stories of a used car purchase gone perfectly right. A person buys a used car or truck – saves a ton of money – and the vehicle runs well for the duration of ownership. The well thought out purchase came after a great deal of research where the car buyer informed him or herself thoroughly by doing the proper research and by waiting until both the time was right, and the perfect vehicle became available. Well done!
Unfortunately, there are also used car or truck buying horror stories. The vehicle may have been sold under false pretences, was not all that it was made out to be, and ended up being a money pit of constant repair bills and time in the mechanics shop. Maybe the seller misrepresented the vehicle, or maybe the buyer just didn’t do his or her homework, but for whatever reason, the car ended up being a nightmare.
The question is: how do you ensure that the first scenario – the one where the used car or truck purchase worked out perfectly – is the one that you will experience when you go to buy your next used vehicle? The answer to that question is actually more simple than you may think – history and condition reports.
VINs, VEHICLE HISTORY REPORTS, AND CURBSIDERS
Did you know that, by law, every car or truck manufactured in North America is required to put a 17 digit serial code – referred to as a Vehicle Identification Number, or ‘VIN’ – right on the dashboard or driver’s side door jamb (a door jamb is the inside portion of the driver’s side door, usually where the tire pressure sticker is located)? This is done for a few reasons: to help the police track stolen vehicles, to allow motor vehicle authorities track and record vehicle history, to log and record major vehicle service or maintenance that was preformed as the result of an accident, to log flood or other major environmental damage, to record title or ownership changes, and much more.
Using the VIN, you can find out a lot about the past history of a vehicle. There are several major companies that have made a business out using VINs to provide accurate third party data on vehicle history. For a reasonable fee, you can purchase a vehicle history report from one of these companies. By providing them with the 17 digit VIN, they can pull up all sorts of information on a vehicle – usually, only cars and trucks – that you may be interested in purchasing. This report can be the determinant in terms of whether or not you choose to pursue the vehicle.
The vehicle history report, however, is not a perfect tool. There are many cases where critical information may be missing from a history report. For example, if a vehicle was in an accident that was not reported to the authorities, the repairs would not show up on a vehicle history report. This is fairly commonplace – the drivers involved in an accident agree to deal with the repairs privately so as not to increase their insurance rates.
Just like there are companies that have made a business out of providing vehicle history data, there are also individuals who have made a living out of hiding or covering up such details. These immoral and unethical people are commonly referred to as ‘curbsiders’. A curbsider is a person who makes a living out of selling used vehicles that may be stolen, reconditioned, or have had their VINs or odometers interfered with. They often misrepresent themselves as a private seller looking to ‘sell their family vehicle’ or as a person who is ‘moving overseas and needs to sell their vehicle quickly’. Unfortunately, used car buyers need to be wary of such individuals, and a vehicle history report may or may not be a powerful enough tool to protect them.
ONLINE SITES THAT PROMOTE THE PROVISION OF INFORMATION
Above and beyond a third party vehicle history report, another solution to protect you when buying a used vehicle is by searching for vehicles online from sites that promote the full disclosure of information. There are a select few sites (see the links at the bottom of this article) that you can use to shop for vehicles where the developers have built their site around the provision of information so as to keep you as informed as possible about the used cars or trucks that you are shopping for.…
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