Are used car histories to be trusted?
Reports are available that track the life of a vehicle through its VIN. Car insurance companies use these reports, and actually compile them in an attempt to attach the right insurance premium to a particular individual. Obviously, people who purchase used cars that have negative issues on these lists are going to pay higher premiums than others. Basically, the histories show the cars' involvements in accidents, which is what the insurance companies what to know. They want to gage their liability or financial responsibility if something happens. And, previous accidents and damage to used cars puts the insurance companies at greater risk.
Moreover, used car histories can be beneficial to buyers shopping for pre-owned vehicles. The histories track the ownership of the vehicles, letting you know how many past owners, and how the vehicles changed ownership. You might not be interested in a vehicle that was only five years old, yet had six owners. This might be an indication of trouble that no-one is willing to disclose. Likewise, if the car was confiscated due to drug dealings, you might prefer to stay away from it. Lastly, if you are not sure about the odometer reading, the histories can give you a clue as to whether the mileage has been changed.
And, while it appears as though the reports are in the buyers' best interests, the real question remains "Are used car histories to be trusted?". Unfortunately, the quick and to-the-point answer is "no, you cannot always believe what you read in car history reports". Having made that statement, however, there are both legitimate reasons for the reports to contain inaccuracies or deficiencies, while at the same time, there are unscrupulous people who "fudge" the documents accordingly. As a result, we want to make you aware of why car history reports are not always trustworthy.
The first problem with the reports is that they may not be current or up-to-date. This is not always an issue of someone wanting to hide something, but rather, an honest disadvantage in the reporting system. The fact is that reporting is not in real time. It can take weeks and even months for certain data to make it to the reports. So, if something happened to the vehicle in the last six months, you might not know about it when you purchase it. To further complicate the issue, you might find out years later when you are ready to sell, which is going to be a major hindrance for you.
Second, not all garages report all maintenance. Again, this is not necessarily because of negative issues. Other factors come into play. The biggest reason things do not get reported is garage owners are trying to run their businesses and make a living. They are not interested, nor do they have the time, to worry about reporting maintenance and other repairs to third party organizations. In this scenario, regular maintenance logs may not be available.
The third reason car history reports may be inaccurate is more unethical and hard to track. In this scenario, even the seller may not be aware of what transpired in the past. So, it is not the seller who may be trying to do something underhanded, but someone in the past who hoped to influence the reports. The histories rely upon honest individuals, and also accurate information. If the person making the report had a reason to "tweak" the information to his/her benefit, the data on the reports will be inaccurate depending on who filed the report and why.
Finally, used car dealers earn their income by selling cars. And, the only way to do that is to make the vehicles as appealing as possible to potential buyers. In order to maintain the book values of used cars, and in order to justify the asking prices, dealers may withhold specific information about the cars. Further, it might not even be a case of trying to get more money. Rather, it may just be to make the car sell and liquidate inventory. Any negatives on the reports, such as manufacturer buy-backs or lemon buy-backs, insurance write-offs, salvage, reconstructed and totaled are all going to be red flags to the buyer regardless of price. So sellers have to do something to turn those negatives into positives.
We encourage you to obtain a history report for the used car that you choose, but at the same time, understand that you should take the information with a grain of salt. Other due diligence is necessary before signing a contract and paying money.