anyone have an extra Carfax/Autocheck I can use? I'm looking at a certain vehicle and want to know if it's even somewhat worth looking at.
Thanks
Thanks
Carfax/Autocheck
- Thread starter MysticGold04
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Be careful brother...I asked this very question a few months ago and some on this site acted like I was a child molester...called me 'unethical' etc...
Good Luck, I hope somebody on here can help you. You can also try Craigslist as sometimes guys will run one for a few dollars to their Paypal account..
Good Luck, I hope somebody on here can help you. You can also try Craigslist as sometimes guys will run one for a few dollars to their Paypal account..
Why? It show no no accidents on my current car which I have had repaired from an accident. However, it showed that my recently purchased used car had much service done by the previous owner and at many places. All good. But as an owners, if I took my car into service for a transmission problem, did I give anyone an ok to report it to Carfax? I'm thinking about mechanic/client privilege?
I'm half serious here.
I'm half serious here.
I wouldn't trust Carfax in the slightest. They have been sued several times from false advertising to modern day extortion.
They aired the commercials for years claiming they knew everything and if the dealer didn't offer it they where hiding something.
Good marketing if you ask me but they forced many dealerships to pay them $1,000's a year to offer this service.
I can go to Craig list and find 5-10 totalled cars that say (not reported to insurance clear Carfax). I even know a dealership here that only works with totalled cars. Yet if you go down there I bet you every single vehicle has a clear Carfax.
Anyone who works in a dirty dealership knows how to work around Carfax.
They aired the commercials for years claiming they knew everything and if the dealer didn't offer it they where hiding something.
Good marketing if you ask me but they forced many dealerships to pay them $1,000's a year to offer this service.
I can go to Craig list and find 5-10 totalled cars that say (not reported to insurance clear Carfax). I even know a dealership here that only works with totalled cars. Yet if you go down there I bet you every single vehicle has a clear Carfax.
Anyone who works in a dirty dealership knows how to work around Carfax.
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Yeah, autocheck is better than carfax for finding accident info.
That's not necessarily true. I bought a 2011 Infiniti G37 advertised CPO with a clean AutoCheck report (dealer would not provide a CarFax) and some damage was noticed by Infiniti during warranty work. They provided me a CarFax report where the car had been reported in an accident. Luckily I was able to return the car and got all my money back based on misadvertised car.
So it really depends on whether insurance companies / body shops report the accident(s) to CarFax and/or AutoCheck.
Yeah, autocheck is better than carfax for finding accident info.
That's not necessarily true. I bought a 2011 Infiniti G37 advertised CPO with a clean AutoCheck report (dealer would not provide a CarFax) and some damage was noticed by Infiniti during warranty work. They provided me a CarFax report where the car had been reported in an accident. Luckily I was able to return the car and got all my money back based on misadvertised car.
So it really depends on whether insurance companies / body shops report the accident(s) to CarFax and/or AutoCheck.
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If you want to know about accidents, the best thing to do is look for those vin stickers on every panel.
Carfax is good for determining how many owners the car has had.
Carfax is good for determining how many owners the car has had.
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Well I found out the info I needed. This particular vehicle was a 2000 Lexus ES300 (1MZFE @ 135k miles) at a local lot in town - a Cash only deal. I went by and kicked the tires, interior nice, no rips, etc. I drove it, drove well... then I looked under the hood... Wow. I'm sure this guy had been neglected, valve cover gaskets leaking, and then I looked in the oil fill hole.. not good either. I have to assume it has a sludge issue.. really stinks though, because the rest of the car is in good shape. Well, now I know why its Cash only..
BTW, I looked at the service records from Lexus... all the way up to 2011, and there is an entry where the dealer mentioned the front and rear valve cover gaskets leaking... curious why it didn't get fixed.. I have to guess they wouldn't cover the repair under warranty.
Anyone know how much the cost in labor would be to clean this up? It might be worth it if I can talk them down a couple grand. They are asking $3900 with an OTD price of $4500... blah!
Anyone know how much the cost in labor would be to clean this up? It might be worth it if I can talk them down a couple grand. They are asking $3900 with an OTD price of $4500... blah!
FYI, you can't tell anything about the condition of a 1MZ-FE by looking into the fill hole. There is a baffle in the way and the baffle is coated with a gritty black coating. You have to pull the valve cover off to see anything meaningful.
Originally Posted By: MysticGold04
Well I found out the info I needed. This particular vehicle was a 2000 Lexus ES300 (1MZFE @ 135k miles) at a local lot in town - a Cash only deal. I went by and kicked the tires, interior nice, no rips, etc. I drove it, drove well... then I looked under the hood... Wow. I'm sure this guy had been neglected, valve cover gaskets leaking, and then I looked in the oil fill hole.. not good either. I have to assume it has a sludge issue.. really stinks though, because the rest of the car is in good shape. Well, now I know why its Cash only..
BTW, I looked at the service records from Lexus... all the way up to 2011, and there is an entry where the dealer mentioned the front and rear valve cover gaskets leaking... curious why it didn't get fixed.. I have to guess they wouldn't cover the repair under warranty.
Anyone know how much the cost in labor would be to clean this up? It might be worth it if I can talk them down a couple grand. They are asking $3900 with an OTD price of $4500... blah!
Originally Posted By: MysticGold04
Well I found out the info I needed. This particular vehicle was a 2000 Lexus ES300 (1MZFE @ 135k miles) at a local lot in town - a Cash only deal. I went by and kicked the tires, interior nice, no rips, etc. I drove it, drove well... then I looked under the hood... Wow. I'm sure this guy had been neglected, valve cover gaskets leaking, and then I looked in the oil fill hole.. not good either. I have to assume it has a sludge issue.. really stinks though, because the rest of the car is in good shape. Well, now I know why its Cash only..
Anyone know how much the cost in labor would be to clean this up? It might be worth it if I can talk them down a couple grand. They are asking $3900 with an OTD price of $4500... blah!
I would run because it probably is a sludger.
I guess I wouldn't assume that at all. He said he has service records, and TBH the leaking valve cover gaskets is normal for this engine. I've replaced mine multiple times and whether it's a design flaw or a materials issue, either way they start leaking in short order. If that's all that's wrong with the car it'd be silly to run away just for that.
But still though without pulling at least the front cover you have no idea either way. It's better to pull the back one too as that is a much more severe operating environment than the front, and since it appears to be leaking that's a good excuse to do the work. 135k is enough time to ruin a 1MZ-FE if it has seen infrequent dino oil changes and short trips in the winter, but in the overall scheme of things that's an engine that probably still has a lot of life left in it.
My point is that for the OP to look under the hood and see leaking valve covers and then looking into the oil fill hole and conclude "Wow. I'm sure this guy had been neglected" is not something you can determine with those two actions.
Originally Posted By: Doog
I would run because it probably is a sludger.
But still though without pulling at least the front cover you have no idea either way. It's better to pull the back one too as that is a much more severe operating environment than the front, and since it appears to be leaking that's a good excuse to do the work. 135k is enough time to ruin a 1MZ-FE if it has seen infrequent dino oil changes and short trips in the winter, but in the overall scheme of things that's an engine that probably still has a lot of life left in it.
My point is that for the OP to look under the hood and see leaking valve covers and then looking into the oil fill hole and conclude "Wow. I'm sure this guy had been neglected" is not something you can determine with those two actions.
Originally Posted By: Doog
I would run because it probably is a sludger.
any idea how much it would cost to repair, assuming the worst? I would find a local mechanic to do the work...if I decided to try to obtain it.
Originally Posted By: MysticGold04
any idea how much it would cost to repair, assuming the worst? I would find a local mechanic to do the work...if I decided to try to obtain it.
The list on a new 1MZ-FE partial engine assembly (assuming you can still get one) is about $15,000. You still have to transfer all the manifolds and accessories, so with labor it's going to be about $17,000. I'd say that's the worst case scenario...
Seriously though, without knowing you even need to do anything beyond possibly replacing the valve cover gaskets it's just shooting in the dark.
any idea how much it would cost to repair, assuming the worst? I would find a local mechanic to do the work...if I decided to try to obtain it.
The list on a new 1MZ-FE partial engine assembly (assuming you can still get one) is about $15,000. You still have to transfer all the manifolds and accessories, so with labor it's going to be about $17,000. I'd say that's the worst case scenario...
Seriously though, without knowing you even need to do anything beyond possibly replacing the valve cover gaskets it's just shooting in the dark.
Remember too that despite all the hoopla and flapping about oil gelling and "sludge", it still was a very small subset of the overall population of 1MZ-FE engines that were affected. So it is highly unlikely that this particular engine is bad.
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