Performance Car Reviews, News and Parts for the Car Enthusiast

For many years, buying a used car was just a shot in the dark. You could kick a few tires, look at the engine, take a test drive and hope for the best. Today there is a much better way to buy a car and that is by looking at the car history to see what repairs have been done to the car.

The car history is a tool that will let you know in an informative and factual way any repairs that were done on a vehicle. In addition, it will tell you the mileage at which the repairs were done. This makes it easy to spot odometer rollbacks and to know if the vehicle you are considering has been in an accident.

You may get reports free in several places, but with the cost of used vehicles it pays to get the more detailed report that will cost only thirty to fifty dollars more. The extra you pay may prevent you from having to spend hundreds of dollars on repairing a lemon of a vehicle.

After you find the vehicle you are interested in buying, take it for a test drive. Then order your car history report. You may be offered a copy from the dealer; however, you can easily order one for yourself. When reviewing a report be sure that it is no older than a couple of days.

To order the report you will need the VIN number to request a history of the vehicle. This number can be found on the dash or the driver’s side door panel. The car history will let you know how many owners the vehicle has had and how long they have owned the car. If you see the word lease or fleet on the report, it may have been part of a motor pool and not have had the best of care taken when driven.

You will also want to look for flood damage. There were many cars that were flooded a few years ago in Hurricane Katrina that were shipped from of Louisiana to be sold to the rest of the states. Car history reports will let you know if the car has had flood damage.

You should not trust a car history that is offered by the car dealer, but should order your own copy. It is possible that the dealer has doctored the report that he gives you and you will never know unless you get your own report. Verify that the VIN number of the vehicle matches the VIN number that is printed on the report. Do not use titles or registration numbers, but the actual number you have copied from the vehicle.

Also check ask the National Insurance Crime Bureau for a report. This will assure that your are not buying a vehicle that has been stolen and not recovered. You do not want to be stuck with a stolen vehicle. There is no guarantee that you will get the money you have invested back.

By using a car history, you have a much better chance of getting a vehicle that will serve you well. You will at least know of any major damage that may have occurred before you bought the vehicle.

You can easily check used car history online these days but you can also find out lots about automobile history and the modern car history on Mick website about old and modern cars.