Recently, online vehicle history reports have become an increasingly popular way for buyers to look up a possible purchase.
While there are dozens of companies offering history reports, not all of them are the same. In this article, I’m going to take a closer look at two of the most recommended and best vehicle history reports in 2023 and review and look at the features each has to offer.
Whether you are purchasing your first car or just want to make sure you are getting a good value on your current vehicle, the vehicle history report is one step that you don’t want to skip. So, let’s get to it!
The Best Vehicle History Report
#1. CarFax Vehicle History Report.
If you ask me, CarFax is the best vehicle history report of these two, but you will have to make your own decision, based on the information I offer you.
If you were to put the car history report from CarFax in a single word, thoroughly, would be a good word, or maybe comprehensive.
CarFax compiles details on cars from its enormous network of 100,000 data sources to create every report. Among those source are motor vehicle agencies, auto shops, auction houses, law enforcement, insurance companies, car dealerships, and others.
Here’s what a Carfax report includes:
- Whether or not the vehicle has a salvage title
- History of accidents or other damage
- Service records
- Recalls
- Odometer problems
- Previous owners
- Previous usage of vehicle (personal, commercial, etc.)
Carfax reports are very thorough as well; the biggest advantage they provide over Autocheck reports is that Carfax usually summarizes more detailed information than Autocheck reports on a vehicle’s maintenance history.
However, one important feature of Carfax reports that simply isn’t possible with Autocheck reports is what they call the “Buyback Guarantee”, something that I had never before seen in a vehicle history report.
The Buyback Guarantee is a tiered program where Carfax will buy your vehicle directly from you if you find that there is an issue with the title that had been reported to the DMV, and you have proof that the issue did not show up on the report you bought from Carfax.
There are a few more terms and an overall message from Carfax that shows the company’s dedication to providing quality and accurate information in their reporting, but they are simply willing to stake their own money on their work and what they provide you through the report.
Carfax VIN Lookup Pricing
Carfax prices for reports are as follows:
- $39.99 for a single report
- $59.99 for 3 reports
- $99.99 for 6 reports
Cons of Carfax
No matter how great the report appears, there are clear cons from Carfax.
First, Carfax reports may have missing or incomplete information. No matter how thorough they may try to be, there is always certain information that even Carfax cannot get access to.
For example, if the seller of the vehicle has had one or more small accidents, but has done the repairs himself and never let the insurance company know, then there is just no record of that accident.
Carfax can only work with what the record states. This is important because if you are buying a vehicle in a major city, there is a good chance that an actual organization—like insurance or police—went to the accident or incident and recorded it.
In small/town rural areas, that obviously again may not have happened. Regardless, unless the information is available to public record, Carfax will not know about it.
Second, the cost difference is significant. As seen above, the reports from Carfax are significantly more money than AutoCheck. The most important difference is how many reports $99.99 from Carfax will get you compared to AutoCheck. It is not just a few report difference, it is hundreds of reports.
#2. AutoCheck Vehicle History Report.
AutoCheck is similar to Carfax in that it pulls reports using many of the same data sources, except AutoCheck is much cheaper. One area AutoCheck is missing is the maintenance/service history.
The AutoCheck report also tells you about serious accidents, salvage title and so on. One additional advantage, however, is the use of their proprietary scoring system which takes the data from the vehicle history report and summarizing it in a single score out of 100.
In addition to a score for the individual vehicle, AutoCheck provides a suggested range of score for each make/model vehicle. Hence if you were considering purchasing a Chevy Corvette you could pull reports on a few Corvettes. If they were all in the high 80s, you’d be feeling good about the potential purchases.
To gain some perspective, maybe the highest score is 89 and the lowest is 85. That sounds good. Luckily, AutoCheck, besides an individual score, provides a recommended score range for each make and model.
For convenience, let’s reference Corvettes again. They may suggest “only consider a Corvette with a score of 90 or more. Suddenly your set of scores in the 80’s is put into context as your shopping for a high-end sports car.
The other key advantage to the AutoCheck report is price. You already realize above just how many more AutoCheck reports you can pull for the price, so, hopefully, you find that valuable. The margin difference in price means you could quickly and affordably obtain reports for multiple vehicles simultaneously.
AutoCheck Pricing
AutoCheck is much less expensive than Carfax, particularly for multiple reports. If you are a very picky buyer and happen to have 300 different cars that you are interested in, then you should use AutoCheck as your car history report supplier.
- $24.99 for a single report
- $49.99 for 25 reports
- $99.99 for 300 reports
Weaknesses of AutoCheck
To begin, there is no maintenance history provided. Although it provides great value, the AutoCheck report doesn’t contain any indication of the vehicle’s maintenance or repair history.
In fact, the AutoCheck report is more of a “broad strokes” type of report and certainly does not provide the detail in the mechanics that the Carfax report can.
The scoring system is very useful, but many buyers would benefit from the added detail that you receive in a Carfax report.
What is a Vehicle History Report?
To ease the burden of mechanical uncertainty, buyers seek out car history reports to get a somewhat complete picture of a car’s past, rather than relying solely on the possible more rosy version that the seller has provided.
Car history reports are created by several sources, but the two most commonly known are Carfax and AutoCheck.
These are the reports the dealerships will use when they want to have a buyer get an all-encompassing history of the vehicle, in which they are interested. These are generally used to provide information like:
- Salvage Title – shows that the car has been in a significant accident, fire, flood, or some other loss that caused it to be “totaled” by an insurance company.
- Accident History – all of the major and minor accidents that were reported to the insurance company and subsequent repairs from those accidents will be shown.
- Odometer Tampering – whether the odometer on the car has been rolled back in some effort to make it appear as though it is worth more and you are getting a better deal. This is much more prevalent these days with the technology of digital odometers.
- Number of Previous owners.
- Maintenance Records – records of servicing and routine maintenance. This is where you will have more thorough and complete records in one single document.
- Recall Information – the car manufacturer and type of vehicle are also going to show whether or not they have had recalls on that model.
Some of this info is useful, while other info does not necessarily cost money.
For example, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is a government agency operating a website where you can check VIN numbers and find out if that vehicle had a recall action or not. The NHTSA provides this service for FREE.
Most of the info, however, is obtained only by paying companies like Carfax and AutoCheck. These two are considered to be the “big boys” in the car history report marketplace.
The main thing to glean from all this info is that a Carfax or AutoCheck report will never, ever provide everything you need.
They are an important part of your decision-making process, but they can never replace the need to inspect the car and test drive. You will never be able to get the “full picture” you will need until you can get “up close and personal” with the vehicle you are interested in.
As an aside, you may not even have to pay for a Carfax or AutoCheck report at all. If you are buying a car from a dealership, then it is in the dealership’s best interest to provide you with one of those reports for free.
This may be a different situation if you are buying from a private seller. However, dealers normally offer these reports quickly as proof of the vehicle’s quality. Review the reports carefully, but remember the basic advice above. Don’t treat the report as gospel!