When you go to buy a used car, you should really get a vehicle history report on the car. This will tell you about the title of the car and if it’s been in wrecks. This is a guide on understanding those reports from AutoCheck.
If your AutoCheck score is low, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad vehicle. The same with high AutoCheck scores. AutoCheck takes into account the age, mileage and other factors associated with that year, make, model of car. You should always compare the score with the score range to get a better idea of the vehicle’s rating. A luxury auto will have a higher score than a compact auto of the same year and mileage. An example of always checking the score range is a Lamborghini Gallardo with a salvage title and half of the vehicle left after a fire. It got a score of 90 because that’s the lowest score that car make/model/year could get. So a score of 5 may be great if the score range for the car is 0 to 5.
If two vehicles have close scores, will the higher score be the better one to buy? Not necessarily. If the cars are of similar model, year and class then check the mileage, car use, repossession, lease history and emissions testing. The score doesn’t check to see if it’s a rare car, collector car or have a cult following in one part of the country.
If you see on the report “accident or damage reported” don’t automatically cross the car off your list. Even if the car bumped another car it will get this flag on the report. If there is no traffic ticket listed or case number for the incident, then it wasn’t anything major. Any insurance claim, even for a cracked windshield, will show up under the “accident or damage reported” section. So take this section with a grain of salt or more.
Having the report say that the car has a loan or lien record found does not mean the car has a loan or lien currently. It means that at one point in time that was the case. There will be no number of car owners if the car is over 13 years old.
For great used cars in Iowa City, visit Billion Auto one of the Iowa City dealers.