I found a really nice 2018 Chevy Equinox through a local listing site. The seller seems professional, even sent me a clean PDF report that says “no accidents, one owner.” It looks legit and he claims it’s from CARFAX. I haven’t paid anything yet, but now I’m wondering — can those reports be trusted if they’re just screenshots or PDFs? Or should I always double-check the VIN myself on some official site?
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Can I rely on seller-provided reports, or should I verify VIN myself?
Can I rely on seller-provided reports, or should I verify VIN myself?
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All true. A person can look super nice and inspire a lot of trust, but you never know if they’ll want to trick you or not. When money is involved, it’s better to be on guard. Get reports from the car owner, reach out to official services for info, or use FAXVIN, for example. It’s a trusted VIN-check service, I’ve used it several times. It’s not expensive, and it gives you peace of mind right away.
Don’t take this personally, but I think you can’t trust anyone, especially someone who expects money from you. There are so many cases where car sellers kept quiet about accidents, repairs, replacements, rolled back the mileage, and a million other things, even though there was nothing about it in the documents.
Honestly, never rely on a report the seller sends you — even if it looks official. It’s way too easy to fake or crop something nowadays. I had a guy send me a “clean” report for a Honda Accord, but when I ran the same VIN through carfaxforsale.com, it showed the car had failed emissions tests twice and had a title transfer that wasn’t explained. Carfaxforsale gives you the full CARFAX data but cheaper, and you know it’s direct from the source. That report saved me from buying a problem car. Always check yourself.