Carfax is a company that has become popular in the last few years for its primary service offering – providing vehicle history reports (VHR) for used cars. Why is this useful? Well, getting a vehicle history report on a car before you purchase it means you get all the reported information pertaining to the car’s past – accidents, repairs, ever reported lost or stolen, tows, insurance, liens, and more. Carfax has some reports that can you can get for free, as well as a tiered payment level with three types of reports – the more in depth and comprehensive the information contained in the report, the more it costs.

Sometimes it makes sense to buy one of these reports, or even opt for the service level where you get to check multiple cars’ vehicle history reports. This helps when you are shopping around or can’t decide on a particular car. Carfax, apart from vehicle identification number led reports, also offers reports on using a car’s license plate number. When you are in the market to buy a used car, it can be helpful to get the information shared by the seller validated through Carfax, and of course, you may learn some stuff that he or she failed to mention. If you are buying your car from a dealer, and if that dealership offers Carfax services, you can avail yourself a free report. Also, licensed pre-owned car dealerships often will give you the Carfax report on a certified pre-owned purchase, as per the car manufacturer’s discretion.

MyCarfax is the place to go for free information on a vehicle’s service record as reported to Carfax. MyCarfax also has a service whereby it alerts users when it is time for maintenance, and what the recommendations for work on the car are. It can be quite useful for those who don’t take their used car for regular servicing, or who tend to forget when the last oil change was, or that, it has covered so many miles that the time has come to check on your used car’s tires and make sure they have life left in them and are not going bald. Carfax also offers CARFAX Used Car Listings, a free service where someone looking for a used car can select and search by a car’s make, model, and vehicle history (including accident reported or service record), to gather details and help car owners and users make the right choice.