[flyhop]

I'd like to get a report on car into which a non-mechanically-inclined friend of mine is looking. Doesn't look thrashed, but I'd like to be sure.

This may not be totally cool to ask for a free report, but I'd like to help him out.

 

['97 Saab SE Turbo]

Someone on another site posted that CarFax no longer has unlimited accounts. Seeing that CarFax information is only as accurate as those updating CarFax, I think it would be worth you friend's money to pay a Saab Indy to check out the car, especially if the car was built in a year when sludging was particulary bad... Ron

 

[metalbender]

Ron's got a good point. FWIW, I used CarFax to check out a 1995 900SE cabrio with the V6, and the lengthy report was worthless. Fortunately, you could tell the car was driven by a high school kid, and nobody in the family knew when the last time the time the timing belt was changed. No service records, running hot, low coolant warning on the SID, busted lights, and all scratched up. No thanks.

I think the reports are only worth it for accident reports and emmisions testing, but even if it failed emissions, I don't think it tells you why it failed. But then again, what do I know....

 

[bobdotorg]

Can a VIN be determined from the numbers on the transmission plate?

I wish I could have gotten a Carfax on the car from which I got a donor transmission. The junk yard listed it as a 36,000 mile car, but I had no way to verify. This was a 13 year old car in Cleveland, Ohio, but the amount of corrosion on bolts and caked oil crap under the hood suggested otherwise. Maybe salt water / flood damage.

I did however get to crush that car myself, and the POKAR (my '96 900SETV) seems to like the organ transplant.

 

[Nicole]

I got scolded badly on a different forum for asking a similar question. Apparently, the CarFax user agreement limits CarFax uses to only personal (one person, I believe) research. The owner of the other board did not want to facilitate breach of contract between CarFax and its customers.

This was a US based message board, in case that makes a difference.

When I researched the Saabs I was considering to purchase, I used AutoCheck.com.

 

[flyhop]

...well, I don't want to be scolded. I'm 45, but my mother hasn't let that slow her down much.

 

[Ero]

My post from said other site:

just a heads up the "unlimited" carfax actually limits you to 75ish reports.

I fell into that trap last year when car shopping. Autocheck is truly unlimited.

proof im not the only one: http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/carfax-c59030.html

EDIT: I just realized i bumped a month old thread....oops. well, the info is still relevant.

sauce: http://www.saablink.net/forum/showpost.php?p=693263&postcount=20

I hope someone will do you the favor, 1 out or 75ish isn't much, but they should be warned.

 

[D3nv3r]

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