Beware of Vehicle History Reports

Vehicle History Reports (VHRs) are a useful screening tool for potential used car buyers, unfortunately they have their own sets of issues and limitations. Their accuracy is only as good, or not as good, as the various sources reporting the data where human error is often involved.

As a car buyer’s advocate and consultant I always recommend that my clients check the VHR on any car we consider. It’s a cost effective way to eliminate any rebuilt, salvage titled, major damaged, stolen, flood, lemon history or odometer rollback vehicles right from the start. Simply avoiding these vehicles is my main purpose for using any VHR. Some companies also provide the added benefit of title guaranties and other protections in the event that they missed reporting something major on a car you bought after purchasing their report.

Sometimes though, a VHR may reflect negatively on a perfectly good vehicle that has not been branded in any of the above categories. For instance, an accident showing on the VHR may have only involved refinishing a bumper damaged in a minor fender bender. That doesn’t make it a bad vehicle. Or maybe the emission testing facility incorrectly entered the mileage as 74,000 instead of the actual 47,000. I recently saw the DMV erroneously input the mileage at 331,000 miles on a car’s title while it actually had 31,000! These mistakes create odometer conflicts that show on VHRs. While discrepancies can often be cleared up with proper documentation submitted to the VHR company, in most cases it can mean a lot of trouble for the owner of that vehicle who usually finds things out when going to sell or trade their vehicle. In the case of an accident report there is no way of knowing it’s severity without a professional inspection of the vehicle, but you might as well paint a Scarlet Letter A for accident on it’s hood.

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Unfortunately, any accident report on a VHR is negatively impacting the wholesale used vehicle value to a much greater degree than ever before in many dealer’s eyes. This is due to the growing popularity and usage of VHRs as well as the weight that they carry from the cautious consumer’s view.  An accident blemish on the VHR actually discourages many new car dealers from keeping that trade in on the lot because once people see the VHR they will usually pass on that vehicle. Any accident check mark on your own vehicle’s VHR will lower your trade-in value when the time comes. Keep that in mind before you submit a claim to your insurance company the next time you swipe the side of your car on the garage.

Vehicle History Reports are still a useful screening tool, but until they provide better reporting and more detailed information records, consumers should beware not to completely rely on their accuracy.