Everyone knows that buying a used car can provide great overall value when compared with buying new. A pre-owned vehicle that is in excellent shape can provide almost the same experience as buying a new car but for thousands of dollars less. But if you want to make sure you are actually getting a good deal and not a lemon, you need to make sure you conduct a background check on your potential vehicle by pulling the vehicle history report. Here are three key things a background check can help you find.
Check for Unreported Accidents
Hopefully, the owner that turned in the car will be honest with the dealer about the vehicle history. But if not, a vehicle history report might be able to find evidence of a major accident. This is because vehicle history reports can pull the full insurance history of the previous owner of the car and see whether or not a major claim was made. If the car you are interested in was in a major accident, you might want to take a closer look under the hood and make sure everything is looking good.
Make Sure Mileage is Correct
It's very important when you buy a used car that you make sure the mileage odometer is accurate. If it's not, this could throw you off for how often the vehicle will need repaired in the future. An inaccurate mileage reading might also affect the price of the vehicle. Normally the car dealership will double check this themselves when first buying the car from the original owner, but it doesn't hurt to double check on your own and make sure everything is on the up and up.
Check Maintenance and Recall Information
If the vehicle was previously serviced by an official shop associated with the car manufacturer, chances are there might be some maintenance information available on the vehicle history report. You'll have a much better idea of what has broken down and what is still using the original factory parts. If the vehicle has received any serious recalls, you'll be tipped off to this as well.
Don't ever buy a used car without first checking the vehicle's history report. One way to ensure that you will always get a high-quality used vehicle is by shopping at a CarFax certified car dealership. Reach out to a dealership that is certified by a reputable vehicle history report company today for more information.
