Vehiclehistory vs Carfax
Vehiclehistory.com has received a lot of buzz lately, with a lot of positive reviews on numerous review sites. Now, it’s time for us to do some digging and see how it stacks up against Carfax.
vehiclehistory.com
Features of vehiclehistory.com
History
vehiclehistory.com has one of the most robust databases of used car data in North America with over 40 million vehicle history reports displayed online. The website is free, and users claim that it gives a thorough report by just entering the VIN.
vehiclehistory.com is confident that all information provided by their vehicle history reports are accurate and leads customers to make responsible used car purchasing or selling decisions. It guarantees no spamming, has a user-friendly interface, and no login information is required.
Industrial strength
vehiclehistory.com is a great VIN checker as it is free, with a well-organized, detailed, and informative presentation. It runs quickly and brings up Edmunds fair market value into the report in order to save a lot of time.
Many people don’t want to buy a Carfax for a car because they might not want to buy it, and this is a significantly better alternative. It covers just about the same information in Carfax, and extensively too. These reports include last recalls, damages (fire, flood, and impact), repairs, multiple owner history, salvage history, service history, accident history, gas mileage, vehicle specifications, odometer readings, maintenance schedule, etc.
Marketing
vehiclehistory.com is primarily available as a web service. There is no smartphone app adaptation of it. It has a Twitter platform (@VehicleHistory), but it’s not available on Facebook or Messenger.
Buyback program
There is no buyback guarantee onvehiclehistory.com. This is understandable because it’s a free report.
Service and maintenance records
vehiclehistory.com is designed for limited searches per day and not overall searches. Other pay search engines or websites may try to restrict your searches and claim that you’re a dealer. But this website doesn’t restrict us in any way and gives you a thorough report, free. When you start the process on the platform, you are led to eliminate cars that don’t come with a Carfax report. Whereas in some paid Carfax cases, you ultimately find out that the car does not have a clean title, and that’s money gone down the drain.
For buy-it-new search, especially if you plan to keep the vehicle for a while, vehiclehistory.com lists all the manufacturer’s warranty and recall information as it applies to your exact vehicle in one place. Every day, more than 11,000 people use vehiclehistory.com
vehiclehistory.com database features
These reports include:
- Current recall information
- Damages (fire, flood, impact),
- Repairs
- Multiple owner history
- Salvage history
- Service history
- Accident history
- Gas mileage
- Vehicle specifications
- Odometer readings
- Maintenance schedule, etc.
- Detailed log of the expiration of manufacturer warranties
- price predictions about the best time to purchase a particular car brand and model
Pricing
vehiclehistory.com is free as of the time of writing, making it the more budget-friendly option to Carfax.
Customer support
vehiclehistory.com is renowned for its customer service satisfaction. It resolves customer complaints swiftly and is willing to handle any client complaint, be it BBB (Better Business Bureau) or directly on their website. At the moment, the customer service chat is not available, but customers can call toll-free on 1 (855) 395-6395. You can also reach them via email on help@vehiclehistory.us.org.
Carfax
Features of Carfax
History
Carfax is one of the best known paid vehicle history reports and is more popular than vehiclehistory.com. Carfax developed the Vehicle History Report in 1984 and is one of the most reliable resources for vehicle history information, especially in the used car buying process. Carfax is the colloquial term used when querying for vehicle history reports.
Industrial strength
Carfax is renowned for having one of the most comprehensive vehicle history databases in North America with 23 billion records. Records detailed in each Carfax report display essential information about the car’s data, including car history, odometer reading, salvage/junk title, Truth in Mileage Act (TIMA), and lots more. These data help you identify problematic titles, unravel potential odometer fraud, know the estimated number of owners, learn where the car was registered, identify how the car may have been used (tax, rental, private, lease, etc.), discover past accidents.
Marketing
Carfax released mobile apps for smartphone users in 2012. Carfax is now available on Google Play of Android users and on the Apple App Store for iPhone users. You can connect with Carfax on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also read their blogs, customer stories, and watch them on YouTube.
Carfax also has a Canadian market (Carfax.ca) with information concerning cross-border activities, as well as an EU market (Carfax.eu).
Buyback program
Carfax offers guaranteed buyback program and information on open recalls feature, something that vehiclehistoory.com doesn’t. With the guaranteed buyback program, if Carfax makes an error on your vehicle history report, they will buy back the vehicle from you. This gives many used car buyers a reassurance that is worth the higher cost of admission.
Carfax database features
Some of the data we can find on a Carfax report include:
- Title information
- Odometer readings
- Lemons and Buybacks
- Transfers of ownership
- Inspections and Repairs
- Accidents
Pricing
Carfax charges $39.99 for a report and an unlimited number of reports for 60 days for $54.99. This is pretty costly, whereas there are lots of free, well-detailed alternatives.
Customer support
Carfax can be hard to reach over the phone. Customer support is mostly reached via web, chat, and email; however, regional phone options are available. Contact Carfax customer support on 1.866.8358612 (Canada) or via email on carfaxwebsupport@carfax.com(global)
vehiclehistory.com vs. Carfax: The Verdict
Now we know that Carfax will charge you for the same information that vehiclehistory.com provides. This should make vehiclehistory.com the clear winner in this review. And vehiclehistory.com gives you a breath of fresh air if you’re looking to buy a car, Carfax wins. Computer geeks sometimes say, “Garbage in, garbage out.” The same law holds for free vehicle reports that preponderate insurance agencies, vehicle registries, mechanics, etc. These free reports are wonky and critical information is sidelined. vehiclehistory.com does not offer the buyback protection that Carfax offers.
Pro tip: Keep searching until you find the right car. Keep in mind that Texas has more used vehicles than any other state. Houston alone has about 32,000 cars on the market at any given time.
Conclusion
Carfax is perhaps the gold standard of vehicle history reports. And while it can be expensive to pay for its reports, it ends up being money well spent because $39.99 is not a lot to pay for it you’re trying to screen out bad cars before wasting time with them. It has a deeper vehicle history database, greater regional reach, multi-channel adaptations.
This is not to say that you cannot find a good car using the free vehiclehistory.com and dodge a major budget bullet. It all depends on your budget and how seriously you take your car search.