10 Reasons to Get a Vehicle History Report – 2024 Guide

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If you have decided to buy a used car, doing a little bit of intelligence about the history a vehicle hides might be useful.

Vehicle history reports, such as FreeRevsCheckReport are an excellent, free tool that will help you find all the information about the car, you need to buy safely. Here are 10 reasons you should get a vehicle history report:

1. You can only trust only yourself

People selling used cars, have only one aim to achieve – sell as many cars as    possible and increase their sales percentage. Nothing wrong about that, but you should be highly aware of it when deciding to purchase a used car.

You should also take responsibility for your actions and run a vehicle history check, to be sure the report confirms the safety of the car you are buying. Avoiding this and finding out later that something is not right can result in you getting the thicker end, because the car dealer will always refer to the contract you signed that in most of the cases (if not all), has “no return policy”.

2. The agreement to buy a car as it is

Sure, you are obliged to sign a contract, which itself gives you a sense of safety, but the content of the contract and the question of whether it offers you or a car dealer any guarantee if something goes wrong is debatable. By signing this contract, you are agreeing to buy a car “As Is”, without any possibility of return if something goes wrong. Hardly any dealer at all will offer you an exchange. So, running a vehicle history report before purchase will save you from headaches.

3. Odometer frauds

Car dealers are far ahead of you when presenting what suits you as a buyer and are very aware that the low mileage sounds very attractive. However, you should stop judging the condition of the car according to the odometer mileage. Regardless of the low mileage, a car can still be in a bad condition due to the hard use. Even though tampering the odometer is a criminal offense, it still is very common.

We live in a digital era when you can use software to roll back the odometer and it will be impossible to track down who did it, when, and what was the previous mileage. Comparing the safety certificates with the state of the mileage, or any kind of record available will help you skip the fraud.

A vehicle history report contains valuable information about the owners and when the sales happened, the mileage had to be recorded as well when the car was registered. If you notice the mileage has decreased at one point, this should alarm you. As it was mentioned, tampering odometer is a criminal offense and once you notice it, be sure to report it to the Office of Fair Trading.

4. Accidents from the past

For most of the used cars we buy, we are unaware of the accidents it had and the damages they caused. A vehicle history report shows all the accidents that the car had as well as the codes that tell you where the accident happened. This way you can find out about the damages, before the purchase. It also gives you a small advantage – you can bargain to lower the price.

5. Was the car branded as flooded, junked, or salvaged?

Getting a vehicle history report can help you look below the surface, to discover more than what is obvious on the first look. We live in times where climate changes are very extreme, making it possible that the vehicle might have been exposed to a storm, hale, or a flood. Cars with this history are usually salvaged, completely rebuilt, and then sold elsewhere as used. This might not be the first thing you consider when buying a car but is possible and visible in the vehicle history report.

6. The number of previous owners

Very important to consider when buying a car. In most of the cases the car selling shops do not own the complete list of the previous owners, but for you, it’s an information based on which you can bargain for the price if nothing else. If the vehicle history report tells you a car had several owners in just a short period, then there must be a reason for it.

7. Maintenance info

Every driver knows that the scheduled maintenance (oil changes and regular services) of the car is important to the condition of the engine. If the vehicle did not receive regular service and oil changes on time, you can expect even more expenses repairing the engine.

8. Ownership changes info

The report can tell you in detail when the ownership of the vehicle changed. Again, this gives you a chance to bargain and lower the price, in case it shows you the vehicle has been sitting on the lot for a couple of months.

9. Is it a lemon car?

It happens from time to time that a car is bought directly from the manufacturer and then returned due to some heavy safety defects. This information is valuable and cannot be discovered by your mechanic. If the vehicle is a lemon car and has an open recall (still not satisfied), turn it to your advantage and demand a lower price.

10. Airbag issues

As the vehicle report will provide you with information about the accidents the car had, you can further find out if the airbag was deployed. In the past many airbag deployment frauds were happening, where the car was repaired after the accident but the airbag was never replaced, and the insurance money was taken by the one repairing the car.

All these reasons hopefully make you aware that there is a lot to consider about the safety when buying a used car. But thanks to everything stated in the vehicle history report, this information will guarantee you know what to expect from the car in the future.