CarFax anyone??

[01XC70Idaho]

Does anyone have a subscription to CarFax? I've just noticed that my drivers door has been skinned. The dealer gave me a copy of the CarFax when we purchased it and everything looked good.

Now I'm wondering if there was a repair just before we purchased it. I called him back and he told me he had no idea it had been repaired.

If anyone has a subscription to CarFax I would love to run a check on this car. Let me know and I will email the VIN.

Thanks

[gibbons]

They only report major stuff, maybe your damage was minor. Our Infinity got plowed into, which mashed both doors and pushed the center post inward. It got a bit of the rear quarter panel, too. The repair was paid for by the other guy's insurance. But it never showed up on the CarFax report.

What do you mean by skinned? Doors are one piece assemblies, you can't just by the outer sheet metal. Take a look around the inside edges. With the fold over hem all the way around, it would be impossible to replace. At least on the doors I have seen.

[01XC70Idaho]

I worked in a body shop for about six years... I did at least one door skin each week. If the frame of the door is good, you can buy just the sheet metal for it. There are spot welds along the top (under the window rubber) which are drilled... then the fold all the way around the door is cut using a grinder. You just grind along the edge of the door untill the skin of the door is cut clear through. The inside lip then comes off quite easilly with a air chizel. The new skin comes with the lip at a 90 degree angle and it is quite easy to fold it over and use some Duramix (metal glue) to glue it back in place.

I have never personally done this to a Volvo but I can't image it is much different than any other car.

I know it has been replaced because the seam sealer around the edge has been brushed on by a body shop.

[mikeklett]

70 idaho/ i'd be glad to take your vin number and play with it to see what i come up with. i picked up an osd 04 xc and have been to Ken Graff in SLC and Lyle Pearson in Boise and am not real impressed with either. we might be able to put some info on the forum that would require a response. mike

[01XC70Idaho]

Mike - I share your dissapointment with Ken Garff Volvo (SLC)... what a joke! I went in to look at 01 XC's about a month before I purchased this one. Apparently the sales rep didn't think I could afford the car or something because he seemed in a hurry and promised to call me when any 01's came through. I never heard from him again! (When I stopped in I was driving my 1990 SAAB 900... maybe this gave him the "poor person only shopping" impression.)

I also emailed them about an 01 they had listed on eBay. When I asked the price they only said "over 20k". (Like I couldn't afford it or something.) Well that's brilliant! I guess I will just call my bank and tell them "over 20k". :D I emailed back but got no response. It seems like they have this attitude or something that they are better than everyone else. Come on guys... you're selling Volvo's not Ferrari's!!!

Anyway... enough rambling... so do you have access to CarFax? What do you mean we could post something on the forum that would require a response?

[gibbons]

I stand corrected, it seems. My brother has worked at a body shop for 30 years, and I have hung out there quite a bit. I have seen fender skins and quarter skins and rocker skins and roof skins, but never a door skin. When insurance companies want to get cheap, they make his shop get a door from a salvage yard. They tried to do that on our Infiiniti, but there weren't enough crashed ones around to find any. That's really sleezy of the insurance companies, but how they authorize repairs is out of his control.

But looking at this XC with it's one-piece sheet metal all the way through the window frame, it looks like it would be a monster to remove the outer sheet!

[01XC70Idaho]

Gibbons... all it boils down to is cheap, cheap, cheap! The way it should be done is with a new door! Like you said... the insurance companies want it cheap. That's what door skins are!

To me it was six of one, half dozen of the other... I was going to have to pull the door either way. With a new door I would have to gut the old door (window motor and tracks, wiring, etc) and move the insides to the new door. With the skin I was going to be grinding and drilling for about an hour!

Either way it sucked!

I'm glad to not be in the body shop business anymore. :)

[Zig]

I believe a clarification needs made in regards to a Carfax. This is a good program, in that it gives you a fairly detailed history of a specific vehicle.
However, as with any database, it's only as good as the information that is put in.
If a repair/service/recall is done to a vehicle and the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) isn't notified - it won't be in a Carfax. If you look at the bottom of any Carfax, there is a link that says "What do you know about this vehicle?" Guess what (?) that's their way of telling you any report may not be complete history.

Use Carfax for what it's worth - a guide. It's not an exact history.
The one really nice aspect of the program is their buy back policy.

Just my http://home.comcast.net/~jason263/2cents.gif

[sherwinb]

If anyone is interested in a cheap Carfax I think this promotion is still running, $1.50 reports. It was supposed to be done with yesterday, but I just checked it and it seems like the $1.50 option in the drop down menu is still there!!

http://www.carfax.com/cfm/purchase_options.cfm?partner=PRL_E

Good price considering these normally cost $20.

[01XC70Idaho]

WOW... that's a deal! I didn't even check the site... I didn't know about the sale. I'll definately run one for $1.50!

[gracefilledfool]

CarFax works well for the buyer... but not so well for the seller. This was my jam... the information provided to CarFax was wrong... imagine my surprise when I went to trade it and CarFax said that right in the middle of the time I owned it that it was totaled and rebuilt. That never happened and I could not find any way to appeal/make a notation or anything... it was my word against the computer. I was never able to get it taken off. Some error in the Texas state house cost me at least 5K.

It felt like a credit report gone wrong.

[Zig]

However, as with any database, it's only as good as the information that is put in.

Real bummer on your end! Did it say where the repairs took place?

[gracefilledfool]

At this point... it has been a couple of years... all that sticks in my memory bank is there was no way to contest what they report. Dealers sympothized with me but wouldn't put real money in it saying buyers are going to request this report and won't be willing to pay the bucks for it. It was worse than written in granite. Pray you never end up on the wrong side of carfax... or that work that was never done is reported to them. You will be out serious money!

[01XC70Idaho]

Well, I ran the carfax and it appears this car was in a "minor" accident in New York in 2002. Oh well, at leaste the repair is top quality. :)

The nice part about that carfax is that it actually tells you all the times the car was serviced. It looks like this car received regular maintence... about every 4000-5000 miles. I'd almost rather see that with an accident than see no accidents with no factory service!