Buying Guides
How to read a vehicle history report properly
A clean report is not the same as a clean car. The five things worth looking at, and the two that most buyers over-weight.
Every vehicle on our lot comes with a free history report, and we want you to read it. But there is a gap between what these reports show and what people believe they show, and that gap costs buyers money in both directions, passing on good cars and buying bad ones.
What a history report is
It is a collection of records that were reported. Insurance claims, police reports, service visits at participating shops, title transfers, registration changes and auction announcements. Anything not reported does not appear.
What that means
A car repaired with cash at an independent shop after a parking lot collision can show a completely clean report. This is why the report is a starting point and a pre-purchase inspection is the actual verdict.
The five things worth your attention
- Title brands. Salvage, rebuilt, flood, lemon, odometer rollback. Any of these should stop the conversation unless the price reflects it and you know exactly what you are taking on.
- Ownership pattern. Four owners in three years on a six-year-old car means people kept getting rid of it. Ask why.
- Geographic history. A car from the salt belt has underbody corrosion a Washington car will not. A car from a flood state in a flood year deserves scrutiny.
- Service gaps. Regular entries then a two-year hole often means either off-book maintenance or none at all.
- Odometer progression. Look for the readings to climb sensibly. A sudden plateau or a reading lower than a previous one is a red flag regardless of what the title says.
The two things buyers over-weight
Minor reported damage. A bumper cover replaced after a low-speed impact is not structural and does not affect how the car drives or lasts. It does affect resale value, which means it often makes the car a genuine bargain. Read what was actually repaired rather than reacting to the word "accident".
Rental or fleet history. Fleet vehicles get maintained on a schedule by people who get audited. They are often better maintained than privately owned cars. High mileage on a fleet car is usually highway mileage, which is the easy kind.
What we do with reports
We pull one before we buy. Anything with a branded title, structural damage or an unverifiable gap does not get bought. Where a vehicle has a minor reported incident, we say so on the listing and show you what was repaired. You will find that written out on our listing pages, not buried.