OneBeast88

EDIT: It was my fault, I was typing a 'O' instead of a 0. It came back clean I guess. It looks like the car has had three owners counting the current one. It has been in Oregon, Alabama, Texas, back to Alabama, South Carolina, then Louisiana where it is now. I am from Alabama and the car will go back there eventualy, I guess it likes it there.

Also it says exempt from odometer reading on a lot of the reports. The last one is 86,056. So I am sure it is 140,000 miles. It just seems weird that after 99,999 the odometer would start back over. Thanks.




---Origonal Post---
I found the thirdgen I want, it is an 88 in decent condition and the price seems right. I am all ready to make my purchase, but I want to do a carfax first just to make sure nothing crazy is going on. However the website is telling me I have a invalid vin. I used the decoder on this website and it seems to be in the right format, it is the right number of digits. I am sure I typed it in right, has anyone had this issue? The VIN is 1G1FP21EOJL195554

I just can not figure out what the problems is. I am sure I wrote it down right from the car, I might drive out there again just to triple check it. Do all VINs show up on CARFAX? Thanks.

EDIT: Also the odometer says 40,000 miles. The car is in decent shape, but I believe it to be more like 140,000. When these things get over 99,999 does the odometer just start over? I saw now place for a 1. Any easy way to check for tampering? Thanks again.

ur7x

iTrader: (2)

BEWARE a clean CARFAX... This means NOTHING... most Carfax reports are clean because most DMVs, Insurance Co's, Dealers and repair shops do not share info with this firm...

At best this is a loose starting point... In reality it is a total waste of money. I ran a Carfax on a car (truck actually) that I knew had been totaled ("rebuilt" status) by the previous owner's insurance Co and it came back clean...

Carfax is a service that in theory should be great, in practice it sucks

charlie31603

iTrader: (10)

I to think car fax is a joke. It still says this car is clean. I know it's not. I totalled it and it's probaly part of this soda can next to me as I type this. Adam :-)

Jproz1167

iTrader: (3)

1G1FP21EOJL195554

maaybe where it's 1EO is actually a zero and not an O

OneBeast88

That is exactly what it was. I pick up the car tomorrow at lunch time. I am excited.

327_TPI_77_Maro

iTrader: (8)

They always have done this, until 6 digit odometers came about. I hate 5 digit odometers! They cause sooo many problems knowing the rearl mileage of an older car, because the factories could not put one more plastic reel of numbers in the odometer? I mean even in the 60s the manufactuer must have expected the car would still be running in 100k miles, definitely by the 80s

okfoz

If you also get Autocheck you can sometimes get additional information. It is amazing how if you put the two together how much of a better picture you can get. Unfortunately I know for a fact that they are not 100% accurate, however if there was a problem and it was listed it would be nice to know.

I have an ECM from an 86 Camaro Z28 (I wrote the VIN on the ECM when I got it) and I checked the VIN on CARFAX and AUTOCHECK neither of them had the car as Totaled. THe car had a major engine fire, it was parted out to nothing but a shell... it was in a Junk yard that no longer exsits.

Put it this way, CARFAX & AUTOCHECK are only as good as the information provided to them. Many Body shops do not report their work, And if you have the car done privately or do it yourself then there would be no way to track it. Most minor accidents are never reported. I was looking at a particular car and it came back with severe frame damage, but it was not totaled, So CF & AC are not a total loss, but not 100%.

John