I have bought a few used cars for myself and my son and I have to say, Carfax has been a tremendous help for me. Every time I want to buy a car I run a carfax report using the VIN number. This has saved me a ton of grief. In the past when we didn't run the carfax, I ended up buying a toyota which later on I learned it was a salvage title. I also bought a honda without running carfax, and the transmission died at $60k miles. So I learned my lesson the hard way. Every time I want to buy a used car, I don't even to go to look at it, unless I run the carfax first.