Vehicle History Reports

AutoCheck Story

Over the last 12 years I have been watching how vehicle history reports have evolved into a more complete picture of a vehicles life. Years ago, when there was only Carfax , Experian was collecting millions and millions of rows of data for data mining. Experian decided to get into the vehicle history report business back in 2000 by starting e-vehiclehistory.com, which is now a dead URL. Experian did a very smart thing by partnering up with a large auction reporting company called "AutoCheck" which is now www.autocheck.com.

Experian and AutoCheck saw the need to have a competitor to Carfax.com in the marketplace. Being a start up you could not just decide to spend the millions of dollars to compete with the Goliath in Carfax so they came up with a "powered by" product. This was the architect of Lou Gaz and Dave Nemtuda. This concept was brought to companies like YahooAutos, eBaymotors, AutoTrader, Nadaguides and Cars.com. Why not empower your partners to have a version of their own vehicle history report where consumers already knew the brand. This strategy helped propel AutoCehck into the consumers eyes and the dealer world.

Today, AutoCheck is the most widely used vehicle history service used in over 90% of the auctions, major dealership groups and large automotive information portals like www.dmv.org.

AutoCheck went from a little known start up in the auto industry to empowering partners with a “powered by” product, building great relationships within the auto industry and leadership that is still going strong today with the likes of Scott Waldron, president of Experian AutoMotive.

For a complete look at your vehicle history on a car, truck, van or SUV go to AutoCheck.com

Researching Used Vehicles prior to 1981

Most of the baby boomers who are now in there sixties love the romance of the vehicles of the 1960's and early 1970's. The younger generation in their twenties really don't care about cars prior to 1990. The 1980's were not great for the auto industry anyway, but when you want to get that 1978 Camaro or 1966 Pontiac GTO what do you do when researching the vehicles history?

Well here is the problem anything before 1981 only had a 9 or 11 digit vin. Most states did not keep any records on junk titles, scrap titles, accident information or if a vehicle was a lemon. So what do you do when purchasing a vehicle before 1981.

1. If you are purchasing local and you're a serious buyer and the owner of the vehicle will have no problem in providing a mechanical report or allow you to bring to your mechanic. Since there is no history the only thing you can do is to make sure the vehicle is in good working condition.

2. If you're purchasing online through eBay Motors or Auto Trader Classics they have many tools to make sure the vehicle you're buying is protected. Ebay has a buyer protection plan for you, which is great in case the vehicle is not as described when it is delivered.

There is nothing to be worried about when buying an older vehicle, it's just important to do your homework and research so you can enjoy the sunny days in the vehicle you really wanted to drive.