10 Benefits of a Car Lemon Report

• Posted on Autos.com Editor
• in Car Buying
• on October 7, 2013

When purchasing a used car there are many benefits to purchasing a car lemon report. These reports consolidate a lot of useful information about the car in one easy to read report. These are easily obtained online and all you need is the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) of the vehicle.

The benefit of a lemon report is that it gives you information on:

1. Major Title Issues – It is very important to know if a car has a DMV-issued branded title, for example a salvage, flood damage, inconsistent odometer reading or fire damage title. A car lemon report will alert you to any title issues, some sites such as Carfax even offer a “Buyback Guarantee” if the report misses a branded title.
2. Number of Owners – A car lemon report will estimate how many owners the vehicle has had based on registration records. In general, the fewer owners the better. One-owner vehicles tend to be valued higher because there is less chance that the vehicle has been neglected.
3. Accident Reports – Accidents can cause serious damage to a vehicle so it pays to know if the vehicle has ever been involved in crash, and if so, was there any major damage to the frame or engine.
4. Odometer Rollbacks – Car lemon reports use the various mileage reports to look for discrepancies that would indicate the odometer had been tampered with.
5. Rental, Fleet or Taxi – These reports will alert you if the vehicle has ever been registered as a fleet, taxi or rental car. This is important to know as these types of vehicles will often have high mileage and the cars may not have been treated as well as a privately owned vehicle.
6. Warranty Check – Some lemon car reports will also give you the warranty information for the vehicle and the time remaining under warranty for the various components of the vehicle.
7. Safety Information and Reliability – Carfax provides you with links to crash test information about the vehicle as well as reliability reports such as those from JD Powers.
8. Service Records – Some car lemon reports will also provide service records if they are available. This will help you determine how well the car has been maintained. Look for vehicles that have had all manufacturer recommended services done as well as frequent preventive maintenance like oil changes.
9. Consumer Ratings – Car lemon reports will often offer consumer ratings and comments about the year, make and model of vehicle you are considering. This helps you look for common complaints about the car.
10. Auto Check Score – Autocheck will provide you with an exclusive Autocheck score which is a summary of the vehicle’s history that lets you easily compare it with other cars of the same make and model. This feature makes it easy to compare various cars if you considering more then one vehicle in your search.

Car lemon reports vary in price from about $14.95 to $39.95 but for the peace of mind they can give you they are well worth it. They provide helpful information and can make comparing various cars easy. All of these reasons make a car lemon report a must have when seriously looking at used cars.