USED CARS INFO:

In the United States, an estimated 34% of consumers (in 2006) are buying a Vehicle history report for used cars.[2] Vehicle history reports are one way to check the track record of any used vehicle. Vehicle history reports provide customers with a record based on the vehicle's serial number (VIN). These reports will indicate items of public record, such as vehicle title branding, lemon law buybacks, odometer fraud, and product recall. The report may indicate minor/moderate collision damage or improper vehicle maintenance. An attempt to identify vehicles which have been previously owned by hire car rental agencies, police and emergency services or taxi fleets is also made. Consumers should research vehicles carefully, as these reporting services only report the information to which they have access. In some places the government is a provider of vehicle history, but this is usually a limited service providing information on just one aspect of the history. Two vehicle history reporting services used to offer the service for free namely InstaVIN and VinCheck. But currently customers need to pay to view vehicle reports through InstaVin. VinCheck became part of AutoCheck and provides very little information for free, and customers need to buy a detailed report. Several of the services, most notably those in the United Kingdom and the United States, sell reports to dealers and then encourage the dealers to display the reports on their Internet sites. These reports are paid for by the dealer and then offered for free to potential buyers of the vehicle.[citation needed] In the UK, the DVLA provides information (Car check) on the registration of vehicles to certain companies for consumer protection and anti-fraud purposes. Companies may add to the reports additional information gathered from police, finance and insurance companies. Car check service is available online for the public and motor trade. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Used_car