I haven't had to physically go out and find a vehicle to buy in over 20 years, all my vehicle purchases over the last two decades have simply been deals that I lucked into or fell into my lap.  That's all over now, and I need to find a minivan in the next 3-5x days.  We've pretty much settled on a Honda Odyssey, with a budget of roughly $25k.  I can maybe go up to $30k for the right vehicle, but $25k is the amount I have on hand to spend.  I have no interest in buying used, and no interest in financing for 5-8%.

In my ongoing saga to find a decently priced used minivan, I've noticed that *most* online dealers will now link to the current CARFAX reports.  How much of that information can you really use to your advantage, specifically as a buyer?  Reason I ask, one of the Odysseys I am considering came from Louisiana...but it does have a clean CARFAX report with no accidents (and all the current recalls done).  In the report, it shows that this particular van was purchased through auction by the current dealer 9/24/23...and this is the rest of the report:

10/10/2023   Georgia  Inspection Station
Passed emissions inspection

11/07/2023  Online Listing
Vehicle offered for sale

01/06/2024  Online Listing
Vehicle offered for sale

01/21/2024 Auto Auction
Vehicle sold

02/05/2024   Online Listing
Vehicle offered for sale

It states the vehicle was sold again at auction on 1/21, except the same dealership that was listed as the purchaser back in September is the one still advertising it currently.

I guess what I'm asking, just seems that sitting on a van since Sept (or November, depending on how you look at it), would make them more motivated to sell.  Am I reading this correctly?

How can I weaponize this information to my advantage, and any other tips I need to consider?  Is emailing multiple dealers with offers the way to go, or is it pretty much a waste of time?  I would much rather deal with a private seller, but they are a bit harder to find.  I honestly know dick-all on how to deal with used car salesman, and my experience thus far suggests they are all just a less than honest.  Are things still that bad for the used market that dealerships really aren't all that motivated to sell?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Set up a honda mygarage account and you might be able to see more service history, I also got an autocheck report aswell as a carfax report for my last purchase that showed some additional info.

A somewhat safer route IMO is carmax; they have a few odesseys in that price range and have a warranty that covers long enough to get an independent inspection done, and to save you from a lemon.

No insight into the sales strategy questions; might be slightly overpriced ? Could be other insignificant reasons.

Doubletap

Carmax is a viable option.  The downside is you pay a little extra to not play games.  As far as the Carfax info, they never paint the complete story.  For example if the van was in a minor fender bender and the owner paid out of pocket, Carfax has no information about that repair.  Same goes for some independent garages and repairs/service.

Yeah, I pretty much assumed that.

Get friendly with a dealer. I know a couple and occasionally move a vehicle for them. They know the deal and usually have a buyer and know how to work the auctions.

About 3 weeks back we went and picked up a used international 8100 he bought for $4k and change. It ended up on a farm and will likely pull hay several times a year.

We just bought a pilot in the same price range. Ended up spending $28k on a 2020 with 69k.

If it’s going to be a long term vehicle for you, I’d look for CPOs only. That’s what we did.

Then you can buy Hondacare and have a real warranty. We now have warranty out to 8yr/120 for $1200.

We bought a touring model. With the complicated electrical systems these cars have the piece of mind is worth $1200.  

ETA: you don’t have to buy the Honda care from the dealer you’re buying the car from.  Hyannis Honda has instant quotes online and is almost always the cheapest option.  

jut make sure it has that True Coat

applied at the factory

Use the carfax used car website, all listings include the report plus it tends to eliminate the garbage a bit.

Took me a minute to find this one in my AO:

Carfax Honda

ETA: Thats a Pilot, I know fuck all about Honda.

As far as Carfax, it's only as good as what was reported. It could have still been in a crash but not have made it into the report. At the very least, I think it does help to see how many owners it's had and if it's a rust belt vehicle at the very least.

my only tip

TO NOT BUY FROM CARVANA.

They buy cars and do not to title work, so they get a lot of stolen cars.

the things I look for in the car fax are basically
did it come from up north.
did it come from the coast
does the mileage make sense
did it go to a state with easy title washing

other than that, take it with a grain of salt.

also do a search on the vin online
I have had a few come back showing them in salvage car auctions from other states.
like it will pull up the coparts auction lol.

buy a cheap code reader, 10 buck on ebay. make sure the codes weren't cleared by making sure the checks show ready.

good advice imo

I'm curious....what was wrong with the Wrangler?

??

What is a title wash?
Title washing is an illegal act that involves removing negative information from a car title to inflate its value. Scammers use this tactic to fraudulently remove information like liens or a branding (such as a lemon brand), odometer rollback brand, salvage or rebuilt title brand, or water damage brand

some states are easier than others to do this.
you will see it move out of state for a few months and come back usually.
so they get a salvage car, and move it out of state and then it comes back as a clean title car.

Guessing you stole that line word-for-word right from the high pressure F&I manager at the dealership.  

Did he also get you for the Trucoat and window glass etching?

A vehicle can also be listed in carfax as having been involved in a collision even if there is no damage to the vehicle.

My 4Runner was lightly rear ended at a stop lite. My hitch punched thru the their plastic front bumper. Zero damage to my hitch or 4Runner. I never took it to a body shop for anything.

Come to find out, carfax listed it as having been involved in rear end collision with light damage. I’m guessing carfax somehow got it from police report.

You should be able to find a solid clean oddesy for 25-30k.

Where I got it was the 3rd gen pilot Facebook group with 60k members.

Reading all the stories of people spending thousands chasing down issues.

Well worth a couple hundred bucks a year to me.

I have hit two deer, $7k damage each time.
I had it fixed at Ford dealer where I bought it new.
Carfax says it was there for "service", no crashes.

@midcap

I've found quite a few in that range that we like, its just a matter of deciding on which one.

@midcap