Is There a Carfax For RVs? (How To Check RV History)
Getting a used vehicle’s history. This is important when you want to avoid paying more money for repairs or title and other problems. Getting a history of the used vehicle makes sure you know what is what and that you are getting the vehicle as represented.
There is a company called RVchex.com and for a $25 fee, you should get a little history on the RV you want to buy. However, it is said that you should be able to use Carfax for your RV check as long as you have a VIN. Just be careful as all information may not be accurate
What is Carfax?
For those that have only heard the name Carfax and do not know what it is, this is a company that will research the history of a used car through its VIN. The company uses over 130,000 sources in both Canada and the United States to get the information you want.
However, this company is only good for cars and light trucks dating from 1981 and onward and has a 17-character VIN. The thing to be careful about when using this service is that the report is limited to the information that has been reported to those sources.
Then the company does not inspect the cars nor does it always provide accurate information. They make no guarantee about the condition of the car and fraud can still take place after you get a report.
Is There a Carfax For RVs?
Yes, there is at least one. This one is called RVchex.com and it is a product offered by iMobile Solutions, Inc., a subsidiary of Sparta Commercial Services, Inc. This company basically does the same thing as Carfax, just for RVs.
You will need a VIN to get the report and when you are ready to order a search, you will have to pay $24.95 for one and $49.95 for up to 3 searches. It is best to contact them as there may be some regional limitations for their searches.
On their VIN search page, you will see this message in red- “RVchex® does not provide data for RVs registered in the state(s): OR.” it looks like the state of Oregon does not allow these types of research reports.
On the company’s home page, you will see these words as well-
“RVchex® searches government data for over 90 types of vehicle title problems
RVchex® searches over 28 million Salvage or Total Loss records”
Carfax Report For RV
It has been said that you can use Carfax to do a history on an RV. When we checked the company’s website, all you need to do a search is a VIN or a license plate number.
Whether this will work for an RV or trailer remains to be seen. The company does not mention doing searches for RVs but they may. We have come across one website that says they do. But you have to sign up and pay a fee to access the information.
The problem that many people have with using Carfax and similar organizations is that they think these reports are the last word on a used vehicle.
This is not so as Carfax only provides basic information that may be inaccurate or incomplete. You would have to look at these reports from Carfax or similar companies with a grain of salt as the information in those reports are unverified.
One problem area for Carfax, etc., reports is that they have no way of knowing if the odometer reading is correct or not.
Using Carfax For RVs
You can use this company for an RV’s history, etc., but you may be paying a lot of money to get it done. The fee has been reported at $39.99 and that may just be the base fee. Your costs may vary depending on the service you are ordering.
There is another company called DMV.org and they are not associated with any State DMV office, or other government entity. They are a private company that does for RVs what Carfax does for cars.
The company’s landing page has the spot for your VIN but it does not state how much it will cost for the search. We searched their website but no mention of the cost is made.
If you are wanting to know the value of the used RV you are researching, there is no Kelly Bluebook to help you. You have to go to the NADA (National Automobile Dealers’ Association) Guides by JD Power to get help with the value of different used RVs.
That guide will help you with travel trailer value as well.
Is There a Carfax For Travel Trailers?
Most likely, you can use any one of the different VIN search companies to find information on a used travel trailer. According to faxvin.com, you can put any VIN in their search box to get some information.
This may work for work for CarFax and RVchex.com as well. Of course, these companies may have a fee for searching your travel trailers VIN and you would have to put the number in their search box before finding out how much a search will cost.
The reports you get and the information in those reports are questionable. The reason for this is that there is no regulation requiring any repair shop to report repairs or selling prices for travel trailers.
Just take these reports with a grain of salt as they only give basic unverifiable information on any vehicle with a VIN.
Some Final Words
Many people use Carfax or one of the other companies we mentioned in this article. As good as they intend to be, do not take their reports verbatim or as an authority.
The information contained within those reports cannot be verified, may be inaccurate, and will not stop fraud from taking place. They won’t know if the owner put sawdust in the transmission or not.
Check this link to see some more reasons why you can’t trust these reports.
