buy an used with a history of stolen-recovered?

rookier_alex

I am considering buying an used car. I test drove it; and the price was fair. Then I obtained the VIN and the plate information; and ran a carfax check. It turned out during the first ownership (a rental company), there was a record saying "Vehicle reported stolen" in 2010, then records of "Key(s) (re)programmed New key(s) cut","Vehicle purchase reported", "Registration issued or renewed, Loan or lien reported", and "Vehicle recovered after theft" in the following weeks. I really don't know what happened to this car 6 years ago during this incident. And I wanna seek advice if this history shall be of concern, since it was more than 6 years ago. Any comments and suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks!

Mr_Shiftright

I don't think it affects the car itself after all these years, but I suppose the CARFAX is kind of "branded" in a way, so that when you sell the car, if you plan to in the future, the new buyer might have the same questions as you do. How does your car's price compare to "book" values? If it's a good deal, then you've been compensated for the weird CARFAX anyway. If you're paying top retail, you might want to use the CARFAX to bargain down a bit more.

After a certain number of years and certain number of miles, all these CARFAX incidents mean less and less.

Mr_Shiftright

Looks like the recovery occurred quite quickly after the theft, so I doubt the car was much damaged.

kyfdx

How old is the car? (just tell us what it is)
How many miles?
What is the price?

rookier_alex

Thanks, kyfdx and Mr_Shiftright. it's a 2009 ford focus ses, 100k miles, the price is 4200, about 200 below the book pp price. (In the area I live, ppl usually ask for prices a few hundred bucks above the kbb price.) the weird records were in Feb 2010. Current owner bought the car in 2011. The records from carfax are below.

02/04/2010 Tennessee
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Vehicle reported stolen

02/15/2010 Baxter Ford West
Dodge
Elkhorn, NE
402-934-5656
baxterford.com
Key(s) (re)programmed
New key(s) cut

03/01/2010 Colorado
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Vehicle purchase reported

03/04/2010 Tennessee
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Tulsa, OK
Registration issued or renewed
Loan or lien reported

03/05/2010 Tennessee
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Vehicle recovered after theft