Start with the title section
The first thing I look at on any Carfax is the title history. Words like salvage, rebuilt, flood, or lemon are the ones that change what a car is worth and whether it should be on a lot at all. A clean title is the baseline for every car we sell, so if that line is anything other than clean on a report you are reading somewhere else, stop there and ask why.
Owners, use, and where it lived
Next is the owner count and the type of use. One or two private owners is ordinary. A fleet or rental history is not automatically bad, but those cars tend to have more miles per year and more hands on the wheel. Where the car was registered matters on Long Island because of salt: a car that spent its life in the Northeast will show more underbody wear than one from a dry state, and that is something to look for in person, not on paper.
Accidents and damage: read the detail, not the headline
An accident entry is the part people fixate on, and the detail is what counts. Minor damage reported with no airbag deployment and no structural note is a different story from moderate or severe damage. Look for whether the damage was to the front, rear, or side, and whether the report says the vehicle was towed. Then look at the car itself. Elmer has a good piece on spotting body repairs that pairs well with this.
Service records and the mileage line
Regular service entries are a good sign; gaps are not proof of neglect, since plenty of shops do not report. The mileage readings are the part to check carefully: they should climb steadily. A reading that goes down, or a jump that does not fit, is a reason to walk away. We wrote about mileage rollbacks for exactly that reason. Every car on our inventory page has its Carfax linked, so you can practice on a real one.