If you're looking for a used car, invest the $20 in Carfax - it's worth it.

I was looking for an '85-'90 Volvo recently for my daughter, and I was astonished at the number of cars I looked at that were totaled and salvaged

in another state, then brought into my state. I even looked at the titles

of two of them that did not show as rebuilt, yet Carfax showed that they were. The DOL at the state capital told me a rebuilt car can't enter this state (WA) with a clean title. WRONG, obviously. I finally found a good one, with a tracable local history, but it was amazing what I found along the way. Out of the 25 or so I ran through Carfax, at least 6 or 7showed salvage reports or evidence or odometer rollback. What's amusing is to confront some of the used car dealers with this, and watch their reaction.

If they have something to hide, they hate it. Carfax was even featured on our local news recently, with a camera crew going out and doing just that.

In this state, it won't show miles on emissions tests over 100K, because the state exempts those cars. but it definitely shows lien and title changes.