possibly not. all i know is the car was truely a death-trap. when the mechanic put it on the lift and gave it a 'look-see', he was amazed that this car was still on the road. on the surface, the car looked decent and they were asking 4500. i asked my mechanic what he thought about the asking price and he just laughed. he said that if i offered anything over 500 i'd be crazy. the front end was completely shot (neglect, wreck, etc.), needed EVERYTHING for brakes (neglect, wreck, etc.), oil pan was bent into the pump (more than likely from a nasty wreck or running over something serious). nothing of this sort was on the carfax report. volvo gave me tons more info (as limited as it was) than carfax.

one point to note - if you live in a state/area that does not require emisions testing, carfax will give you little to nothing. get a good mechanic inspection and run the id #'s.