Before you buy a used car in Dallas-Fort Worth: eight checks we wish we'd made

By Chris Yates, Paris, Texas. Updated November 5, 2026.

In July 2026 we paid a Dallas used car dealer, Royal Premier Motors, $10,992.56 cash for a 2020 Nissan Pathfinder. We read the CARFAX, test drove it, and were told it had been inspected. Six weeks before the sale, a Nissan dealer had diagnosed the engine with sludge and written that it needed a complete engine. Three months later we traded it in for $3,000. These are the checks that would have caught it, in the order we'd make them now.

1. Pull the Texas inspection history yourselfSearch the VIN in the Texas Vehicle Inspection History at mytxcar.org, open each test, and read the Fault Codes line. Our car's test on the afternoon we bought it lists a stored misfire code, P0300, and still shows "Pass." How to read the record.
2. Get both CARFAX and AutoCheckThey don't report the same things. AutoCheck showed our car selling at auction in June; CARFAX didn't. Neither one mentioned sludge, and CARFAX described the visit that found it as an oil change. See the two side by side.
3. Ask a franchise dealer for that brand about the car's service visitsCall the service department of a dealer for that make, give them the VIN, and ask about past visits and any repairs that were recommended but declined. The repair order that diagnosed our engine came from a Nissan dealer, and a Nissan dealer is where we finally got a copy of it.
4. Pay for an independent inspection before you pay for the carUse a shop you choose, off the lot, even if you're told the car has already been inspected. Ask them to scan for stored and pending codes, not just to check whether the light is on, and to look under the oil cap.
5. Look for a recent auction sale and a quick relistingOur car sold at auction on June 16 and was listed for sale five days later with 11 more miles on it. That isn't proof of a problem, but it's a reason to ask why the last owner let it go and to dig harder.
6. Read the Buyers Guide on the window, and get promises written on itIt tells you whether the car is sold As Is or with a warranty. Its first line says spoken promises are hard to enforce. What the form says and what to watch for.
7. Read any service contract before you sign, especially the exclusionsThe contract tied to our car's coverage excluded sludge and any part not working properly at the time of sale, which is exactly what the engine already had.
8. Check the dealer on more than one review site, and read its repliesRatings differ a lot from site to site. Read the newest reviews and how the dealer answers complaints on Google, CARFAX and the Better Business Bureau.

If it happens to you anyway

• Keep every piece of paper and photograph the Buyers Guide, the contract and anything handwritten.
• Get the diagnosis in writing from the shop that finds the problem, with the date and mileage.
• Write to the dealer and keep a copy. Ours replied in writing, and its reply is published in full.
• File complaints with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, which licenses dealers, and the Texas Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division.
• Talk to a lawyer before you sue. The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act generally requires written notice to the business at least 60 days before filing a lawsuit.

Questions