How Reliable Are CarFax Reports?
posted in Carfax, General |Source: ABC News
Services such as CARFAX and AutoCheck can be good tools for savvy consumers to use before buying a used car. But CARFAX seems to have backfired for one Bay Area woman.
CarFax is a potentially good information source. The company provides the vehicle history of any used car you might buy, but mistakes are made. As one Bay Area woman found out, information can be dangerous if you know only half the story.
Gina Huggins of Livermore bought a 2000 model Honda Civic back in 2004. Before she bought it she purchased a CarFax report indicating the car had not been in an accident. Now fast forward two years later to when Gina put the car up for sale.
Gina Huggins: “A potential buyer pulled the new CarFax report. There was an accident indicator on the report that actually was dated a year-and-a-half prior to the time that I bought the car.”
Sure enough, Gina called up the CarFax report on her car, and there it was, an accident indicator. The accident happened 18 months before Gina bought the car.
In an e-mail to Gina, CarFax told her it “continuously adds new data sources to enhance records in our data base… any given report may change on a day to day basis.”
That’s good to know if you’re buying the car, but for Gina, it meant the value of her car had suddenly dropped. She says that was only half her problem.
Gina Huggins: “Well, I’ve gotten some people that have been interested and the minute they find out the accident indicator is on there they say they’re not interested.”
Gina asked CarFax for more information about the car’s history, that way she could pass on to potential buyers just what happened. CarFax was only able to confirm that the car had been taken to an auto body shop and that the damage was to the front end.
She then called 7 On Your Side for help. Using public records, we tracked down the previous owner who had recently moved from Dublin to Oregon. She told us the car had been damaged from flying debris on the freeway. The car was never in an accident.
With that new information, Gina tells us she was able to sell the car last month.
The bottom line — you need to know that CarFax reports don’t always have the latest information. They can be updated at any time, sometimes affecting your bottom line.
CarFax recently settled a class action suit.
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