Don’t Trust Carfax
posted in Autocheck, Carfax |If you think Carfax offers an accurate vehicle history report, think again. The $20 you spend to buy a Carfax vehicle history report, which is supposed to show title problems, flood damage, odometer issues and many other problems, might be a big waste of money. Thousands of people around the country have bought cars with clean Carfax reports and have found out accidents didn’t show up in the carfax report, odometer was rolled back or the car has a previous salvage title in another state. Many, many people find out things that would have steered them away from their purchase, but now that they bought the car it’s too late.
One man went to trade in his 2003 Jeep Cherokee and when the dealer pulled up the Carfax on his car it showed a severe accident with a possible salvage history. Truth of the matter was he was involved in a minor accident, so minor he was able to drive it to the body shop. No major damage or anything… but Carfax reported inaccurate information and the dealer ended up paying him $5000 less because of this Carfax report. He even tried fighting it, he sent a thirty page report from the body shop with pictures, names and numbers of everybody who worked on the car and the insurance adjustor information who all declared the Carfax had reported the accident incorrectly, yet Carfax refused to change the information.
Carfax claims its “the most trusted provider of vehicle history information”. There is one place you’d figure Carfax would get most of its data from, insurance companies. Believe it or not, but Carfax doesn’t receive any records about wrecked vehicles from any insurance companies.
You might say, what about their Buyback Guarantee, which is supposed to protect you in case the Carfax shows inaccurate information. Well truth of the matter is Carfax since starting the program has only bought back roughly 9 cars ! Just two years ago a class action lawsuit was filed claiming the company doesn’t have access to police accident data in 23 states. Remember there are 50 states 
That means in about half the states in the US, Carfax has no police accident data. Two of the biggest states motor vehicle departments, California and Texas, verified that they do not provide unique VIN number information to vendors.
As a car dealer myself I’ll say this… personally I think both Carfax and Autocheck suck. A good percentage of accidents or major problems don’t even show up on Carfax reports. Nothing beats a good inspection and if you need some help bring a mechanic or knowledgeable friend. If I had to pick between Carfax and Autocheck, I’d say Autocheck for one reason and one reason only, Manheim Auctions, the largest network of automotive auctions in the world, which is where almost every used car passes through at one point in their life only reports more so to Autocheck then Carfax.