Do you rely on Carfax?

[3.0L]

Do you rely on Carfax for your currently owned vehicles? I ask because I didn't pay any attention to Carfax until last Monday.

I had my other car in for its annual service at my favorite and reliable auto servicer. Not too surprisingly, I received a call that three additional items needed attention. One of those items was spark plug replacement as per the manufacturers recommendation.

I declined. Why? The shop had replaced them 4 years ago and the plugs and are only halfway through their mileage expectancy. The shop advisor stated that the plugs had not been replaced, according to Carfax. Apparently, Carfax had been misinformed by the very servicer that called me. I found the invoice and gave him a copy.

I created my own login to Carfax, so now I can pay attention to any omissions or errors, plus update the service history for things I do to my cars, such as replace the battery, etc.

[bagekko]

For service related things I do not rely on carfax at all. For accidents and owner info it is helpful but I do not trust it completely. Many times the actual damage is worse than reported to carfax and personally know of many examples where carfax does not even know an accident happened even with those reported to police and/or insurance.

[shimmy23]

i don't rely solely on any of those documents unless they are invoices for the parts or shop themselves. carfax is certainly a good starting point though

[M_Six]

Carfax has its place, but it is abused by dealers and misunderstood by buyers. If you have a minor accident and the affected parts are all replaced with OEM parts by a competent repair shop or the actual dealer where you bought it, then there should be zero diminished value. But all buyers see is the reported accident and instantly think the car should be worth thousands less. Dealers will do the same when it comes to trade-in value.

[RickFLM4]

Not every shop reports to CarFax so it is ridiculous for any shop to rely on it for service intervals.

[Tommy-G]

It's a tool but it's not the end all of be all. I have seen plenty of mistakes on Carfax.
My personal car showed an accident in the rear. I can probably spot about anyones paint work if I look close enough and I measured the paint and it was all factory specs.

Its nice to use, but I don't ever hang my hat on it

[aa2033]

I definitely don't rely on it. Working in the automotive industry, it's sometimes a toss in the air if accidents are reported to carfax. As a shop, we do not report auto body repairs even through insurance, to carfax. That's up to the insurance companies.

There's always a margin of error. Even the best shops aren't perfect, and generally if you're looking hard enough you can see signs of a repaint, body repair, etc.

When I was selling my STI a potential buyer ran the carfax and I had told him about 1 accident that happened when the first owner had it, but he said the carfax showed 3 accidents. He sent me a copy and I reached out to carfax about the 2 accidents showing during my time of ownership as I 100% knew i had never been in an accident with it. They stated it was an error and removed both from the carfax so only the 1 accident showed again, but by then I had already lost that sale.

Like Tommy said. It's a tool, but it's far from perfect.

[SoCal_NSX]

Auto Check is way worse!!!

I bought my CPO F32 from BMW dealership in AZ, took back to Cali and registered it...

Come to find out that AutoCheck threw a red flag on my car for odometer reading because the mileage was different from the purchase agreement (duh, the miles went up on drive home to California ) and places like Vroom and Carvana low balled their offers due to it...and this was back when they were way overpaying for cars in early 2022.

It was basically impossible to get through to live human being that could correct the mistake and once I finally did, they said I had to contact the AZ DMV....

THEY ARE A JOKE!!! they basically are run by robots with absolutely zero logic

Luckily CarFax had zero issues with my car, but the damage was already done by AutoCheck when it came to trying to sell to Vroom, etc...

[Oldgixxer]

I got burned by Carfax&a dealership I used for many years a 15yrs ago..purchased a 1yr old CPO ClS55 AMG. Car was mint w 6k miles on it,1 owner blah blah blah. Carfax reported 1 owner,correct mileage,etc,etc...After taking delivery I noticed the left front Bi-Xenon headlight(remember those?) was pointing slightly off center when pulling into my garage. Turns out the car was in a front end collision w a deer and the owner paid cash to have it repaired and go around the insurance company.

The body shop did very very very good job on the repair,even tricked the dealership where he bought it from on trade-in thinking it was never involved in a collision.

Things got ugly when I demanded they buy the car back from me the very next day when I noticed a paint booger and called a buddy who was a MB tech. He had a device which measured the thickness of paint in millimeters and he immediately determined the paint was not OEM on the hood/fenders and it was a re-spray. Told the dealership refund ALL of my money ASAP. They said no we can't do that. Lawyers got involved. Dealership took it back/refunded me 100% including attorney fees etc. Then gave me 10% off MSRP on a brand new W211 E63 AMG.

[Tyga11]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

Not every shop reports to CarFax so it is ridiculous for any shop to rely on it for service intervals.

Exactly. I don't trust Carfax at all.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by Oldgixxer

I got burned by Carfax&a dealership I used for many years a 15yrs ago..purchased a 1yr old CPO ClS55 AMG. Car was mint w 6k miles on it,1 owner blah blah blah. Carfax reported 1 owner,correct mileage,etc,etc...After taking delivery I noticed the left front Bi-Xenon headlight(remember those?) was pointing slightly off center when pulling into my garage. Turns out the car was in a front end collision w a deer and the owner paid cash to have it repaired and go around the insurance company.

The body shop did very very very good job on the repair,even tricked the dealership where he bought it from on trade-in thinking it was never involved in a collision.

Things got ugly when I demanded they buy the car back from me the very next day when I noticed a paint booger and called a buddy who was a MB tech. He had a device which measured the thickness of paint in millimeters and he immediately determined the paint was not OEM on the hood/fenders and it was a re-spray. Told the dealership refund ALL of my money ASAP. They said no we can't do that. Lawyers got involved. Dealership took it back/refunded me 100% including attorney fees etc. Then gave me 10% off MSRP on a brand new W211 E63 AMG.

You must have had a good lawyer. CPO doesn't certify the car hasn’t been in an accident, only that they did an inspection and the car met the CPO criteria. But good it worked out for you.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by Tyga11

Exactly. I don't trust Carfax at all.

I think it’s more of a filter. If you see something negative on it, you can skip that car when buying. Just never assume it is a complete record.

[Oldgixxer]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

You must have had a good lawyer. CPO doesn't certify the car hasn’t been in an accident, only that they did an inspection and the car met the CPO criteria. But good it worked out for you.

Yes,I'm aware about the whole CPO process lol
However...

Like I mentioned,we bought several cars from this MB dealer and had a decent relationship w them..During the sales pitch,the sales manager stopped by to say hello,etc and verify how clean the car was,and that they have sold the original owner several cars over the years and that he took very good care of this car and that it was never in any accidents or had any paint work or blemishes repaired. That's where they fucked up,as I had 4 family members sitting with me at the sales desk and they all heard him make that statement.

Neither here nor there,but I'm glad they did the right thing as I told my wife have bail/bond money on hand because I was prepared to literally drive the car through the showroom window if they didn't take it back thats how livid I was that I got hustled

Live and learn

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by Oldgixxer

Yes,I'm aware about the whole CPO process lol
However...

Like I mentioned,we bought several cars from this MB dealer and had a decent relationship w them..During the sales pitch,the sales manager stopped by to say hello,etc and verify how clean the car was,and that they have sold the original owner several cars over the years and that he took very good care of this car and that it was never in any accidents or had any paint work or blemishes repaired. That's where they fucked up,as I had 4 family members sitting with me at the sales desk and they all heard him make that statement.

Neither here nor there,but I'm glad they did the right thing as I told my wife have bail/bond money on hand because I was prepared to literally drive the car through the showroom window if they didn't take it back thats how livid I was that I got hustled

Live and learn

Most (maybe all) auto sales contracts have language that say something along the lines of the written contract containing all terms and conditions and it supersedes all prior oral statements, mainly to avoid customer claims of what was said (and actually being held to the crap they say). But like you said, neither here nor there and it all worked out in the end.