"It was a page covered with fat check marks, indicating it was a clean history," said Jeffries, an oral surgeon from Miramar, Fla. "I literally kissed the car's license plate in the parking lot." Three weeks later, the Jag overheated and more problems followed.
Jeffries is not the only one stung by faulty CarFax reports. It turns out that there have been many such reported incidences. Apparently CarFax, in many cases, does not have the complete history of these vehicles. Notably missing are insurance claims in many cases. In Jeffries case the Jag had been in a head-on collision a year prior to her purchase, and that was not indicated in the CarFax report. "I've found CarFaxes to be accurate less than 60 percent of the time," said Tim Blake, a Miami attorney specializing in auto fraud.
Full story here.
For those considering buying a used car, Edmunds has some tips here:
Certified Pre-Owned What Are Certified Used Vehicles?
Certified Pre-Owned How to Buy a Certified Pre-owned Vehicle
Jeffries is not the only one stung by faulty CarFax reports. It turns out that there have been many such reported incidences. Apparently CarFax, in many cases, does not have the complete history of these vehicles. Notably missing are insurance claims in many cases. In Jeffries case the Jag had been in a head-on collision a year prior to her purchase, and that was not indicated in the CarFax report. "I've found CarFaxes to be accurate less than 60 percent of the time," said Tim Blake, a Miami attorney specializing in auto fraud.
Full story here.
For those considering buying a used car, Edmunds has some tips here:
Certified Pre-Owned What Are Certified Used Vehicles?
Certified Pre-Owned How to Buy a Certified Pre-owned Vehicle
crv16 says:
06:26 AM, 02/26/07
My Dad had his lemon Ford F350 "bought back" by the dealer after a string of transmission and other failures. I ran the VIN for that truck a year later on Carfax - came back clean.
ateixeira says:
11:32 AM, 02/26/07
I saw an offer for a free CarFax, and ran it on my own Miata, which has been in two accidents. Neither showed up, it was clean.
Not sure what the treshold is to trigger a CarFax entry, but one had more than a grand worth of front-end damage.
Basically, I might use CarFax to rule something *out*, but not necessarily to qualify a car for purchase.
technetium99 says:
11:38 AM, 02/26/07
The threshold to entry in a CarFax report is being in an accident reported to the DVM, which varies greatly from state to state. In some states being totalled does not qualify, in others, every little fender bender is listed. I find it, uh, interesting, that the amount of information in CarFax reports has gone down in ten years or so since I first used it.
david4242 says:
11:41 AM, 02/26/07
CarFax reports are worthless. Our Subaru was t-boned by a nitwit who ran a red light. The car suffered $8,000 in damage (but we were fine!), a police report was filed, and two months later... the CarFax was still clean.
If you're thinking of buying a used car, have a repair shop inspect it. It's the only way to be sure the car isn't a patched-up Frankenstein.
210delray says:
08:45 PM, 02/26/07
Hmm, my '04 Camry was rear-ended/sideswiped by a hit-and-run driver to the tune of $4000 or so while parked in L.A.
However, the damage was mainly cosmetic (no frame damage), but a new quarter panel and a LOT of paintwork was needed to get it back in shape. IMO, it looked better than new when the repairs were completed (back home in VA -- the car was driven cross-country with its smashed taillight taped back together).
I would rather the repair NOT get reported to Carfax, as there is nothing remotely resembling a Frankenstein. The car still looks great one year later. But I did report the crash to the CA DMV.