interesting.. ran a carfax on the cars I already own..

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Oct 9, 1999
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This is against Carfax's TOS...

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Bartman39


But I ran my own cars through carfax and found that they arent exactly accurate in some cases. My TSX which has had 2 accidents (got rear ended one time, second time I hit a concrete block on the freeway at freeway speeds) arent showing up on the system (good isnt it), however my entire dealer service history is (its gone to one dealer its entire life, well technically two, since dealer 1 sold its business to dealer 2).

My miata has dealer service history (from one dealership) but none from the other which is closer to home anycase.. however since i bought it used it was interesting to note that the car was 'corporate' owned in Irvine. Wonder if it was a lease car or owned by Mazda itself in its previous life.
 
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notposting

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2005
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Our mechanic told us most independent shops don't report to Carfax. I eventually asked because every shop we took one of our cars would say, "so....has this been in an accident?"
 

ISAslot

Platinum Member
Jan 22, 2001
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What kinds of things does a carfax tell you? My cars are old, is there an age limit?
 

Jumpem

Lifer
Sep 21, 2000
10,757
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My former Outback was rear ended and had the bumper replaced, caught in a hail storm and had 100+ dents, and got backed into and the entire hatch had to be replaced.

Only the last one showed up on Carfax. I wouldn't trust the service.
 

Raizinman

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Sep 7, 2007
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Last I checked, only about 40 to 50% of repair shops subscribe to Carfax. You find it in mainly the shops and in the larger cities. Often, even shops that do subscribe to Carfax forget to take the time and trouble to update the Carfax listing. It does take extra time and effort and often larger shops get busy and don't have time for this. I know some people who, when the get into an accident, go specifically to a shop that does not report it to Carfax. Would you want a potential buyer waving a Carfax report in your face for a repair from many years ago? Always best to patronize non-Carfax shops for your repairs.
 

weadjust

Senior member
Mar 28, 2004
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I have been an insurance adjuster long before car fax was available. I have never reported one accident/loss to car fax. I wouldn't know how to report it if I wanted too. I'm not wasting my time filing out info so car fax can make money. The majority of adjusters and independent body shops take a similar position.
 

Hugo Drax

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2011
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Maybe carfax should pay a bonus of lets say 50-100 dollars for reporting this type of information into the system?

Otherwise what is the incentive for a busy shop to do this? Carfax makes money selling the information but the guy at the shop does not share in the profits Carfax makes in the business so why is it in their interest to tie up time that can be used for their own enterprise to put information into Carfax?

Maybe I do not fully understand how it works, someone able to shed light on it?
 

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
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Carfax should be good for title issues. That's about it.

E.g. 'title washing.' Car is salvage in one state, gets retitled cleanly in another.

But keeping track of wrecks? Forgot about it. I've also seen false flags for odo rollback and other silliness.
 

Knavish

Senior member
May 17, 2002
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I've seen the same thing on Carfax when I checked a relative's car. It had been in two accidents, one involved both front and rear damage (waiting in the middle of a line of stopped cars when the last car was hit from behind). None of the accidents or repair work were listed on Carfax. I think it's very overrated.
 

Elem7777

Junior Member
Jun 4, 2013
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The reverse happens as well, I was in an accident in 2011 where there was some damage to my SUV in front of the rear passenger side fender. Damage was completely cosmetic and not even noticeable if you just saw it driving down the road so I pocketed the check from insurance and never took it in for repairs.

Didn't stop my insurance adjuster from evidently reporting the accident and Carfax now claims that it was so bad the airbags were deployed. Good luck disputing incorrect information on a Carfax, you end up in a never ending loop of buck passing. Now the value of truck has cratered as a result.

I wouldn't buy a car without checking Carfax just in case it does point to a significant title problem but don't trust it one bit for accident reporting.
 

SparkyJJO

Lifer
May 16, 2002
13,357
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My old car had been hit twice before I got it. Hard enough the entire passenger door had been replaced, the fender replaced, and the dash and A pillar didn't quite line up. The nose was also still pushed to the left a tad. Never leaked and drove straight though. Then it was hit on the left corner by a deer but that wasn't fixed before I got it.

Carfax report? Clean :p
 

nitrous9200

Senior member
Mar 1, 2007
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Carfax reports are great when they show the service history and accident damage, but nothing beats a stack of receipts or a good inspection of the body. Bad paint jobs and misaligned body panels shouldn't be too hard to spot.
 
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