Is CARFAX Still a Thing?

[olds]

Or is that info publicly available now days? They are getting the info somewhere.

Going to sell a car and thinking of running one on it. But at $40, wanted to check.

 

[manly]

All major car dealerships still offer CARFAX reports on used-car sales, usually for free. Some people claim the reports are hit or miss (no pun intended); as some events may be missing from the report. A clean report is no guarantee but I still think they're useful. When buying a used car, the CARFAX report will reveal the number of owners and often the maintenance history.

$40 sounds a bit dear; it used to be possible run X number of reports within 30 days? So one person purchases the access for a fixed fee, and would offer to run the report on a VIN for you.

I doubt all that info is readily available, or else some coder would've developed an application to aggregate the info.

 

[deadlyapp]

It's still common but it seems to have lost its allure.

 

[GoPackGo]

Carfox is coming back... just wait.

 

[esquared]

They seem to have aligned themselves with sellers of used cars.

People like to see the carfax but don't want to pay for it.
Here's an example from autotrader. You can see the Carfax link to the right.

Autotrader - page unavailable

 

[manly]

Speaking of CARFAX...

Tesla Model 3 buyer pays the price after inadvertently buying a resold wrecked unit

A Tesla enthusiast who purchased a second-hand Model 3 from a Florida car dealership website has paid a steep price after his vehicle turned out to be a previously totaled unit. This was despite the Model 3 being sold on the second-hand market as a clean title vehicle, and the fact that its...

www.teslarati.com

 

[esquared]

You as the seller are providing that service for buyers so 40 seems to be a small investment for questions
that potential buyer will have.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

The most certainly have a working relationship with my local BMW new car dealership. They are actively sharing information on my last car buy. Nice they did that without my permission. I sent the dealership an email letting them know I would not do business with them, or their corporate owner, every again.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I always wondered if CARFAX uses laser cartridges or if it's just on thermal paper. I could never get a dealership to answer that.

 

[manly]

The most certainly have a working relationship with my local BMW new car dealership. They are actively sharing information on my last car buy. Nice they did that without my permission. I sent the dealership an email letting them know I would not do business with them, or their corporate owner, every again.

It's unclear what exactly they did to breach your trust, but all major car dealerships use CARFAX as a tool to sell used cars.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

CarFax is ultimately not anything remotely as good as paying a mechanic $100 (or less?) to actually give a car a decent overlook to make sure it doesn't have rusted parts or something major wrong with it.

It's "nice to have" instead of nothing if provided, but it ultimately isn't anything to write home about. I don't know the logistics of how all the data gets recorded, but essentially unless the person goes to a dealership to get all their repairs, etc.. It's entirely possible for CarFax to not have everything that was done to the vehicle.

 

[Scarpozzi]

CarFax is ultimately not anything remotely as good as paying a mechanic $100 (or less?) to actually give a car a decent overlook to make sure it doesn't have rusted parts or something major wrong with it.

It's "nice to have" instead of nothing if provided, but it ultimately isn't anything to write home about. I don't know the logistics of how all the data gets recorded, but essentially unless the person goes to a dealership to get all their repairs, etc.. It's entirely possible for CarFax to not have everything that was done to the vehicle.

They say it's best just to look at the body panels and paint to see if you can find any inconsistencies that would suggest a fender replacement (fender spacing, orange peel etc...)

Look for rust under the seats where they bolt to the floorboard to see if it's a flood car. Pull back carpet where you can and look for rust or tell tale signs of abuse.

Aside from that, buy from dealerships that have insurance, inspectors, and a good reputation....or individuals you know that know the vehicles history.

 

[Mermaidman]

I see Carfax as a "rule-out" tool. If it shows sketchy history, then the car is ruled out. But a clean Carfax I don't treat as gospel.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

It's unclear what exactly they did to breach your trust, but all major car dealerships use CARFAX as a tool to sell used cars.

I wasn't selling a car. They were giving my cars information for no reason other than to somehow, in their mind, leverage whatever to get me to trade in my car when I wasn't even looking to buy or sell or trade anything. They just decided to look at vehicles bought from their dealership that still owned them and then took information collected with each service call and gave that to Carfax.

Imagine the analogy ... plumber comes in to fix a clog in one of your toilets and then goes on Angie's List and rates your plumbing and how it has be [ab]used?

 

[Midwayman]

Just with my own cars I know how spotty the history is with reporting accidents. I think the most useful thing is just the title insurance (they still offer that right?) where if the salvage status is misreported or something you don't get completely screwed.

 

[KB]

CarFax isn't worth anything. I bought a used car and the fact that it was in an accident several months before I bought it, didn't show up on the CarFax til months later. As a seller running one isn't so bad as it might convince someone, but as a buyer treat them as a the nothing they are.

 

[Captante]

I see Carfax as a "rule-out" tool. If it shows sketchy history, then the car is ruled out. But a clean Carfax I don't treat as gospel.

Carfax is a useful tool and is ONE of the things it's a good idea to check out when buying a used car. IME it's useful by itself to eliminate a vehicle from consideration BUT insufficient to close the deal.

 

[Captante]

CarFax is ultimately not anything remotely as good as paying a mechanic $100 (or less?) to actually give a car a decent overlook to make sure it doesn't have rusted parts or something major wrong with it.

This is by far the best advice you'll get when buying a used car assuming you have a mechanic you can trust and/or are mechanically inclined yourself and can do your own inspection.

The 2ed most important choice is the car itself. Of course ANY car can be a lemon *(I personally had a "bad" Toyota!) but if you go Japanese your odds of getting a reliable used vehicle improve dramatically.


*(1987 Camry Wagon ... LOTS of issues BUT I was able to get out at very close to the "break-even" point even after the repairs it needed because ... it was a Toyota!)

 

[pauldun170]

They seem to have aligned themselves with sellers of used cars.

People like to see the carfax but don't want to pay for it.
Here's an example from autotrader. You can see the Carfax link to the right.

Autotrader - page unavailable

Need to take a second to lol at the pricing on PT Cruisers.

 

[Captante]

Need to take a second to lol at the pricing on PT Cruisers.

Seriously those have to be some of the worst modern-day cars ever made!

 

[dasherHampton]

I know the reports are at times incomplete but they still can help.

My friend was going to buy a used RDX on a whim after going out to look at a different vehicle. He loved the test drive. Then he looked at the Carfax: it was a stolen car, not recovered for almost 2 months.

 

[manly]

I wasn't selling a car. They were giving my cars information for no reason other than to somehow, in their mind, leverage whatever to get me to trade in my car when I wasn't even looking to buy or sell or trade anything. They just decided to look at vehicles bought from their dealership that still owned them and then took information collected with each service call and gave that to Carfax.

Imagine the analogy ... plumber comes in to fix a clog in one of your toilets and then goes on Angie's List and rates your plumbing and how it has be [ab]used?

(It's a Bimmer, right?)
I won't defend the propriety of what they're doing, but every BMW dealership in the country is sending basic service data over to CARFAX. It's like 2-3 lines of info per visit from what I've seen. I'd actually assume this is the work of BMW NA rather than individual franchises, and they aren't the only car brand to do this. You're jumping to conclusions as to motive. I've never bought a CARFAX report but the service key data you refer to isn't publicly available for free when your car was not actually for sale. Did you pay to pull a report on the car you owned? You're alleging that this was intended to encourage you to trade your car in for a different one.

And no, they didn't give the service info to CARFAX. It was sold. Yup, we live in a world of big data where it's pretty difficult (but not impossible) to opt out.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

(It's a Bimmer, right?)
I won't defend the propriety of what they're doing, but every BMW dealership in the country is sending basic service data over to CARFAX. It's like 2-3 lines of info per visit from what I've seen. I'd actually assume this is the work of BMW NA rather than individual franchises, and they aren't the only car brand to do this. You're jumping to conclusions as to motive. I've never bought a CARFAX report but the service key data you refer to isn't publicly available for free when your car was not actually for sale. Did you pay to pull a report on the car you owned? You're alleging that this was intended to encourage you to trade your car in for a different one.

And no, they didn't give the service info to CARFAX. It was sold. Yup, we live in a world of big data where it's pretty difficult (but not impossible) to opt out.

I may be jumping to conclusions, but I only because aware of it when they just recently started telling me they were doing it. This wasn't something they informed me of in fine print during purchase, during use of of any of their service department services, etc. At no time was I informed let alone asked for permission for them sharing my car's personal information. Why start telling me now if they had been doing it for years?

 

[Captante]

I may be jumping to conclusions, but I only because aware of it when they just recently started telling me they were doing it. This wasn't something they informed me of in fine print during purchase, during use of of any of their service department services, etc. At no time was I informed let alone asked for permission for them sharing my car's personal information. Why start telling me now if they had been doing it for years?

Sadly they've BEEN doing it for MANY years and its only now you've become aware of it!



Also are you trying to convince me that you are the one person who actually reads EULA's?

I was born on a Sunday but not LAST Sunday!

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I bet if I take a poll of 100 people using their service department and 100 people buying brand new vehicles and ask them if they are aware of that BMW, or in this case Hendrick's Corporation, is sending Carfax data on your vehicle, or the vehicle you are about to buy and do so on a monthly, or some scheduled basis, I bet they will tell me they were just as ignorant as I am. But, let me doing something here and see if I can get a response from BMW USA or the Hendricks Corp that owns my particular BMW dealership. I'm curious to hear it from the horses mouth and learn exactly how long this has been going on.

Oops, not Hendricks, Penske is the corporate owner of my local BMW dealership.