johns 2009

After putting the Vette to bed for the winter, I went to AZ for Nov. thru Apr. There I use a Chevy pickup. Shortly after I purchased the pickup a lady scratched the corner of the pickup rear bumper while turning to short in the parking lot. The only damage was a 3 inch scrape on the corner. I had her ins replace it since the pickup was new. Well I went to trade it off and it was spotless, been in the rain once and had 20,000 miles on it. All the dealers docked me $1500.00 because of the accident report on Carfax. Also when the new buyer sees the accident on Carfax, they will be a little leary of purchasing it. The Dealer sold it instantly but it still makes me mad Carfax listed it being in a accident and did not specify what was repaired. The dealer just put a new bumper on and did not report it, but her ins must have logged it in to Carfax. So beware of Carfax on small repairs.

P0234

That's why its best to document the damage prior to it being fixed. You can provide the documentation to perspective buyer. Otherwise how else do they know you aren't making up a story?

heli-vette

The last 3 cars I bought before the Vette had clean Carfax . All the three has some body repairs ... to small frame cracks . All found later as the paint faded differently and undercoat was redone . So at times its worth the paper its printed on .

Bill Dearborn

Or it wasn't since it didn't report anything in your case. Corvette body panel issues aren't all that serious since they are plastic and not part of the car structure but frame cracks are something else as they imply serious damage to the vehicle that wasn't repaired correctly.

Bill

Corvette ED

Carfax has ruined so many good cars with their bogus reports. You can get information removed.

DopeyDude

On vacation I had a rental car damaged while parked in a parking lot. I used my insurance to cover the claim for the rental company (i never buy theirs). Well, 2 years later, Carfax showed the damage was repaired on my personal vehicle that i traded in for my 09 Coupe.

383vett

Obviously it's not foolproof; sometimes it's accurate, sometimes it's not. It does help in some instances, more for the buyer than seller.

cwing85b

Several years ago we were rear ended in my Wifes Buick. It was almost totaled. Shortly after the repairs we sold the car. After hearing horror stories about Carfax here and on other forums, I ran a report on the Buick. It was repaired four years ago by a large Buick dealership that I would assume is a Car fax member as they offer car fax on the used cars they sell. Anyway, the incident report on the car came back clean. This might be an isolated incident but I read these things all the time. I will never trust carfax and will never pay for a report again period.

heli-vette

Next time I buy a car , I will have some bodyshop guys look at it . They can see the difference in paint / orange peel and fit / repairs . It would be worth $100 for a pre buy .
No more online reports .

xlr8rvette

I am on a voluntary mileage program with insurance company. Recently noticed everytime I get an oil change the dealer reports it along with the current mileage to carfax or the insurance company ( not sure which, but it shows up with the insurance company, State Farm). Hell I've only got 137,000 miles on the C6. Don't think I'm trying to hide anything.
Supposedly if drive less than 19,000 miles per year we get discount. This is for each car...we own 4. Shouldn't be a problem to get this discount.

JCtx

Carfax, Autocheck, etc., are just ONE of the many tools you should use when buying a used car. And you should know their limitations. The only instance you can be absolutely sure would appear on Carfax is accidents with a police report. I had an over $10K claim due to catching black ice, and Carfax was clean due to no police report. Neither Geico nor body shop reported it either. I was one of the very few guys who voluntarily disclosed the accident since I don't do to others what I don't want done to me. But any time you buy a used car, you should have it thoroughly checked by a professional. And leave Carfax and such for title issues, making sure it wasn't a lease (if you care about that), how many previous owners, etc.

johns 2009

When I went to trade the pickup in, I took along the dealer bill showing that just the bumper was replaced. They were thankful I showed them what was replaced, but said the Carfax was what the customer looked at. I e-mailed Carfax and complained and they said they would send me a correction form which I never received. They then sent me a rating form and you can only guesss what my response was to them.

P0234

Do you think they might have had a vested interest in exaggerating the diminished value?

Top_Fuel

That's the reality of the age of CarFax and AutoCheck. It doesn't matter if you or I think these reports are a load of crap or not. A lot of uneducated buyers think it's the bible, and as a result your ability to sell or trade a car with a ding on a CarFax report is hampered. If you are buying a car, you have to know a vehicle's history report because it WILL matter to most people when it comes time to sell that car.

michaelinmech

Do ya think - HELLO

michaelinmech

CarFax and similar are, imho, just a tool and as prone to be accurate as inaccurate.

What CarFax has done to their credit, is mount a largely funded advertising campaign selling the buying public on their reporting and the necessity for a potential buyer to obtain a CarFax - must often through the selling dealer. It is easy to miss that they are not selling the accuracy of their information, rather their focus is on a buyer being potentially duped into a wrong purchase without the benefit of a CarFax. Very, very clever advertising. Buyers believe what a CarFax says - Dealers therefor have to provide them - and Dealers use them to their advantage both to close sales and to low ball trades, all depending on that little ole CarFax report.

What I do like about CarFax and similar, are the records of the car's life - in service date, private or business ownership, recalls, number of owners, service records, etc, etc - information that would be very difficult if not impossible to obtain otherwise. Even knowing the full possibility or incorrect info, I would not buy a pre-owned vehicle without one, for 2 reasons. I want to know as much as I can up front - and when I go to sell or trade I don't what the info I didn't check out on CarFax to come back to haunt me then.

In essence, CarFax and similar have become a highly desired , thoroughly flawed, marketing programs. Free enterprise in action.

Tally Ho

CARFAX is only as good as what gets entered. My old 1989 C4 will show no trace of ever being in AZ yet it spent 1989 to 1998 in the Phoenix area. CARFAX shows purchased new in Illinois (1989), registered in Alaska (1998), registered in Florida (2000). I bought it used in 1990 in Scottsdale, AZ and sold it in Florida in 2002.

RoadkingC6

Their should be some sort of rating system to show the severity of the damage done to any vehichle carfax reports on some system where you can tell from a minor fender bender to a major hit which also may have had frame damage cant believe they get away with charging a fee for giving such vague info on damages, even if they reported the cost of the repair that would give you an idea of how bad the accident was.

Ike Witt

I had a similar experience with a fender bender a few years ago.
I ended up going after the other guys insurance for repairs and cash due to the fact that the accident would diminish the value of my car. Just had to play hardball with them and not settle...guess the got tired of me..but...cut me a check for 1500. Diminished value settlements are available...only no insurance company will tell you that up front..

Ike

P0234

Good point about going after the insurance companies for diminished value. DV is also a great tool when the repairs get very close to the point of being totalled. Some twit rammed one of my cars so hard that it was very close to being totalled. A reminder to her insurance company that I was going to be going for DV if they did repair it was all they needed to go ahead and total it.