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Carfax is fucking me


Cordell

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Let me just say, when you buy a car with a clean Carfax only to have it's accidents reported after you've already bought it is complete bullshit, and as I'm finding out there is little to no recourse. This seems to be happening to a lot of people, and with some of the shady shit I see working at a car dealership I can't say I'm surprised that shit like this goes on in the automotive resale industry. Basically it normally takes 6-18 months for things to show up on carfax, so you can easily see how this can become an issue, car gets fixed, car gets traded, car gets sold, easily within 6 months, now you really overpaid for something.

 

Word to the wise, do some in depth inspections, and take Carfax and other similar agencies with a grain of salt.

 

Why am I posting this, simple, I fell victim, I thoroughly inspected the car before I bought it. Aligned it right after purchase, no issue, and found only minor signs like replacement wheels, RF headlight. The car was fixed properly and is in great working order, however the couple good leads I've gotten get the VIN and run away.

 

It sucks for me, don't let it suck for you. Watch out and don't assume the Carfax is a great thing, even though mine was fixed properly without any issues it's still hurting me trying to sell it, and the report didn't show this shit when I bought it.

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That sucks, but even little things can cause huge impacts on carfax. When I was selling my camaro, the buyer asked me why there was a mileage discrepancy. Turns out when I had you align it, it was reported at like 118k on the odometer. Years later it only had 116,8xx when I sold it. :D Sorry that you're having issues though Scott.
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Doesn't carfax offer a "guarantee" that covers this? I'm missing something.

 

Yes, they guarantee that if it was in a reported wreck that doesn't show up, you get your money back.

 

The problem is that the wrecks ARE showing up. They have no obligation to have the issues reported before you buy the car.

 

Trust me, CarFax covers their ass like no other.

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Carfax is a false sense of security. There are a ton of cars out there that have had work that never shows up on the carfax for whatever reason. People take the carfax as a bible now, because they think it's the gospel. Great way to make the customer feel warm and fuzzy about a car. I've known about this crap for awhile too. Had something similar happen to me. My own fault, but it just doesn't cover everything.
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I bought a car from Bobb Chevrolet. And it had a clean carfax. Owned it for two years and a buddy of my who worked at carmax ran an autocheck on it to find it had a major from end collision. I sewed the shit out of Bobb and won.
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I bought a car from Bobb Chevrolet. And it had a clean carfax. Owned it for two years and a buddy of my who worked at carmax ran an autocheck on it to find it had a major from end collision. I sewed the shit out of Bobb and won.

 

No offense, but I don't believe you. Laws tend to favor dealers in these situations.

 

Unless they had a specific in-writing guarantee that the car had never been in a collision, you'd really have no ground to stand on, especially since CarFax and Autocheck are not required to report the same info.

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I forgot to mention is the carfax the gave me had a different vin on it than the car they sold me. I also did recon and recorded a phone call between myself and the sales guy who sold me the car stating that the never sell cars that have had extensive repairs, they deem them unsafe and send them back to auction. There is a lot more to the case also.
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There is a lot more to the case also.

 

There always is.

 

Switching VINs for a clean CarFax is definitely misrepresentation and is not protected by the "sold as-is" defense.

 

Good to hear you were vindicated, I didn't want to trash Bobb before the details came out but I've heard some equally horrific stories.

 

I occasionally get screamed at on the phone because people can't tell the difference between Bobb and Bob-Boyd (we don't even have a Chevy store).

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I've been hearing since then that it is a common practice over there at Bobb, to sell cars that have had damage that should have totaled them. My car should have beer been fixed. The body shop that fixed it said it was a total loss when it can in but the owner payed out of pocket to fix it.
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I've been hearing since then that it is a common practice over there at Bobb, to sell cars that have had damage that should have totaled them. My car should have beer been fixed. The body shop that fixed it said it was a total loss when it can in but the owner payed out of pocket to fix it.

 

why would an owner do that? makes no sense unless the owner didn't have collision and would have been out the money either way.

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Carfax is a false sense of security. There are a ton of cars out there that have had work that never shows up on the carfax for whatever reason. People take the carfax as a bible now, because they think it's the gospel. Great way to make the customer feel warm and fuzzy about a car. I've known about this crap for awhile too. Had something similar happen to me. My own fault, but it just doesn't cover everything.

 

Couldn't agree more. People won't even look at the car, and take the carfax as equal to a certified tech doing an inspection. Way to go misinformed computer age lazy people.

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why would an owner do that? makes no sense unless the owner didn't have collision and would have been out the money either way.

 

What my attorney found out from the body shop was the owner didn't have insurance on the car when he wrecked it and was going to be in legal trouble with the bank of he didn't fix it. I don't understand why people do things sometimes. He wasn't driving the car much so he was trying to save money having it not insured.

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Before they fuck you. Remember, if your car is ever damaged, and insurance decides to fix it, having this little strike against you VIN, you may as well have a fucking salvage title, people will run away from it.

 

Yep, have to try and make a claim for diminished value, and GOOD LUCK with that.

 

Carfax is a decent tool, but it's screwed me in the past as well.

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