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Carfax - Inaccuracies

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Carfax • Ohio Appeals Court Rejects Class-Action Settlement With Carfax • Public Citizen Objects to Carfax Settlement • CARFAX: Not Always All the Facts • How Can Used Car Buyers Protect Themselves? • CARFAX Settles Class Action Lawsuits • How To Contact CARFAX • CARFAX History --- Consumer Complaints • "Unlimited" Service • Inaccurate Reports • Refund Policy • Advertising Claims • Sellers' Complaints

Richard of Orange, TX June 15, 2008

Richard of Orange TX (06/15/08)
I purchased a 2003 Audi A4 Avant in February of 2007, the car was really clean and drove like a brand new car, and it also had a clean Carfax history. After little more than a year, I go to see how much I can get if I trade it in, and the dealership gives me a rediculous quote of 6,000! They tell me the car was in an accident in 2005, and as of March of this year, sure thing Carfax is now showing the accident.

Even better, I go to get homeowners insurance along with auto, and they asked if the accident with damages totalling 25,000 happened when I owned the car! I tell them no and ask him to again if that figure is right, and he informed me again it had that much in damages in the accident.

Economic damage? The tires on the car are worth more than the car itself now! I was wanting to get into a bigger vehicle, but I'll be too far upside down in the Audi! A lot of good keeping service records did, a private buyer isn't going to [care] that it's been maintained perfectly when they see its had an accident...

J of Seattle, WA June 13, 2008

J of Seattle WA (06/13/08)
My car has been licensed in the state of Washington since 8/2006, which I purchased from a friend on 1/29/2007 (under the same license plate). Since 8/2006, it has never left the state. Carfax reports it was in an accident in Cleveland, OH 2/9/2007 (no license plate listed). This is an accident that was inaccurately assigned to my VIN.

I was unable to sell the car to a private party because of this inaccurate information. The car's value has been diminished. When I attempted to trade it in at a dealer, they were reluctant to take the car.

Jean of Beverly, MA May 7, 2008

Jean of Beverly MA (05/07/08)
I too ran into the same problems with trying to get the free history report no matter what link I went to I was repeatedly brought back to the same two websites. Carfax and Autocheck, and when you enter the VIN you are told there is a history or how many records of file and if you'd like any further information it'll cost you a minimum of 20.00, which I simply cannot afford. I've heard some people say that knowing the history should be worth it, but for some of us after buying a new car or in the process, we simply do not have that much left in our pockets for that purpose, the safety of the public, should not only be available to those who can afford it or who have credit cards.

Nicholas of Bethesda, MD April 29, 2008

Nicholas of Bethesda MD (04/29/08)
I have paid 29.99 twice within 14 days to run an unlimited amount of car VIN #s for 30 days

Travis of Palm Bay, FL April 22, 2008

Travis of Palm Bay FL (04/22/08)
I also had problems with carfax. We were looking to by a used suburban. We found one online at our local dealer, so we went online and paid for unlimited carfax reports for 30 days. The report came back CLEAN! We went to the dealer and they too showed a CLEAN report. After we had the 2004 Suburban for 4 days, it would not crank. As we were looking everything over, we noticed that they drivers side door had been repainted and all under the drivers seat was rusted and the seat cushion was molded. My first thought was, the vehicle has been in water. We looked under the passenger seat and it too was rusted, the metal under the dash and the metal to the foot pedals was really bad. We could not understand why the 2nd and 3rd row seat had no rust at all. We had a whole list of items that went wrong with the vehicle. It was towed back to the dealer, due to not starting.

They replaced the fuel pump and asked me, did you know that that vehicle does not have a key hole in either dirver or passenger door? I was unaware of this and they told me that they would replace the handle with the correct one. I was then thinking, what happened to this suburban? I called Cheverolet and gave them the VIN and asked if this vehicle should have had a key hole, I was told yes, it came from the factory with one. So we knew then, not sure what happened, but we knew something did. The drivers door paint was a different color, the door handle with a key hole had be replaced with a handle without a key hole, and the rust under the seats and dash.

We took a family trip from Florida to Mississippi and I was thinking more about water damage or something. I went to the National Insurance Crime Bureau's website and checked the VIN for water damage and was not expecting to see what I did. This vehicle has an active stolen report, contact us or your local law enforcement agency. WOW, I was upset! I called the NICB and was told that it was stolen, but they would contact the insurance company and get back with me. Luckly, I printed that page out and keep it. They called back and told me, it was stolen but found. I asked the rep, what would have happened if we were stopped by law enforcement between MS and FL? She said, if they ran the VIN, it would show stolen and we would get charged. We have 2 small children, one with special needs. I was fuming at this point. I also asked her why carfax showed a clear report, she said that it should be the same and checked carfax herself. She said that she could not explain why carfax did not show the same info and placed me on hold and contacted her supervisor. They had no answers to carfax's report.

As soon as I got off the phone with her, the report changed on NICB, so I am glad that I printed that out. The next day, as we were leaving MS to come home to FL, the suburban will not start. We had to wait until the next morning and have it towed to a Chevy dealer and we were told that someone has damaged the steering coloum and it is in bad shape. We had to get repairs to that and was able to leave MS within a few hours. When we arrived back in town, the dealership re-painted the driver side door, replaced the drivers seat cushion and finished temperary repairs to the steering, which will not hold up long. We relied on carfax and was let down, and know we have a damaged suburban that we will always have to put money into. We have no idea, what happened to the vehicle when it was stolen. They may have broke into it, and then ran it into a ditch, which would cause the rust under the dash and 2 front seats. We could not get the dealer to help us with all the rust. I have not found away to contact carfax about this, so if anyone has advice, please let me know.

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