What if Carfax is wrong?

[JadeMonkeyStang]

I'm looking into purchasing a car (dear Lord I hope I have a TR soon) and the owner has mentioned to me that the Carfax report (which I have not seen yet) is incorrect. Apparently the car was reported inspected somewhere it never was and as result the mileage/history is not right.

Does anyone know what I would need to do to have this confirmed/changed? Is Carfax willing to listen to inquiries regarding the validity of their reports? The gentleman selling the car is a rather well known (from my point of view at least) board member and everyone who has dealt with him has nothing but good things to say. I just know that this will come up during the loan process and want to know what my chances of getting it resolved without too much of a problem are. I believe that I would be able to speak with the two previous owners if need be. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

-Jade

 

[ChrisCairns]

I remember some years ago someone posted on the The List that his car had gone through emissions in Cal. and the emissions guy had added 100,000 miles to the paperwork. The owner didn't notice it for a long time then tried to sell it and saw the error on Carfax. I never did read how he came on it though but it does show that errors are made.

However, If I were you I would make the present owner prove that Carfax is wrong. I wouldn't take the present owner's word for it.

 

[Little6pack]

car fax is good only to a certian point.

If I were you contact turboscott here on the board & have him run your VIN thru is insurance co database.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

It's happened to me! My 23k GN is listed as having 123k due to an emissions person typing in an extra 100k. Guess he thought that was the mileage because the car is so old. Of course it looks like a 23k car.

 

[motroman]

If Carfax is wrong it's usually because there's not enough information. I would seriously question that Carfax information is wrong in IN FAVOR of the present owner. Usually, it's information that's detremental to the present owner.

Case and point. I've done several stories about "title washing", where a vehicle is wrecked in one state and taken to a neighboring state where the owner tells the new state's DMV, "I lost the pink and I want to register this car".

New pink, without a "salvage title" stamp. Carfax will usually show the wrecked title information from the first state, but not always if the insurance company didn't salvage the vehicle because the damage wasn't severe enough.

Tell the current owner you want to have the car thoroughly inspected by your mechanic and body shop. Do a complete underbody inspection, and compression test, leak down test, tranny test(pull the pan) and then decide. But, trust Carfax to give you an idea of what's going on if not the final word.

 

[Loosenut]

This happened to me. I bought a 2001 Lexus GS 430 in April 2002 from the original owner the car had 15,000 miles on it and the title said it had 55,000 on it. The secretary of state (dmv) made a mistake on the title when the car was purchased from the Lexus dealer (put 55,000 miles instead of 5500). After proving this to the DMV, which was a chore in its self, then I decided to sell the car about 6 months ago. Carfax had the incorrect mileage on the report. It showed odometer fraud. What I had to do is this:

E-mail carfax with the problem. They will fax you papers to fill out. Once you get those you will need proof that there is an error, dealer records, inspections ect... the more proof, the better.

Carfax does make mistakes! But after you show them, they WILL fix it.

HTH

Andy

 

[TurboDave]

Also happened to me. I wouldn't trust carfax as far as I could throw the owner.

I still own my original 86 GN, and if you were to look it up, it would show odometer roll backs, etc.
Problem is, it's the fault of the smog guys. In my case they didn't add 100,000 to the odometer, they neglected to add it, even when being told to.
My car also shows being smogged a couple of times in a city hundreds of miles from where I lived, and had never been too

Called carfax and they say it's up to me to prove them wrong. Ya, like I'm going to be able to track down the idiots that wrote down the wrong odometer info more than 10 years ago
Carfax attitude stunk, and they of course couldn't care less.

Nope, carfax has no validity to my way of thinking.

 

[b4black]

Carfax just reports what they get from the DMV. If the DMV's F'up, then is shows on the Carfax. You need to correct the problem thru the DMV, then Carfax.

I'd prefer that it be difficult for owners to get things changed. Otherwise, anybody could call and say "No that car has never been blah, blah, blah..." Maybe they could add owners comments like they do with credit reports.

 

[SinistrV6]

CarFax also doesn't show all stolen cars. If your state doesn't supply that information (mine, Mississippi, doesn't), it won't show up on their reports. My '86 GN still shows up on CarFax but never shows that it was stolen in 1999! CarFax is not the all-knowing, all-seeing, omnipotent entity that they would like you to believe it is!

 

[1badTTA]

I think it boils down to the person reading the report. If it shows a clear trend of X miles a year, and there is 1 report of the car having an extra 60,000 miles from a different state, I would say that somebody F***ed up and it doesnt belong. Carfax just reports what they are told, the validity of those reports is in the hands of the DMV and emmissions stations. If it is an obvious report that is jacked up, ignore it. If you really want it off of the report, you are going to have to get whoever reported it to carfax to admit it is incorrect, then contact carfax.

I don't really hold carfax in very high regards, since it is what you don't see on the report that you should really worry about.

 

[turbot2112]

it was wrong for me. i got a ford work van that use to belong to the govrnment. noing that it was damn near totaled and rebuilt i got it for a good deal. just for sh*ts and giggles i ran a carfax on it and it showed nothing. the whole back half of the van was demolished and the guy that rebuilt it welded another one on. so i wouldnt trust a car fax to much either.

 

[GNSCOTT]

If you total a car, you can fix it and sell it quiclkly before the info becomes available to carfax. Heard a few guys got the bone that way.

 

[underpsi1]

Listen to this

I bought a 92 vette that was totaled due to fire damage, I repaired it, went through salvage inspection, got back clean title, then blew the nose off it, accident reported to DMV and everything, it went salvage again, I recently ran the vin, the car is registered in FL, and carfax guarantees good title history!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what is that!!

 

[underpsi1]

Listen to this

I bought a 92 vette that was totaled due to fire damage, I repaired it, went through salvage inspection, got back clean title, then blew the nose off it, accident reported to DMV and everything, it went salvage again, I recently ran the vin, the car is registered in FL, and carfax guarantees good title history!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what is that!!

 

[JadeMonkeyStang]

Originally posted by TurboDave

My car also shows being smogged a couple of times in a city hundreds of miles from where I lived, and had never been too

This is the same thing that happened with the car I am looking at. Carfax said that it was emission tested at a location a couple hundred miles from where the owner was. Apparently the car had never been to this place either. Not only that but the county it was supposedly emisssion tested in does not do emissions testing.

I'm really only concerned about this making the car harder to resell, as the car is in nice shape and I really don't feel that the current owner is bsing me. Carfax is becoming pretty widely used though it seems from what everyone has said that it's merely a good tool in most cases, not the be all end all of car history. Anyone else have any thoughts?

-Jade

 

[salvageV6]

I think you would have to post the specific report for the vehicle and the "mis" information and all for anyone to give you their true gut feelings about the car.

These cars are over 15 years old, just how many low mileage mint ones you think are left.

If you are worried about resale and have doubts now, you will have to find a buyer that is thinking like yourself and really wants the car in spite of the report.

Limits your buyer pool for sure.

 

[Chris A]

Originally posted by JadeMonkeyStang

I'm really only concerned about this making the car harder to resell, as the car is in nice shape and I really don't feel that the current owner is bsing me. Carfax is becoming pretty widely used though it seems from what everyone has said that it's merely a good tool in most cases, not the be all end all of car history. Anyone else have any thoughts?

-Jade

I agree. Carfax isn't the national DMV credit bureau for cars. The national DMV system is really no up to where it could be, and carfax attempts to bridge that problem. Carfax can clue you into a problem, but shouldn't be used as the end all of buying a car. I had a truck, and had 3 collegues check it out from head to toe because carfax had a salvalge history on it. We coudln't find nary a thing wrong with it. You could hardly tell if it had paint work. I even called that states DMV to find out why it was there and they coudln't tell me anything. They just didn't know. So carfax should give you things to pay atttention to during your inspection of a vehicle, but don't discount a vehicle just because of a record on car fax.

 

[Captain Duckman]

Originally posted by BuickGn Boosted
It's happened to me! My 23k GN is listed as having 123k due to an emissions person typing in an extra 100k. Guess he thought that was the mileage because the car is so old. Of course it looks like a 23k car.

You live in North Haven? Man, your GN is sweet! I'll have to keep an eye out for a GN with those wheels

A Carfax error happened to my brother's car. He had a 95 Camaro and hit a deer. Insurance totalled it. He got the money, and awhile later, he bought a 97 Camaro vert.

During the search process of his future vert, he had the unlimited Carfax option, so he said, "Hey, lets see what it says for my old Camaro!" Put in the VIN and lo and behold, there was no mention of an "accident" or the car being "totalled"

 

[JadeMonkeyStang]

Originally posted by littlesixsteve
If I were you contact turboscott here on the board & have him run your VIN thru is insurance co database.

I sent him an email but didn't get a response. Anyone know if he's been around at all recently? Is there anyone else who can do this kind of check for me?

Thanks for all the opinions so far guys, keep them coming. I'll let you know how everything works out.


-Jade

 

[turboscott]

Jade,

I didn't get an email that I remember. I could have possibly deleted it by accident along with the rest of my junk mail. Email me again and put the titles as report on GN or something like that so it stands out.

I have run many VIN's for people where car fax comes back clean with no accidents. I ran one for a guy and it came back having been stolen 2 times, totalled a different time and one additional accident. Car Fax sucks in my opinion. I think they are like weathermen in New England. If they happen to get the weather right one day it is clearly out of luck more than anything else. Carfax has been wrong more times than not when I run VIN's for people.

My database doens't show everything than Carfax claims to show but if the car has been in an accident, stolen, totalled or salvaged it will show up. I do get some mileage info on occasion but that is only when the insurance companies supply that info.