transio

I found this out today, and thought I should pass on the info.

CARFAX says that it uses a nationwide database to prepare CARFAX avehicle history reports. Don't be fooled The word "nationwide" does not mean that it has history from the whole nation.

Their database does not include any police accident information from NEARLY HALF of the states in the US.

In my case, an issue resulting from this misinformation resulted in an unnecessary expense of over $500.

Think about it before trusting the info you get from CARFAX!

Amer

Who would you trust? is there another company? anyone heard of AutoSource or Autocheck?

transio

I would trust a certified mechanic who looked at the car himself.

tonerockyhorror

I would definitely second the advice to be wary of Carfax. I bought a car about a year ago and ran a carfax check that showed no accident history. I attempted to sell the car recently only to find that 2 accidents had suddenly appeared on the records that took place over 5 years ago.

This was brought to my attention by someone ready to purchase the car and ended up screwing me out of several thousand dollars. Be aware that their database is extremely small comparatively and that they are always updating, which could screw people like it did me.

gomarlins3

I also agree that a good mechanic that you trust looking at the car is best, but sometimes that can't be done. CARFAX is better than having nothing at all. As for having a small database, it will obviously grow as time goes by, just as the last poster found out the hard way when the CARFAX changed AFTER he bought the car.

switchcars

Carfax has police departments from approximately 35 out of 50 states reporting to them. They do NOT have insurance companies reporting to them.

HOWEVER, want to hear a fun story? Just went to sell a car for a client that they bought brand new one year ago. Ran a CARFAX, and it showed an accident 12 days before the guy bought it NEW. So, he calls the dealer and threatens to sue them for selling him a "new" car that was in an accident. They denied everything, so we spent 3 full days investigating it....to find out that his PREVIOUS car was in an accident, and he swapped plates onto the new car, and Carfax used the registration number from the police report, NOT the VIN number, to report the accident, thus showing a bad accident on a perfect car, and killing the deal.

pierceman

aklucsarits

This is not new news. Read the fine print when you sign up for these services.

Carfax has never claimed to be able to give you information about all accidents. In fact, in most states, accidents would never show up on a carfax record at all unless the accident ended up in the car being totaled.

Andrew