Don't trust Carfax.
 

I feel this information is very relevant and should be shared where possible in order to bring light to an issue that many likely realize doesn't exist.

Let me start off by saying until recently I've never experienced an issue personally with carfax. However, I have seen cars that have CLEARLY had obscene amounts of poor cosmetic repairs that no reasonable individual would pay out of pocket for, observable by even the least diligent viewer that had "clean" carfax reports.

Here's the rundown as it applies to me:
I'm in the process of selling my current Evo VIII. It's a stellar, top-shelf low mileage example. I purchased it a few months back from the original owner.
This was confirmed by BOTH a carfax and an autocheck. I paid out of pocket for these services only for the ability to make sure the car was as advertised. Original paint, no accidents, no title issues, original owner.
Both reports confirm this.
Great, I'll take it.

Now, I have my classifieds up and a few very serious buyers contact me. One states a concern that I'm the third owner...
What, clearly a huge mistake.

I take a look at the carfax, and what do I find. BLATANT inaccuracies regarding ownership.

First and ONLY prior owner was in Delaware. As confirmed by the original reports I purchased prior to purchasing the car.
Now, on the 'new' carfax, somehow there was a "second" owner with THE SAME TITLE NUMBER AS LISTED for the "first" owner with THE SAME DATES as a registration renewal for the "first" owner as the "second" owner.

And now, I'm the third.

It gets better:
This part is actually funny to me.

I registered the car in New Jersey and 'reported the color as silver' registration renewed in my location in New Jersey. Listed on the Report.

Funny thing is, more than three years ago (says 3/1/2010), this report's "first owner" also reported the car as silver, registration renewed IN MY LOCATION IN NEW JERSEY at "New Jersey Motor Vehicle"

Wait, what? That's a huge oversight.

I just realized that I registered a vehicle as silver 3/1/2010 in New Jersey.
My 04 STi I purchased. Apparently somehow my actions on a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CAR THREE YEARS AGO are listed as the "first owner's" actions on this car.

So what I've gathered is I'm the 'third' owner now, and I was also partly the original owner. Cool, good job Carfax.
At least in my case, these are clearly erroneous and even humorous.

Let me add, I never took carfax (or equivalent) as a be-all, end-all for used car purchases, I've seen ridiculous errors firsthand and huge oversights, but this is the first instance it's occurred to me personally.
Carfax was usually good to attempt to confirm the seller's description and to see if the car was even worth looking at, of course nothing substitutes a proper inspection.
I thought this may be an uncommon occurance, but boy was I wrong:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...fax_inacc.html
A lot of people have put a lot of faith into an organization that 'strives to provide an easier used car shopping experience' and have been burned BADLY.

Figured I'd share with the community. Be warned.
Now I have to go out of my way to contact the original owner to have him confirm what I know to be true.
I doubt I'll even reference these in the future now having another reason to avoid them.

If anyone else has experienced anything similar feel free to share.

Thanks a lot carfax, take it deep.

I know everything my car has been thru... And i know my carfax comes out clean

Which is why I wish this country would get off the GD carfax orgy.

Lucky you.

Its the Damn Carfax Fox, Hes up to no ****ing good i tell u....

Yep.
Most people don't realize that it's a third party organization that gets it's information from various sources and then attempts to put a story together. I love how a registration event that I participated in on a different car happened to be lumped in with their 'first' owner's history.

The other angle is that many people (because of CarFax's very misleading advertising) assume that accidents are always on the CarFax report. But in reality, in most states, accidents are never reported on the title, unless it was an accident so horrendous that it resulted in a title change (e.g. Salvage, Reconstructed, etc)

I had a problem with my m3 but it was the dmvs fault. It had 128k when I bought it and the DMV messed up and put 158k but when I was selling it only had 142k. There was nothing I could do and had a very hard time explaining to the buyer the problem.. I had to drop the price a lot also bc I could do nothing about the mistake they made or had a way of proving it.

I bought an '04 Civic in '07 that had obvious signs of work - front bumper respray, 3 out of 4 side windows were non-OEM, glass pieces in the engine bay, metal in the engine bay was corroded beyond its years and looked like it had been coated with battery acid, probably due to a front right collision that broke the battery (also non-OEM). Even the sales guy said it was obvious something had been done to the car. Carfax came back clean.

Car fax is and should be used as just " another place to check"..not a substitute for due diligence as referenced here. Its not the know all be all for car repairs. As noted, if an accident isnt reported and joe bond/painter fixes his own car after running into a tree--its isnt going to be on car fax. As for the OP's observations, I guess just another issue. Hell, I use it to at least get a good idea of what I will be looking at, if the deviation is any different, I dont buy--unless I have a reason.

I agree with all of what was said above, I've seen mangled cars with 'clean' carfaxes and mileage discrepancies. **** like that costs sellers 1000s in depreciation/title issues.
Check out that link, there's some pretty amazing incidences of 'phantom' accidents that either never occurred or popped up months/years after purchase.

carfax can only really report what's in the database. if accidents aren't reported to insurance, there is little to no chance they will be on the carfax

Never used the service but I'm now more well informed in case I do.

Thanks for sharing!!!

My car was a repo and when the bank got it's title supposedly the car had 162k instead of 62. I registered it with the proper Miles and had no issues. Any potential buyer who couldn't see the error would be too stupid to deal with anyhow so I am not worried about it. A few months prior to my purchase the previous owner had reported the mileage for registration at 60 and clearly it wouldn't gain 100k miles in a few months. Use it as another source but no need to assume it is gospel. Reading between the lines is needed. Still much better than a dealers "knowledge" of a car they bought at auction. Or some dealers straight lies about the car.

good thread .