Pony07

I was thinking of this when i looked at my title, which I just got back from the bank after paying off the loan. I applied for the title in my state when I moved here, and it has a space on it for date of purchase and they put the date of the title application. I never saw my previous state titles, as they were held by the bank. But I bought the car brand new and in 6 years its been titled in 3 states by me.

I know that a LOT of people check the carfax before buying a used car. What if mine shows a new owner? Or other incorrect info? Does Carfax allow a car owner to get a free report so they can know what is on it, and how does someone go about changing wrong info?

I'd hate to try to sell the car someday and say I'm the only owner and have a buyer say well not according to the carfax you're not - and wonder why my car has had so many owners.

RedwingT

I'm going threw this myself Pony07. Had a buyer for my car, he was coming to get it Saturday and at last minute decided to run a Carfax report. Well it showed my car had been in an accident, which it hasn't! I was sitting at a Red light and part of a gas station's metal roof blew off onto my car. I made a comprehensive claim ($50) and ins. company replaced my windshield that had scratches and repainted my hood. CarFax lists this as an accident when actually it was a repair. I lost the sale and so far the only way I see to contact them is by a link on their site. I'm hoping they don't give me a hard time. I have the repair receipt to prove it wasn't an accident and also the insurance company is sending me the estimate with the incident info on it.

Good luck to you and I will post any info I may gather in my journey.

Pony07

Well, I just went through a VERY expensive hail damage repair - for the insurance company. The final total was near $7,900!! So in addition to the question I asked in my original post, I am wondering how this is shown on a report. I probably can't change that aspect of it, but at least I'd know and be prepared to give an explanation. Hopefully someone else can chime in....

Deep Blue

Unfortunately if there is a claim over $500, wether it be comp or collision it will show up on Carfax. My wife worked for a major insurance company an all the data goes into a big data base and is used by all insurance companies to determine your risk and rate. Carfax is like a credit bureau for insurance companies and once its on there its almost impossible to remove. No matter what the damage was it shows up there as an accident. Really stupid IMO.

Pony07

Yeah, but the major difference is the credit bureaus let you get one free report a year and there is a procedure to correct any info you dispute.

I wouldn't dispute the claims.... but its nice to know what they are calling it. Collision? I don't know. And the ownership. When my mom traded her Oldsmobile for a Hyundai, as part of the trade in appraisal they gave her a carfax report and it listed 3 owners when there was only 1!

Glenn

As far as being the only owner why couldn't you just show your bill of sale from the dealership? Same thing goes for the windshield replacement, just show the prospective buyer the receipt for the work that was done. As far as carfax and incorrect information and missing information. if a repair shop submits it then it will of course show up on the report. I have seen cars that had major work done to them and it never showed up on carfax.

http://www.contacthelp.com/directory...ListingID=3474

NC14GT

Glenn is absolutely correct. A Carfax is NOT the bible of car selling. It is a very useful tool and should be used as such. There are many stories of inaccuracies with Carfax reports and each car has to be explored on it's own merits. If you have paperwork showing you are the owner since day one, then don't worry about it. Documentation trumps Carfax every day of the week. Any documented repair can put a prospective buyer's uneasiness at bay as well. Everything is paperwork and why it is stressed so often. No record keeping means nothing to show to a buyer, and at that point I would believe the Carfax. Who wouldn't?? Too many shady sellers out there. That's where Carfax really comes into play.
Carfax does not give free copies out to owners. They would lose $$. It also takes great effort to change a Carfax. I personally know of a Porsche owner that was involved in a major collision with his 911. The Carfax showed CLEAR! The owner was one of those ultra honest people that you rarely encounter anymore. He wanted that Carfax to indicate an accident at sales time so that the new owner couldn't 'flip it' and pretend there wasn't one.
This shows both sides of the spectrum.
Hope it helps a bit.

Pony07

I keep a detailed log (electronic, via a software app) of all my car repairs and wouldn't mind giving a copy of that to a buyer as I've nothing to hide. I could be prepared to show the purchase papers; I just didn't like the idea of my car being represented as a 2-owner (or 3, who knows) when its a 1. But I agree that paperwork and documentation is very important - unfortunately there's people who aren't as thorough as I am & never save anything.

black-sunshine

When I went to trade in my 2010 v6 Mustang that I bought new. The Carfax report said the car was stolen. This was news to me because it never was! Also the Carfax report did not show any of the service records, except what I had done at my Ford dealership. I later found out that day the dealership that transferred my car forgot they sent it to a different dealership. Even though it was a mistake, that info will follow the the car for the rest of it's life on Carfax. So like I read earlier Carfax is just a tool. I think it main purpose is for accidents. Minor or severe and if the car was totaled. The info on there is not always accurate!

cdynaco

I was told by my body shop - who does a high volume of insurance work and is pretty well informed on their procedures - that a comp claim shouldn't show up (key job) because there was no police report.
I've always done this - so I know my service record etc. You can also update on Ford's Customer site with a logon.

ArabiaAvonlea

Most reputable car dealer will give you a carfax for free. If they deny to give one then walk away as they might be hiding some potencial issue. Insurance buy back is usually happen when cars get stolen.