How much weight do you give CarFax when buying a used auto? (from a dealer)

[Mat4644]

They are still worthwhile. I've seen cars that go through multiple transfers from out of state in a short period. An indication someone is trying to hide an event such as a flood.

 

[crazyal]

I wouldn't buy a used vehicle without reading the report. There's a ton of information in it and as more and more service stations are going to computers the amount of information is only going to get better. It's only as good as the information entered into the computer. If a garage types in the wrong VIN number it's worthless. It will tell you where a vehicle spent it's life. For example cars from up north are shipped to the south all the time. So that used rust free southern car may have been in salt all it's life and is a year or two from rusting apart. The information also can tell you when service items were done. For example I found a nice used Truck in South Carolina years ago but the local shop changing the oil was reporting it. Turns out that the owner was going between 6500 and 7500 miles between oil changes (back when 3500 for non synthetic was the norm). That told me either he was running full synthetic or he was too busy and not doing the proper maintenance. A further look and I found where he did the transmission service at 100k when the mfg said it should be done at 60k. Maybe he did it at 50k twice or maybe he was lazy. Not worth the risk to me so I passed.

Collision damage is kind of the least important thing in the car fax. It often doesn't tell you enough information to make an informed decision. Damage to the side could b a shopping cart hit it and the owner wanted their baby repaired to new or it could have been hit by a train. As to non collision damage, what's that? Even a bicycle scratching the paint is collision damage. If it's not then where are they drawing the line? Would a cyclist blowing through a stop sign and plowing into the side of your car creasing the door and scratching the hood be collision damage? I suspect someday anytime you deal with insurance or a body shop the actual repair bill will also be included. Computers and information is our future.

 

[two_bit_score]

After several months of looking for a better vehicle I finally decided that I had to do something-after the brakes failed on my Ranger. Trying to find a truck of any size or vintage has been a challenge, and I gave up on Ford after driving 50 miles to the dealer... only to find that contrary to what I had been told an hour earlier, they did not have the style Ranger that I'm looking for on the lot.
Yesterday I drove 170 miles and put a deposit on a slightly used 2018 Colorado, then decided after the fact to run a Carfax which indicated "Damage Report to passenger side in April 2019".
I asked the salesman about it and he said CarFax really isn't that accurate, and geared more toward private sales.
I'm still going through with the deal, I like the truck and have better things to do than drive all over trying to find something to buy. I was just wondering what other's experiences are.

CarFax is not going to give you the complete story but will point you in a place to look. I would take the vehicle to a trusted body shop to have them look at the entire vehicle but especially the passenger side. They probably have an instrument which can detect body filler and can tell you if excessive filler was used or if parts were replaced and give you an idea of the extent of damage.

Negotiation Tip: almost certainly the dealership used the prior damage as a way to lower the amount they paid for the vehicle and you should use that as a negotiation lever with the dealer and the body shop should be able to give you some ammo for that.

 

[om21braz]

They probably have an instrument which can detect body filler and can tell you if excessive filler was used or if parts were replaced and give you an idea of the extent of damage.

A microfiber cloth and magnet work well in a pinch. Helped me confirm a place or two in the past.

 

[s219]

I traded in my truck recently. A couple months before, I got an appraisal and the dealer asked about "structural damage reported" on the CarFax. Was news to me. I had a door dent fixed after someone backed into the door, but it was pretty minor. Anyhow, having "structural damage" on the CarFax dropped the trade value of the truck by over half, down to $10K.

So I got in touch with CarFax and sent them photos of the damage, as well as the insurance report and repair invoice. Took them a few weeks but they revised the report and changed it to "minor damage reported". Trade value went back up to normal and I got $23K when trading in.

From my standpoint, CarFax holds an awful lot of power. Great if you are a buyer and they are alerting you to serious issues. Not so great if you're a seller and they have erroneous information.

 

[two_bit_score]

A microfiber cloth and magnet work well in a pinch. Helped me confirm a place or two in the past.

A lot are not much more than that and some are sensitive enough to tell you if there is an extra coat of paint. A good eye is enough on a lot of vehicles.

 

[two_bit_score]

I traded in my truck recently. A couple months before, I got an appraisal and the dealer asked about "structural damage reported" on the CarFax. Was news to me. I had a door dent fixed after someone backed into the door, but it was pretty minor. Anyhow, having "structural damage" on the CarFax dropped the trade value of the truck by over half, down to $10K.

So I got in touch with CarFax and sent them photos of the damage, as well as the insurance report and repair invoice. Took them a few weeks but they revised the report and changed it to "minor damage reported". Trade value went back up to normal and I got $23K when trading in.

From my standpoint, CarFax holds an awful lot of power. Great if you are a buyer and they are alerting you to serious issues. Not so great if you're a seller and they have erroneous information.

Sounds like the trade in dealer was going to poke your eyes out on that trade. I'm pretty sure he knew by inspecting it if it had serious enough damage to warrant that kind of deduction to start with.

 

[s219]

Sounds like the trade in dealer was going to poke your eyes out on that trade. I'm pretty sure he knew by inspecting it if it had serious enough damage to warrant that kind of deduction to start with.

The guy was good, told me how to contact CarFax to report the error, I guess they have seen it before. I had decided I would not buy a new truck if the old one was really going to get dinged on value -- would have made more sense to keep the old one and run it into the ground than give it away.

 

[Cat_Driver]

That must have been the world's shortest "ski trip" at 6 miles each way!

Oooops 12K miles.

In my opinion, it's worth the price of a qualified mechanic to go through any vehicle you're serious about.

When a private person is selling a vehicle I ask then to meet me at the dealer for an inspection. Once it passes the test at the dealership I give them the money right there at the dealership and I pay for the inspection.

 

[Jstpssng]

I traded in my truck recently. A couple months before, I got an appraisal and the dealer asked about "structural damage reported" on the CarFax. Was news to me. I had a door dent fixed after someone backed into the door, but it was pretty minor. Anyhow, having "structural damage" on the CarFax dropped the trade value of the truck by over half, down to $10K.

So I got in touch with CarFax and sent them photos of the damage, as well as the insurance report and repair invoice. Took them a few weeks but they revised the report and changed it to "minor damage reported". Trade value went back up to normal and I got $23K when trading in.

From my standpoint, CarFax holds an awful lot of power. Great if you are a buyer and they are alerting you to serious issues. Not so great if you're a seller and they have erroneous information.

Funny thing, when I asked the salesman about it he claimed that dealers don't even use Carfax because they are allegedly inaccurate, they go through another reporting agency. An auto salesman wouldn't lie, would he?

I did end up buying the truck. THe previous owner stated on trade-in that it had not been in an accident. My choices at this point were to buy it, walk away and dump another couple of thousand into my old Ranger which would be dumping money down a rat hole, buy another older vehicle for not much less money, or shell out another 12K for a new full sized truck which I don't need.
Right now it's a seller's market... they are having a hard time even getting new trucks in so finding a used one is like the elusive unicorn.
Ideally I would have contacted the previous owner and found out what his story was...
I was not impressed with my overall buying experience, but after looking for several months and talking to about a dozen new and used car dealerships that seems to be normal.