Carfax or Carfiction? Should You Make a Vehicle Purchase Decision Based on a Carfax Report?

Could it be a mistake to make a vehicle purchase decision based on a CARFAX™ report? Are CARFAX™ reports always right? Where does CARFAX™ get their data? How can CARFAX™ know EVERYTHING?

Good questions that millions of people don't ask. They have been hypnotized by an advertising campaign that even the car dealers have succumbed to... dealers who have been in the business decades longer than CARFAX™... dealers who have people on the payroll who can spot paintwork, high water marks, misaligned panels, etc. in a two minute walk-around and ROUTINELY find evidence of negative events that CARFAX™ knows absolutely nothing about. But millions of people stop asking questions the moment they read a CARFAX™ report that says 'A-OK'... and just as unfortunately, millions more stop asking questions when CARFAX™ reports a 'problem'.

There are thousands of auto body repair shops in this country. Their job is to fix cars that have been in accidents and declared repairable by insurance companies. For all practical purposes, if everybody does their job according to industry standards, the vehicles look and drive just like they did before the accident, and continue to provide great service for a normal vehicle life expectancy. For the person who had the accident, this is great... until they try to sell or trade the vehicle.

Once a vehicle gets hung with a 'bad CARFAX™ report', it's like YOU having a criminal record, or a REPO on your credit report. Even though you may have paid your debt to society, paid your debt, been wrongly convicted, or had your identity stolen... you are still branded. (That's a favorite term on a CARFAX™ report: BRANDED TITLE. It means that the state of registration actually has something on record that they have permanently attached to the title of this car, such as 'salvage rebuild' or 'stolen recovered'.)

CARFAX™ is a database. A well organized, cleverly packaged, and marvelously marketed database. CARFAX™ has done for vehicle history reports what Xerox did for copiers and Kodak did for cameras and Ipod did for MP3 players. Through their success, their brand becomes the synonym for the product for a period of time.

They get their data from motor vehicle registration records, insurance companies, law enforcement agencies, inspection stations, and auto repair facilities. MOST OF THE TIME, the information is technically accurate, and somewhat useful. BUT, and we have seen this happen on multiple occasions, computer keyboard data entry is SUBJECT TO MISTAKES... and the instant an employee of one of these organizations types in the wrong mileage, the wrong VIN number, etc. and CARFAX™ gobbles up the mistake (garbage in...), that vehicle may suddenly have a CARFAX™ report with a yellow triangle and a big warning: MILEAGE DISCREPENCY: POSSIBLE ODOMETER ROLLBACK! (...garbage out)

And then, of course, there's that 'fender bender'. The teenage driver comes home with the family car and the right front quarter is smashed. Trees don't call the police and concrete walls don't report to CARFAX™. Their insurance rates are ALREADY high enough, so they get this one fixed out of pocket. Very likely, there will be NO CARFAX™ ENTRY on this repair, even though it could be THOUSANDS of dollars worse than MILLIONS of other accidents that DID become 'accidents of record' with CARFAX™.

SO, is it ever a good idea to buy a car that has a 'BAD CARFAX™ REPORT'? It just might be the bargain of a lifetime! One thing is for sure: the dealer that is selling the car KNOWS he has a problem and he wants it to go away. Is his problem the CAR? No... it's the report. The dealer has inspected the car and has no problem with the fact that a body panel has been repainted. He would have no problem pointing this out to a customer who is considering buying the car... a customer who very likely wouldn't notice it EVER because it takes special training to spot good quality auto repair work.

The problem is the REPORT, and the fact that THE REPORT (not the accident and the repair) hurts the value of the car. YOUR job? Get your OWN 'car facts'. If you can see the car in person, ask the dealer to have their most experienced body technician point out what has been done to the car. If you can't see it in person, arrange an inspection BY A BODY SHOP, not by a mechanic. Be sure they put the car on a 'frame machine' and give you a printout that shows how the frame compares to 'factory specs'.

And once you have YOUR data, MAKE A KILLER DEAL and DRIVE A BARGAIN! Need more evidence? What would you think if you found out that one of the biggest and longest term supports of the CARFAX™ brand has decided to DUMP them in favor of a competitor? Here's a quote from an official communiqué:

"eBay has entered into an arrangement with Autocheck to provide history reports for every vehicle listed on eBay Motors. The "History Reports" tab will show the full report while there will be a summary just under the bidding section, above the description....These changes are scheduled to roll to our site over Monday and Tuesday of next week (Nov 2-3)." Of course, the question remains: Is Autocheck any better than CARFAX?

The author of this article is webmaster and Internet sales manager for a major Internet automobile wholesaler, Burton Motors LTD, http://www.burtonmotors.com, as well as other websites devoted to marketing and maintaining vehicles. He's also in the midst of an "extreme makeover"... learn all about it at http://www.motornetexpress.com.

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