What a Carfax Report Doesn’t tell you
The value of a used car depends on many factors, including its ownership and accident history and any title problems. TheCARFAX reportconsolidates most Canadian and American information which you will need to help you make an informed purchase decision. However, the CARFAX report may also omit some important information.
What the CARFAX report does not mention
Information on a CARFAX report can never be fully up to date. It takes around 2 months for information to be added to a CARFAX report. Sometimes, it takes even longer.
Anything which happened to the car during this time will not be on the report. This could include maintenance reports, accidents, flooding, or even worse.
More importantly, a CARFAX report cannot include information which was never registered. For example, the CARFAX report may show that the car was never maintained if all the car maintenance was done at home. On the other hand, if the car owner never tells an insurance company, repair company, dealership, or government office that his car has been flooded or in a minor accident, CARFAX also has no way of knowing.
Unscrupulous car dealers rely on the combination of these 2 factors to unload cars after a major disaster, such as the widescale flooding of Katrina or Sandy. If the cars are never reported to the insurance company, they can be moved across state borders, given a cosmetic refinish, and sold. The buyer is left to deal with the resulting problems.
You do have legal recourse if the car has been branded as salvaged by the insurance company or the state. Salvaged cars may not be legally sold except for parts, and their history must be disclosed to the buyer. However, this will require taking the seller to court.
What the CARFAX report does include
The CARFAX report tracks each car by its Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). The VIN is recorded every time the car changes hands and ends up with a new registered owner. CARFAX has the record of the names and addresses of each of those owners, as well as the type of vehicle registration under those owners. For example, the CARFAX report will indicate if the car was previously registered as a fleet, commercial, or rental vehicle, which could mean greater wear and tear on the car.
Along with the service history of the car, odometer readings are also updated by CARFAX every time they are reported by a registered mechanic. This may help you to avoid cars whose odometers have been tampered with.
Through VIN tracking, the CARFAX report keeps track of cars which have been branded as salvaged by the state or by insurance companies. It also keeps track of branded lemon cars. In this way, a CARFAX report can protect you from unscrupulous sellers.
However, as noted earlier, it takes time for all this information to make it to the CARFAX report. Some of it may never be reported to CARFAX at all.
Thus, the CARFAX report should not be the only basis for assessing a used car. Always have your car inspected by a qualified mechanic before you commit to buying. If you do not know the seller personally, it may be worthwhile to check the car's VIN independently with local law enforcement and your car insurance company to ensure that you are not buying a car which has been recently stolen or written off.
