Why would anyone trust carfax?

[foxwiz]

Suppose you have an accident and have the car fixed at a mechanic's shop. The mechanic doesn't report to car fax so you will have no way of knowing if the vehicle is really clean. So why does everyone take car fax as gospel?

[SVTCOBRA]

So why does everyone take car fax as gospel?

everyone? Really??
I think some might, but us car nuts wouldn't.
I use it to filter out the ones that have lived in the north and ones that HAVE had a reported accident. After that, I look at service records, talk to prior owners (if possible), visual checks....yeah, it is a great tool, but that's it.....imho.

[soul_hfk]

i got into a accident with my G35 and it didnt show up cause they gave me a copy when i traded it in. it didnt even show the services that where dont at the dealer.... to me carfax is a joke to

[370Z/28]

I ran one on my Camaro. All it showed was when it was purchased and when it was paid off and titled. Of course it has never been wrecked, but that report isn't going to tell a potential buyer anything about the car.

[Kendahl]

Carfax shows only the problems that have been reported to them. If they have something bad to say, you can give up on the car at that point. If the report is clean, it is worth investigating further. However, you can't assume that a clean report means a good car.

[AZhitman]

If there's an accident for which a police report has been taken, and/or a claim has been filed with an insurance company, it *should* theoretically show up there.

For me, it's more useful for verifying seller claims, such as where the car has been since new, how many owners, if it's ever been used for commercial purposes, and if it ever had a title issue (salvage, rebuilt, etc).

[Poyzinous]

I dont think carfax is supposed to be 100% perfect, but its a valuable check and is helpful to many people.

[WAldenIV]

Carfax shows only the problems that have been reported to them. If they have something bad to say, you can give up on the car at that point. If the report is clean, it is worth investigating further. However, you can't assume that a clean report means a good car.

Perfectly stated.

[WillyWanka]

If you are running the reports yourself, I would def. use AutoCheck by Esperian. For some reason, it is more reliable than Carfax. I used to work at a dealership and salesmen used both but would usually show just the Carfax just for that reason.

[C-Kwik]

Noone should trust CARFAX absolutely. Its a tool and to some extent a good one, but it has limitations. Insurance claim info is very iffy. When I worked in a claims department, I had access to a database that had claim data for vehicles from insurance companies who opted to participate in the program. There were a ton of accidents that showed up there that didn't register in CARFAX. Frankly, the important info for me is to check and make sure the title is good and mileage is honest. Accident damage can be helpful, but I can usually spot repair work myself. If I wasn't able to spot repair work, it was probably a very good chance the work was done very well and it would be negligible. That's certainly no guarantee for me either, but there is alwasy going to be some risk.