I had an eye opening experience today

Small car lot dealer years ago, 15 years ago... told me Carfax was a joke.

 

Where Does The Data Come From?
You’re probably a bit shocked by how much information can appear on a CARFAX. But where does it all come from? Believe it or not, CARFAX uses over 92,000 sources to compile a single report. Here are some of the sources that the company draws from:

• Vehicle manufacturers
• Fire departments
• Motor vehicle agencies in the US and Canada
• Law enforcement agencies
• Salvage auctions
• Collision repair and auto body shops
• Service and maintenance shops
• Insurance companies
• Rental/fleet vehicle enterprises
• Extended warranty companies
• Automobile import and export companies
• Inspection stations

For this reason, any time you have an accident, it can show up on a CARFAX report, even if it has not been reported. CARFAX reports receive information from a broad number of sources, including auto body shops that do collision repair, and they catalog everything from minor accidents to the most severe.


Do Auto Repair Shops Report to CARFAX?
As mentioned earlier, auto body shops—primarily collision repair centers—can report to CARFAX. Not every auto body shop is going to opt into contacting CARFAX to update information about your vehicle. If you are uncertain, you can ask. However, there are some actions that can get your vehicle’s information taken in by CARFAX, even if you and your auto body shop did not directly connect with the company. These include:

• Shopping for quotes on repairs or receiving multiple estimates. Some software is programmed to automatically report to CARFAX, even if the job you need to be done is just a simple scratch or dent repair.
• Ordering parts with the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).
• Opening an insurance claim.
• Going to a dealership.

There are also auto body shops that say they report to CARFAX on the premise of record keeping. Should someone aim to purchase your vehicle in the future, they will be able to see a clear maintenance record, for instance. However, since these services are automatically recorded by CARFAX, it skips over the will of the vehicle owner to decide whether that information is distributed or not.

 

It is a joke its a business driven by profits

 

Carfax is like a credit report for your car or truck.... It's bullshit

 

It will end up on the Carfax.

 

The problem with that is you are taking the word of someone who has no fucking clue how it works. The resources available to track vehicle repair/damages is much greater than Billy Joe Jim Bob dropping the body hammer and calling CarFax to report another bondo job completed.

Most auto body repair shops use software for estimating and ordering parts...guess where CarFax gets most of their info?

 

Interesting note, progressive requires that it taken apart and on a frame rack. The few body shops I went to said the don't do progressive estimates only this type of estimate all involved parts are laid out alongside the car on a frame rack this was related to me by the "preferred" shops I went to. This was how they want it on newer cars. So far I've been in the dark. I'm just relating my experience so far. As stated before its not how it's been done in the past, everything was upfront.

 

Same with my old Ranger. I took it in to get airbag recall done and got a letter from carfax. A few months later I got new tires at a local tire shop and got an updated letter showing I got service done with a comment "tire service - new"

 

Update, frame is ok 2200 is the repair option.

 

this is from 2013. but it perfectly illustrates how terrible carfax is at anything.
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/tru...s-clean-carfax/story?id=18731208#.UbOr4_nrxyU

carfax is about as reputable as hearing from your neighbors uncles girlfriends sister that your wife is planning a surprise birthday party for your dog.

few agencies directly report to carfax, there is no law, or requirement that anyone tells them anything. they're more 'skimmers' of info. as in they glean it from various sources they get access to. if there's a police report, depending on how online that department is with their records, there's a better chance it will end up on carfax.

 

Funny how that works, I have a well maintained badge on my Taco because of the 25000 maintenance schedule from Toyota. The times I've done my own oil changes at 5000 it shows as self service. I enter my self oil changes on my wife's car every 5000, just did the transfer and diff flush. Nothing no badges, wouldn't let be write the transfer case only the diff shows up as a service performed but then goes under a non public note. I guess they want shop notes only.

 

So for all the people wining people talking diminished value that is part of state law and North Dakota doesn't recognize that. I was told the truck is getting fixed and since ND doesn't recognize it they don't either.

 

That's my experience as well. A fix to my Z showed up as car was wrecked. The fix was a scratch in the paint. Never reported to Insurance or law enforcement.

 

This is just not true at all. The only way this happens is if Insurance isn't told at all. Every single state. You talked to what i'd call a "Shady Shop"

Accident Happens -> Insurance Contacted -> Insurance has a shop to estimate on repairs -> car is either repaired or totaled.

The shady way is

Accident Happens -> Car is taken to a shop that doesn't report -> car is repaired even if totaled -> title is still clean and no history of accident whatsoever