Purchased an updated carfax for my r53 that I've owned for about 3 years now to see how accurate it would be, turns out, not very. None of the Indy shop work is reported and the service reported by the MINI dealer is very vague in details in any at all. Some reports just say vehicle serviced, doesn't even mention the air bag recall that was done. When they changed the oil pan gasket and crank sensor and put in a craven dipstick it simply says, "dipstick replaced." Here's the report since my ownership. The rear hatch and passenger door were replaced for a rust warranty and it simply says window replaced, which the window wasn't. I wouldn't go by what carfax reports say, safer to go by the physical service records.

 

suprise suprise suprise

how does carfax get their service data??????

from the carfax site:

CARFAX receives information from more than 91,000 data sources including every U.S. and Canadian provincial motor vehicle agency plus many auto auctions, fire and police departments, collision repair facilities, fleet management and rental agencies, and more.

SOOOO .... where does service info come from?????

reading more ....

Every CARFAX Report contains information that can impact a consumer's decision about a used vehicle. Some types of information that a CARFAX Report may include are:
Title information, including salvaged or junked titles
Flood damage history
Total loss accident history
Odometer readings
Lemon history
Number of owners
Accident indicators, such as airbag deployments
State emissions inspection results .... Service records
Vehicle use (taxi, rental, lease, etc.)


http://www.carfax.com/company/about

yes you see service records but curiously that item is tagged UNDER State emissions ... NOT a stand alone item

I read this as saying they have NO source of data for routine service .....

YOU may dis agree . . . .

 

Garbage in garbage out. Someone keys in the wrong info about your car and it can really mess with resale value. People think they are getting a car accident free, but the transaction between drivers could have been settled with cash and a body shop that doesn't report the repair. Nothing better than a quality PPI on a car over Carscam reports.

 

Yea I suppose lazy information inputting = poor carfax.

 

Just the opposite happened to me. Went to sell my wife's truck, first buyer wanted to see carfax. Ran one, report came back that it had been in a major accident (buyer then wasn't interested). Truck had never been in an accident, even a minor one. So, tried to call Carfax to get it straightened out. Guess what, take a close look at the web site. There is NO phone number. Best you can do is send them an email. It took me close to six months (and a lot of hassle) to get them to change the report.

Every time I see a carfax commercial, I cringe..

 

Agreed, carfax is crap. My wife bought a lightly used Subaru with a perfectly clean carfax report, turns out the roof had been repainted and 2 years later the paint job turned to chalk. The Subaru dealer we bought it from said "not our problem." Carfax is meaningless, it all depends on whether the work was reported or not. Crapshootfax would be a more accurate name. I wouldn't pay a dime for a carfax report.

 

My Lexus was in a pretty bad fender bender in a mall parking lot. Had to be towed. I was not at fault, both of us had State Farm. The accident did not show on my carfax. I always thought that was really weird and never trusted carfax after that!

 

I just traded in a 2008 Honda and the selling dealer offers the CARFAX on the listing for their 'used car'

CARFAX says it was serviced twice since 2008 ......

can't say I'm surprised. I took it in for recalls twice and outside of this changed oil routinely MYSELF inside of factory recommendations. OBVIOUSLY CARFAX has no way to know that I changed the oil .... but I also do body work on the side ... and suspension work ....

Hurts the dealer more than it hurts me tho as I got what I wanted from the trade . . .

 

what I found surprising is that the even the MINI dealer didn't submit decent reports.

 

Amen ......

from their web site:

... the ... CARFAX Buyback Guarantee reduces the risk involved in buying a used car. If the CARFAX Report fails to include a DMV-issued branded title (such as salvage, fire or flood damage, and odometer problems), CARFAX may buy the vehicle back for the full purchase price*. You can also use the free CARFAX Lemon Check to help avoid cars with problems.

beyond this ..... you expect too much

 

Carfax appears to be a wonderful source of info for consumers. Maybe it is, but dealers love to use it to drive tradein prices down. What's the benefit of Carfax if they're lax on verifying info? Carfax is a program designed by dealers for dealers.

 

I had a Volvo S40 about 10yrs ago that was rear ended ($8000+damage) When I traded it, the Carfax showed no accident history.

 

My 2011 R55 was in an accident last fall that the insurance company paid over $11k to fix. Car was worth $12.5k at the time retail. The CarFax says it was involved in a minor accident and towed from the scene. I guess it was minor in that it was mostly cosmetic and MINI parts are expensive. I had it towed because there was liquid under the front and I did not know if it was water or coolant. That CarFax killed my trade value from the day I got it back from the body shop. Best I can figure, the towing company or the police put it on CarFax. The insurance company really dropped the ball in that they should have written it off instead of fixing given the ratios. The CarFax also shows very few service records. Way and other shops like his don't seem to put service on CarFax. I guess that part is up to us through My CarFax.

I traded the '11 in about a month ago on a 2014 R55 with 30k miles. The dealer is now attempting to sell that 2011 for $11k, double what they gave me. The '11 had other issues too which led me to trade it. With 98k miles, it was getting ready to need a turbo, shocks were shot, and I knew the clutch would be coming up soon. Being cash poor, it made more sense to trade on a newer car with 30k miles and more options.

 

I use it for the obvious accident reports, and to see if a car spent time up north

if car was a Yankee car, if the car spent time up north I am simply not interested in buying it

 

I would have taken the cash and parted out that car, did you file a claim for diminished value?

 

Uhhhh.... these aren't 50 year old classics you're buying - exposure to winter weather is nothing to worry about on a 5 year old car - you might miss out on a good deal

 

I just looked at some yankee r53's and they had lots of rust on the subframes, NO THANKS

I will never buy another northern car

 

I will say, prices here in NE sure aren't the greatest - my recent search showed the best prices were on the west coast and southeast

 

as long as you avoid the salty states your usually ok, mine spent most of its time in PA and OH and it's pretty clean. NY cars are another story, we use a lot of salt here in WNY and it does eat up the cars.

 

When I sold my 17yr old 1st gen Miata, my buyer was from Chicago and he paid top dollar (+ an airline ticket) to come to Fl and get a rust free car.

 

I was able to negotiate diminished value. The settlement had terrible legal language and had to be changed. Been waiting months for that to happen. And if diminished value really equals what I could sell it for before wreck minus what I could sell it for after repair, then I did get a fair settlement.

 

yeah that's what it's for