An Interesting Carfax

[El Dobro]

I traded in my '09 Jetta TDI w/DSG back in Sept. of 2011. When I found my registration for it, I had a friend run a Carfax to see what ever happened to it. What I found was very interesting.

The car had problems from day one. It was pretty much back to the dealer at least once a month for everything from the DSG banging away to the rearview mirror falling apart in my hands. There were airbag sensor problems, dead radio, etc. that would send it back to the dealer. Each time, an RO had been written.

I finally had a chance to sit down and read the Carfax. Ok, there's where I bought the car in Oct. of 2008 and next was when I brought the car back a couple of weeks later, because the trans was banging. The tech decided it needed another MU for the trans. The Carfax had that visit listed as vehicle serviced. Now next was, was, was, July of 2011?!?! What happened to 2009 and 2010 where all the other warranty returns happened? Where's the rest of 2008 and 2011? Where's the time a VW QTM took a drive with me? Where was the time a VW drivetrain engineer took a ride with me and kept the car for a day?

All the records of the problems with the car were not listed. Even when the records started again, with again another MU being installed almost two years later, it's listed as "computer reprogrammed". The records also show that from 10/22/2008 to 7/15/2011, I went 11,298 miles and from 7/15/2011 to 9/3/2011 when I traded the car in, I went 33,387 miles.

The moral of this story is, when you get a Carfax on a vehicle you're interested in, take it with a grain of salt. It's only as good as what a dealer tells them.

 

[kydsid]

Carfax is garbage in garbage out. I had a vehicle tboned to the tune of $15k in repairs. Never showed up on the carfax. In fact I cannot recall any vehicle I've ever had having anything show up on carfax no matter what happend.

 

[Lug_Nut]

We bought a Canadian import Honda Odyssey with a clean carfax from a Honda dealer. The story was that they were hot items in the US but less so in Canada so it was worth the certification process to import it.
We later discovered that the van had been wrecked by a Canadian couple on vacation, that they bought a new van here, and their smashed one was repaired and then sold to us. Since the repair was done by the same people selling it they held off on the report of the accident to carfax until it had been sold to us. That left us with a damaged incident report when WE sold it years later.

 

[tactdi]

Carfax will tell you which car not to buy, but will not tell you which car to buy.

 

[Cogen Man]

Not worth the money. I disagree with the above post. You can get a clean Carfax report and end up with a car with a lot of problems that were never reported to Carfax. This is how they absolve themselves of any blame.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Carfax isn't worth it. Some things show up, others don't... some of them are blown out of proportion and some are just a scratch on the surface.

We reported a minor parking lot ding to our insurance (scratched the bumper paint, but that was it) and it now shows up on our Carfax as an accident in some totally different location... not at all accurate. It was our own fault for reporting it, I guess.

 

[Lug_Nut]

Carfax will tell you which car not to buy, but will not tell you which car to buy.

I disagree with the above post. You can get a clean Carfax report and end up with a car with a lot of problems that were never reported to Carfax.

Actually you do agree.
Both of you realize that a clean report isn't necessarily a clean car, but a blemished report is almost* always a sign of problems.

*see VeeDubTDI's post.

 

[BadMonKey]

Its just a tool and like any tool the person behind it is what makes it work. I use it to find where the car has been and to contact any of the dealers or shops listed on it to get a maintenance history on it. I don't pay much attention to the comments or reasons for service or repair work.

Personally I'd rather have it then not have it.

 

[tactdi]

Not worth the money. I disagree with the above post. You can get a clean Carfax report and end up with a car with a lot of problems that were never reported to Carfax. This is how they absolve themselves of any blame.

As Lug_Nut said, we both agree. A clean report may not report everything or anything about the car, it only tells you about what was reported, but a blemished report will tell you the repairs performed that would influence you not to purchase.