CARFAX WARNING!!!

[Eurocat]

Just to share a little of what has been my frustration over the last couple days, and to give a heads up to anyone looking to buy a vehicle using a trade in.
I finally found the truck I have been looking for and managed to get down to the dealer yesterday and finalize the deal. Everything was perfect and numbers agreed on until they pulled the Carfax on the trade in vehicle.
Surprise to me when they asked me to explain the mileage discrepancy reported by Carfax. It seems that some Midas reported having changed the oil in my car from 2012 to 2014 and reporting mileage from 100k to 134k at the last one. There was a DMV entry last year when we bought out the lease reporting the car with 47k miles.
it now has 60k, so still nowhere near the 134k.
Only way dealer would continue with the deal was to subtract 6k from my trade in or remove entirely from the negotiation. I also might miss out on the ongoing promo being offered and have no idea when I might see discounts like this again.
Since I don't want to deal with selling it on my own, it went down the drain.

Already contacted Carfax, but from what I read online it can take up to 6 months to correct.
Midas shop states that my vehicle has never been there, but when they entered a plate from another customer that owns a Toyota Camry, it was the same vin 3.

Crappy situation to be in.

I advise anyone that is thinking about car shopping and that have a trade in to look into it so they have no surprises and miss out on promo months.

 

[Julian]

Wow...that totally sucks. I would have walked away and corrected it even if it took 6 months as 6k is HUGE!!!!

 

[Bill D]

That kind of stuff drives me crazy! This is the first time I've heard about a Carfax though.

Good luck @Eurocat. I hope everything works out for you.

 

[subysti]

Sounds like that other Camry was probably stolen and someone changed the VIN so it couldn't be traced and just happened to use your lucky number.

 

[YamahaForMe]

seems like carfax owes you 6K.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

seems like carfax owes you 6K.

Agree. After the lawyers take 5k you'll have a whopping grand! Woohoo! Gotta luv Merica!

 

[KXCam22]

I have found that CARFAX to be totally unreliable. Cam.

 

[Eurocat]

After lots of back and forth finally got them to remove the incorrect entries. Looks like the oil change place inputted the data incorrectly the first time that the guy went there, and all subsequent visits just populated automatically.
Luckily I had saved all oil change receipts and other paperwork that showed the progressive mileage plus the buyout with the Motor vehicle inspection last year.
I understand Carfax is "reporting" data as it is fed to them, but they either have to be more demanding in the quality of the data, or do some crosschecking or "moderating" before adding something like that to their reports.
It literally stated that it was a discrepancy with conflicting reports. And instead of taking the motor vehicle one as true and contacted their "oil change/data supplier" for verification, they just created this mess.
I am just glad they actually moved quick to resolve this and if I am still able to complete the trade in for the vehicle I wanted I will let it be, otherwise I will pursue it further.
It's just amazing how someone's "innocent" mistake can have repercussions like this.

..."end of rant".

 

[njmr2fan]

So wait, its resolved but you lost 6K on your trade in?

 

[Eurocat]

No, the dealer did not want to move forward with the deal that day, and neither did I since I would lose a load of money over it.
Luckily I ctc them yesterday they still have the vehicle I want there and we will try to negotiate again. Had they sold it in the meanwhile, I would have been seriously pissed as there isn't another one with the options I want within a 500 mile radius. Although there is one in Wisconsin and I mildly considered a road trip if I could negotiate over email. lol.
If it had been related to an accident or something more complicated, I read cases of taking up to 6 months to correct. Then it would likely ended up in court, both the oil change place and Carfax.
There is talk of making them offer you an yearly report, same as with credit bureaus, but nothing as been put into law yet so doesn't look like anytime soon. Therefore just cross your fingers and hope there is no erroneous info if you need to trade in.

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

Carfax is a joke IMHO as it is based on the opinion of the person entering the data. We bought an 04 Toyota pickup, clean car fax etc. As we used it we noticed very odd wear on the tires, took it to the alignment shop and they did some research and said the frame was bent. We did more investigating as a door always closed a little funny then we discovered the truck should have been totalled. It was rolled, had almost an inch of bondo in the roof and the frame was bent. Contacted Carfax for their guarantee since we bought it and the truck had a clean bill and got the answer from them that they are not responsible for what people enter about the vehicle and if the prior incident was never reported to them... Needless to say a bunch of BS. I am willing to bet the dealer was trying to strongarm you into a better deal with you vs doing a little research to see it is clearly mis entered information. They could have plugged the car in and read the real odometer to verify things... Walk, dont run from that dealer and tell them to piss off. Do not play those games with them, they are not nicknamed stealerships for cuteness.

 

[Eurocat]

That is what was so upsetting. They knew the correct mileage. It was never in questions if the vehicle was or not accurate. Even the report said it was a "discrepancy", with a Motor vehicle entry at the end that contradicted the previous ones.
The argument was that they simply did not want to bother sending a few emails to correct the problem, so they just said the vehicle was worth a lot less and they didn't want to bother with including it in the transaction.
In the end Carfax resolved it very quick, but had it been a not so obvious mistake I would have been in for a ride that could have lasted months.
In the end they never even did a thorough inspection and failed to notice a dented door and a 1 inch tear in the roof liner. They valued it solely on the Carfax report and the average price similar vehicles got close by. They added a little since I told them I recently had installed new tires and they looked at nothing else. No test drive no nothing. I almost whished that car was in serious engine and tranny problems so they could learn a lesson, but it was actually in pretty good shape.

 

[Big Shasta]

I don't blame the dealer. They have to buy it based on what someone is willing to pay. If Carfax wouldn't have fixed it for you then they would have had to sell it cheap or nobody would buy it (unless they were shady and tried to hide the carfax and hoped nobody would ask). It isn't the dealers responsibility to fix it with carfax, it's your vehicle. Why be pissed at them?

 

[Eurocat]

I'm pissed at all 3 because they each fumbled it in a different way. It's not the dealers fault, granted, the reason with them is because they never test drove or even looked at the car. But what ever it's their process so be it.
Carfax however does need to revise their processes for accuracy of data collection.

I purchased the Infinity truck about 6 months ago, and let me tell you, I cannot find 1 thing to complain about. The best service period. Even now, there is nothing but good things I can say about them. I have owned both Mercedes and Bmw and Infinity's service is the same or better than both of them. (granted it can depend on the dealer)

This is the 7th Dodge vehicle I own. the first 5 were purchased at a dealer that dodge closed a few years back because it was 2 small but the owner was a great friend and always took care of me when I had any problems, including giving me loaner cars for anything above an oil change. The 6th was 2h away from me, but they were great ppl. I then had it serviced at a variety of dealers around me and then I stopped buying Dodge because I could not find a dealer that could talk to me for 5 minutes with out saying 5 lies or overall not caring. I had to do tons of research to find out that an electrical problem with the Suv was being caused by the Bluetooth module.
It was then replaced under warranty after the warranty period was over, but had been there 5 times prior.

They are making ok vehicles and specially the Durango is a great truck for the money, better than almost any other out there. I would never had purchased Infinity if the Dealers had anywhere near the service level of Infinity. I just don't have patience for incompetence or "it's not my job".