Dubious Dealers Curious CarFaxes
 

A somewhat amusing (slightly concerning too for me) anecdote of the vagrancies of CarFax as a piece of mind for we buyers. I realize the main point of checking the CarFax is for warning of wrecks and serious structural damage but if you've ever read these things, you see numerous records of maintenance work, oil changes, tires etc. Anyway, when I bought my '09 RX8 back in April, it had been on the dealer's lot probably 6 months and the CarFax showed a slew of dealer prep jobs occurring through those months, 4 new tires (cheapo ones too), oil + filter change, a new battery and a front brakes job. The funny part is what didn't make the CarFax list which I've only lately found out about because of a whole drawn out issue to do with a smog smell in the cabin. So an Oil change was on it right? What about a whole new Engine? Nope, thats too trivial I guess. engine failures and replacements must be ten a penny I suppose. Yes indeed, having found out that the Cat was replaced around 38K (no sign of that on Carfax either), I asked the dealer why and it was an engine failure that also ruined the Cat, requiring both being replaced. So it does make you wonder about the integrity and extent of the info available out there and I'm darn relieved I have a Lifetime Warranty of the Powertrain from the dealer as I sit here writing this.

Cool story, brah.
This is why I buy new cars.

Oh, and it's "as a piece of mind for us buyers."
I know we're being conversational here, but someone using "anectode" and "vagrancies" in the same sentence should know that.

^ Try peace of mind, Yax.

Or is this what you meant?
http://www.free-covers.org/covers/1227.jpg

If you can find any information regarding the location of where the car was serviced, you can call the dealership, provide the VIN # and they can give you all of the service records from their location as well as the other dealerships. Each dealership has a code or ID number that represents the dealership, I've done this before and found out literally every piece of information on my car, even to replacing the sun visors.

LOL I could say I'm an Iron Maiden fan, but I will say I just got "owned."

CARFAX is a gimmick. It only knows about 10% of stuff that really happens. If you get work done on your car at a shop that is not affiliated with Carfax (90% of them) then that work never shows up on the Carfax. Just consider all the maintenance or engine swaps people ave done their selves on this very forum. I doubt they are calling up Carfax and letting them know.

Ooops, yep my mistake on the piece/peace of mind thing. I'm actually awaiting a Fax from the dealership of all the work done to the car (probably only while in their possession). Just not sure I've got enough paper in the Fax machine!!!:cool:

carfax is a complete joke now. everyone knows about it and how to avoid it.

Yep there are ways around everything, you can even have a salvage car show up as non-salvage a couple of ways. If I know how to do that, you can bet people with less than good intentions know how to as well. Carfax is still a somewhat decent thing, you just cannot trust it 100%.

This could be the greatest post I've ever seen on these forums! Well played, RX26b!

You're missing out

Good for you. You don't need carfax then...lol

Anyway, carfax don't have all the information you need. It's not 100% guaranteed.

You'd be surprised what some "new" cars have had done to them. Dealers and manufacturers are perfectly capable of rolling back or replacing odometers and fixing substantial damage and not telling anyone about it. It happens a lot.

+1

There was a dealer here in Broomfield, CO selling a "Brand New" 2010 R3 on their lot, that had massive amounts of hail damage on it, but they kept the car parked in places where you couldn't see it unless you were looking for it.

When i questioned them on why they were asking full price for a damaged car, if they were planning on fixing the damage before they sold it, then said no. Then I asked if they were going to discount the price since it was a badly damaged vehicle, and they had obviously been paid by their insurance company if it had the hail damage on their lot, and they said no to that too.

Oddly enough, that was the last time I considered doing business with that dealer.

BC.