Complaint Department

[Ghoulish Delight]

To: Carfax

I heard a very damning anecdote yesterday regarding your "service". It seems an acquaintance of mine recently sold his car and was surprised at how much he was able to sell it for. See, in the 2 years he owned the car, he'd been in 4 accidents.

Now, 3 of the accidents were never reported to anyone. They were minor and he repaired the damage himself. But the 4th accident was bad enough that he involved insurance. His insurance paid for the damage to his car, as well as the damage to the other party's car. And, sufficiently scared by the dire "You must report an accident of this magnitude" warnings, he dutifully reported the accident to the DMV. He did everything on the up-and-up, through official channels. This accident was recorded on god knows how many different forms and computers.

And yet, when this acquaintance signed in to Carfax in preparation for selling the car...it came back clean. Not a thing on the record.

Isn't this exactly the kind of automobile history Carfax is supposed to protect its customers from? If that accident, reported through the DMV failed to make it into the system, what the hell else is missing? What good is Carfax if it can't even tell you that much?

[Strangler Lewis]

I think unless the vehicle was totaled, salvaged and a salvaged title was issued, it would not show up on Carfax. I think the requirement to report accidents affects the driver's history, not the vehicle's.