PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – On its website CARFAX claims to be "the most trusted provider of vehicle history information" but one South Florida couple's encounter with the company begs the question: how reliable are these vehicle history reports?
Local 10 viewers Stephen and Cornelia Watson say they asked to see the CARFAX report for a 2007 white Toyota Corolla before they purchased it in 2011.
"It had four owners according to CARFAX, but nothing was reported," Cornelia said. The couple was pleased with the car until they tried to trade it in for a SUV to accommodate a growing family.
The dealer was originally willing to give them $3,500, they say, in trade-in value until the dealer pulled a CARFAX report.
"When the dealer came back, he showed us the CARFAX report and he said, 'I'm sorry, your car is written off as a total loss,'" she said. "We were shocked. Shock and awe because we've had the car, we've never been in an accident; we've never had anything reported on the car."
An insurance company declared the car a total loss in 2007 due to collision damage, but CARFAX only began reporting that information in 2013, after the Watsons purchased it.
"Well it impacts us because we were trying to use the car as a down payment or trade in and because we were told that it was a total loss, it's like we can't do anything with it," Stephen said. "We can't even take it to another dealer."
The couple says they feel CARFAX harmed them on both ends of the deal. If they knew the car was in a crash, they would not have purchased it.
"The car is still in the driveway because we can't sell it," she said.
Now due to the lengthy delay on the reporting the information, the Watsons say they are stuck with the vehicle.
"We got the bad end of the stick. It was four other owners, they were all able to get rid of their vehicle, that same vehicle, but when we get it it's like no you keep it," Stephen said.
"Hold on to that, it's yours now. You can go no further. Do not pass go, do not collect $200," Cornelia said while laughing.
While they are good humored, the Watson's situation poses a question about the reliability of CARFAX reports.
"While they have a lot of data sources, there are a lot of holes in the data that they have," said Dana Manner, a Miami-based consumer protection agency. "What I do is run a Google search on the Vehicle Identification Number, or VIN, and you can sometimes find pictures on the internet. I found this picture of this Ford Focus at an insurance auction totaled. A few weeks later, it shows up on a dealer's advertisement for sale totally fixed and this car had a clean CARFAX."
A CARFAX television ad starring the "Car fox" says, "Nobody knows everything, but a CARFAX report is a great place to start."
"In my opinion, there is really nothing better than hiring an independent mechanic or motor vehicle inspector to go and actually take a physical look at the car," Manner said.
An inspection report like the one recommended by Manner could cost between $50 and $100, but he explains it is money well spent.
"(It's) saving you from investing a lot of money in a car that may be practically worthless," he said.
"We have a car that has no value, but yet we have put over $13,000 into a car that if that report would have came out we wouldn't even got the finance because the bank would've said, no deal get another vehicle," Cornelia said. "That would've helped us; that would've protected us from throwing good money at a bad product."
CARFAX reviewed the Watson's case and say it does not qualify under the company's "buy-back" guarantee. They say the total loss information came from a data source that was not providing any information to CARFAX before 2013.
According to CARFAX, data sources can include insurance companies and service shops.
"They have a responsibility. They're advertising themselves as the place to go to check on your car, but if they're not giving out correct information then they're not the place to go to and they have to be held accountable," Cornelia said.
CARFAX representative Christopher Basso issued this statement to Local 10 News regarding the case:
"CARFAX reports are constantly being updated with millions of new pieces of information added to our database every day. A CARFAX Report, combined with a test drive and inspection by a trusted mechanic, is a great place to start to help protect yourself when buying a used car."
CARFAX also told Local 10 News that delays in reporting vehicle information from their data sources can happen. They say their 92,000 data sources and 14 billion records in the company's database are expanding every day and reports may change when new data is added to the database.
The Watsons still hope CARFAX will improve its reporting services to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
"If they're not going to do what they claim to be doing, then they need to be shut down, because the commercial says, 'CARFAX before you go,'" Cornelia said. "CARFAX did me no good, CARFAX did us no good."
According to Edmunds, total used car sales outpaced new car sales in 2014. The company reported about 35.91 million used car sales in 2014 compared with 16.52 million new car/light truck sales.
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