Need immediate legal help with carfax error

[UFGatorGuy20]

Bought car 3/8/16.
Carfax started reporting an accident 5/15/16 that occurred 10/18/13. This is like a bad nightmare... What can I do.

 

[UFGatorGuy20]

Here is an image

 

[UFGatorGuy20]

Dealer is saying I may be able to sue carfax for the delta between their appraisal and NADA black book wholesale

 

[OETKB]

First, I am sorry for your misfortune.

That said, Carfax is wrong as much as they are right. This is fairly well known, and has been for a long time. If you look at their fine print I'd be surprised if they haven't totally disclaimed any liability when you agree to use their service.

 

[gimmie11s]

Guessing this is regarding the 14 GT500.

How are the repairs? Assuming good being that you had no clue until you read the report. Was the vehicle salvaged as a result of the accident?

Me personally... wouldn't care much unless it was salvaged and games were played to cover up the change in title status. If not salvaged, that means repairs were relatively minor and non-structural. Wouldn't bother me unless I overpaid for the car.

 

[Zemedici]

Have you tried contacting carfax directly, saying you’re the current owner with documentation that states otherwise?

Always worth a shot

 

[HillbillyHotRod]

I will never trust car fax again. Bought out 08 and had a clean car fax. Come to find that it was a factory buy back under lemon law. Tried everything up to and including the state attorney general. Zippo. Car fax only has what is reported to them. Doesn't get reported it will not be on there.

 

[UFGatorGuy20]

Car isn't salvaged. I never noticed any damage and I've been under the car, but I'm not a mechanic. Dealer is just giving me shit for a trade in value bc of it.

 

[UFGatorGuy20]

Yes it's for the 2014 GT500. Can't believe it. I paid a price for the car that was fair if it had no accidents.

 

[gimmie11s]

Car isn't salvaged. I never noticed any damage and I've been under the car, but I'm not a mechanic. Dealer is just giving me shit for a trade in value bc of it.

Shop another dealer. Dealers take cars on trade every single day that have had accidents. Very very very common.

Sounds like your car was backed into a tree.. .how bad could it have possibly been? :shrug:

If it wasn't salvaged, I'd tell the dealer to stuff it and go pound sand.

Have you tried CarMax?

 

[MG0h3]

Where did you buy the car?

 

[nxhappy]

sorry, you won't be able to do anything against such a large company. Like someone else mentioned, the fine print is right there. Sell it PP instead of trading it in ...

 

[bdcardinal]

Carfax is garbage in, garbage out. They just return any info presented to them. It could have been the accident wasn't reported to them by the body shop or insurance until that date. I don't trust them at all.

 

[busta]

Maybe try calling a police department in RI and see if they can pull up any police reports of an accident corresponding to the VIN#? CARFAX receives their information from a variety of sources whether it be a local PD, insurance co, body shop, etc. Often times it could be delayed in reporting if the reporting agency didn't make the switch to keeping their records digital until way later. I've seen this before but unfortunately I can't tell you how to resolve it...

 

[busta]

Shop another dealer. Dealers take cars on trade every single day that have had accidents. Very very very common.

Sounds like your car was backed into a tree.. .how bad could it have possibly been? :shrug:

If it wasn't salvaged, I'd tell the dealer to stuff it and go pound sand.

Have you tried CarMax?

The dealer isn't refusing to trade the car - they're reducing his trade-in value because it has accident damage reported. And you can't blame them regardless if you can prove to them that the car was never involved in an accident. The ONLY way they'll pay him clean CARFAX price is if the CARFAX is CLEAN.

If you're a potential buyer and you go to look at a car on a dealers lot, and you see an accident reported on the CARFAX, would you pay them the same price as one next to it with a clean CARFAX? It's really not their problem and your average car buyer isn't going to believe them if the dealer says that CARFAX was wrong...

 

[gimmie11s]

The dealer isn't refusing to trade the car - they're reducing his trade-in value because it has accident damage reported. And you can't blame them regardless if you can prove to them that the car was never involved in an accident. The ONLY way they'll pay him clean CARFAX price is if the CARFAX is CLEAN.

If you're a potential buyer and you go to look at a car on a dealers lot, and you see an accident reported on the CARFAX, would you pay them the same price as one next to it with a clean CARFAX? It's really not their problem and your average car buyer isn't going to believe them if the dealer says that CARFAX was wrong...

It's happened to me on a diesel 3/4 Chevy truck that was bought used...believe it was 4 years old at the time. I bought from a Ford dealer on the used car lot ironically enough. The truck was extremely clean and obviously well cared for however, once it got it home my good friend who owns a body shop found repair work done on the driver's side bedside of the truck.

The whole thing other than that was so damn clean I didn't really care. Without a body work professional going over the truck I would have never known.

Would I have paid the same for the truck had I found the issue before singing the papers? If they were firm on the price, yes-- I would have. However--to your point, I would have used it as bargaining leverage, yes.

Like everything in life, value is only measurable by the individual. Period.

 

[03Sssnake]

Too many take carfax as gospel. I'd try to find a police report of the incident. You may find nothing has ever happened and you wouldn't be the first. You could then take steps to have incident removed from carfax. Have you searched the vin using other resources, autocheck, public data?

 

[VenomousDSG]

Doesn't carfax offer 5 grand if you can prove they screwed up on a report? I thought i read that on their site a while ago.

The damage must not of been too bad if you never noticed it, i take it that it was probably a simple accident or repair? I'd be pissed too finding that out AFTER doing a check and buying it, but it's not like the vehicle is not safe or less than factory quality.

 

[IA Shelby]

Carfax is a decent start but not totally inclusive. It should be used as a single data point but nothing more. If I was going to spend significant money on a used vehicle, I would pay to have a quality PPI conducted on the vehicle. That is where you will get the most complete picture of the cars condition.