Carfax Inc

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Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
There are still things on the report that are not true.  3/12/2014 shows the vehicle was purchased again?!?  That is not true, and on 2/3/15 I don't know what that is referring to because that didn't happen.  I also want the word collision removed from the source in the 5/17/13 line as it was not a collision it was a comprehensive claim.  It was done by [redacted] Auto Body in Waverly Iowa.  I want everything that indicates an accident removed from this report.  Dealers are devaluing the crap out of this car because of that.  It needs to indicate HAIL DAMAGE because that is what the claim is referring to and it is what actually happened.  Aside from that the other reported items are either warranty work or recall.  I will not consider this resolved until all of that report indicates what actually happened.
Regards,
[redacted]

After checking with the police department, CARFAX verified that the document the customer provided in support of his claim was false.  The document was altered to remove the subject vehicle.  After obtaining an authentic copy of the CARFAX Report, it further shows that the statements...

in his complaint are also false.  The complaint states that the subject vehicle was not involved in the accident, that it was a car belonging to the complainant's wife, and that the complainant only stopped by to make a statement.
The actual police report does indeed list the complaint’s vehicle, with the complainant as the driver.  According to the police report, the vehicle made a series of unsafe lane changes (code 26 - Operated vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner) causing a collision between two other vehicles.  
The information on the CARFAX Report was not, and never was, incorrect.  The vehicle was involved in the accident, and caused the accident, and the complainant was involved as well.  However, as confirmed by the police report, because the vehicle was not impacted or damaged, CARFAX removed the accident record from the CARFAX Report per its current policy.  The accident record was removed because the vehicle was not impacted, and not because any error had taken place on the part of CARFAX or the police department.

The complaint has two main components: not reporting the total loss when the customer purchased the vehicle, and reporting the total loss when he tried to sell it.
As previously stated, the CARFAX Report can only report the information reported to CARFAX.  The CARFAX Report put the customer on notice that it can only report what has been reported to it at that moment, that not everything, including problems, is reported to CARFAX, that new data will result in a change to the CARFAX Report, and therefore that the customer should get the vehicle inspected.  The CARFAX Report also notified the customer of a severe accident.  CARFAX was clear about its limitations, and therefore is not going to offer any compensation.
The customer is now suggesting that CARFAX should have removed the total loss, not because it was incorrect, but solely so that he could hide this fact and sell the vehicle for more money.  This would be tantamount to fraud and CARFAX will have no part of it.

We could not locate any contact with this customer under the provided email address.  The only purchase we could locate is from January, which has since expired.  The order page of the Unlimited plan states that it is unlimited using the U.S license plate for 60 days.  The plan does...

include five VINs for cases where plate information is not available, but it is a license plate plan.  Had the customer contacted our customer support team, we could have worked with them to make adjustments to their account.  Unfortunately, since the account is expired, we cannot make any adjustments at this time.

A CARFAX Vehicle History Report can only display information that has been reported to CARFAX by its sources at the moment the CARFAX Report is run.  Not all sources report to CARFAX at any given moment, which means new information will result in a change to the CARFAX Report when that new...

information is reported to CARFAX.  When the customer viewed the CARFAX Vehicle History Report, that CARFAX Report fulfilled its obligation of displaying all records that had been reported to CARFAX.  The CARFAX Report did not display a total loss record at that time because that record had not been reported to CARFAX by any of its sources, and that particular data source had not agreed to report any information to CARFAX at that time.  Every CARFAX Report lets its viewer know that not all information, including problems, will be included on that particular CARFAX Report, and therefore recommends a pre-purchase vehicle inspection and thorough test drive to check for anything not reported to CARFAX, including prior repairs and hidden damage.
The CARFAX Buyback Guarantee ("BBG") does not cover insurance-deemed total loss information.  The BBG covers only missing DMV-issued branded titles.  Therefore, regardless of the one-year expiration, this situation would not have been covered by the BBG.  If the customer does find that a branded title had been issued by DMV prior to their purchase of the vehicle and not included in the CARFAX Report, I would recommend the customer fill out a BBG claim form.

Closing the account for commercial use was not done arbitrarily.  The complainant signed a car dealership subscription contract with CARFAX under the name [redacted] Auto Broker.  The complainant later canceled that account and purchased a consumer account providing all the same contact information that was listed on the dealership contract, including the name of "[redacted] Auto Broker."  The account will not be reactivated nor refunded by CARFAX.  The customer may file a charge dispute with his bank.  CARFAX considers this matter resolved.

CARFAX receives all of its information from its sources as electronic database files and does not receive paper copies of documents or perform any data entry.  Thus, an error made by a data source may sometimes display on a CARFAX Report, and CARFAX has no way of knowing if any information...

contains an error until it is brought to our attention.  The accident with airbag deployment was reported to CARFAX by the police department.  Upon being contacted by the customer, CARFAX contacted the police department and ordered a copy of the police report.  We are the mercy of the police department to process our order and provide the police report and are not able to expedite our order.  The repair order provided by the customer shows that an airbag was not replaced, but we cannot assume that it did not deploy.  A police report is also an official document that we cannot misrepresent, and thus we had to wait for the police report to arrive before the CARFAX Report could be updated.  The police report arrived and it was in fact coded that the airbag did deploy, and thus the data provided to CARFAX was accurate.  It is the responsibility of the vehicle owner to ensure that the police report is accurate at the time it is written.  Fortunately, the narrative of the police report (which was not provided to CARFAX initially) specifically stated that the airbag did not deploy.  This confirmed that the police report was coded in error by the investigating officer, which allowed CARFAX to remove the airbag deployment from the CARFAX Report.

[To assist us in bringing this...

matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Their advertising is misleading. Here is the response I received for publication on your website:
Please note that not all information about a vehicle is reported to CARFAX. All of the information listed on the report is what has been reported to us and we do not have access to further information. Our reports are based on information given to us by thousands of data sources who choose to work with us. We continuously contract with new sources to obtain new and archived data and we update our reports as often as possible. Sources of damage data are not required to report information to our company, so the reporting of events is based on a source's willingness to participate with us and when they begin providing information to us thereafter.We do not guarantee the reporting of all data, but rather recommend using our reports along with a thorough inspection from a certified mechanic before purchasing a vehicle. As a result, we do not offer compensation for missing accidents or other damage events. The only data covered by the CARFAX Buyback Guarantee are missing branded titles. MatthewResolution ManagerCARFAX Inc.
Regards,
[redacted]

The customer is mistaken.  The 1 Report and 5 Report plans are not "VIN number"plans.  Rather, those CARFAX Reports plans are by VIN or license plate.  The Unlimited plan, as it clearly states on the order page, is by license plate only.  This is also outlined in the customer...

agreement on the order page.

CARFAX has resolved this matter directly with the customer.  Together, we were able to confirm that there was very minor damage to the right center of the vehicle, and the CARFAX Report was updated to reflect these details.

[redacted] notified the customer on 1/14/2015 that we were researching the total loss and would get back to them once research concluded.  [redacted] displays a total loss because it was reported to [redacted] that the insurance company declared this vehicle a total loss.  A total loss does not always...

result in a branded title, and in this case, the [redacted] Report is reporting that the title has not been branded

We are proud to help millions of consumers every year make better decisions about their next used car.  I do not know what else to tell you, the order page is pretty clear.

On 3/20/2014 at 5:49 PM, CARFAX email the customer the following response:
Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;"> 
[redacted], 
[redacted] has asked me to review your case. 
The CARFAX order page is clear that the Unlimited Plan is only unlimited using the U.S. license plate. This was also in the Customer Agreement, which you accepted before placing your order, and in your receipt email, and listed in your account whenever you log in. I am not sure what else you would have expected CARFAX to do to let you know that it is unlimited by license plate, but certainly there is no reason to accuse CARFAX of deliberately misleading you. We neither offer nor advertise an unlimited-by-VIN plan. 
Lastly, because you ran seven CARFAX Reports, and in accordance with the Customer Agreement to which you agreed when placing your order, your account does not qualify for a refund. 
Best regards, 
[redacted] 
Manager, Product Support and Data Escalations

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:This is the first I'm hearing that the police report was received by Carfax and that the information was "verified."  Previously I was told that the police report was being ordered and that I would get a copy of it to pursue from there. 
This just furthers my point that Carfax has been impossibly difficult to deal with during this entire fiasco. And I still find it unacceptable that Carfax can report incorrect information and then claim no liability in getting it fully resolved. 
Regards,
[redacted]

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: what is their msg. Yes I want to continue and I hope the Revdex.com can help me to either get reimbursed or allowed to have two more car reports. Please assist. They need to talk via this method. Thank You 
Regards,
[redacted]

In the product selection box, the CARFAX order page states that the Unlimited plan is unlimited using the U.S. license plate.  It is also on the order page in the Customer Agreement, as well as the purchase confirmation, receipt email, and stated in the account upon logging in.  Below is a...

direct copy and paste from the product selection boxes on the CARFAX order page:
1 CARFAX Report
$39.99
1 Report
5 CARFAX Reports
$49.99
5 Reports
Unlimited CARFAX Reports
only $54.99
Unlimited Reports by U.S. License Plate

With 12 billion vehicle history records reported from over 80,000 sources, we can't always prevent errors from being reported to CARFAX but we can fix them.  If you see an error on a CARFAX Vehicle History Report, we have a simple process to update it.  Just visit our website,...

www.carfax.com, and click the Help button at the top of the page to get to our Help Center.  Then, in the Contact Us section halfway down the page, click Submit a Request to Fix a Report.  Complete the Data Research Request form and provide your supporting documents and a Resolution Manager will contact you directly to get the CARFAX Vehicle History Report updated.

As the customer pointed out, the order page very clearly states that this is a license plate only plan.  It is also outlined in the Customer Agreement that a license plate and state is required to run each CARFAX Report: " I acknowledge and agree that vehicle license plate and state information is needed to run each CARFAX Report under this Plan."  Therefore, it is made quite clearly prior to the purchase that VINs cannot be used with the Unlimited Plan.  The 5 VINs is not specifically mentioned because the customer is not purchasing any searches by VIN, as this is a license plate only plan.  As a courtesy, we do allow the customer to run 5 CARFAX Reports by VIN for free, but this is a gift and is not part of the purchase.

The customer purchased the Unlimited CARFAX Reports. The order page lists the plan as "Unlimited CARFAX Reports / only $54.99 /...

Unlimited Reports by U.S. License Plate / Valid for 60 days" and also states this on the order page under the Customer Agreement, to which the customer read and accepted before placing their order.
 As a gesture of goodwill, the customer was given an additional fifteen CARFAX Reports to run by VIN.

CARFAX requested a copy of the repair order from the insurance company, but they would not release to us because we are not the insured.  On July 14, 2015, requested a copy of the repair order from the customer but to date no repair order or appraisal has been received.  To continue to...

dispute the record, the customer must provide a copy of the appraisal to the resolution manager handling their case and we will be happy to reopen the case.