CARFAX

The customer is mistaken The Report and 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 verified that the vehicle was reported as a total loss by the insurance company This may have been an owner-retained situation, where a total loss claim was paid but the owner kept the vehicle If the total loss is in error, the vehicle owner would have to get this corrected with the insurance company

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: While I agree with CARFAX's assessment that they did inform me, in the absolute strictest legal sense, there is still a huge problem hereYes, I agree that their collective butts are covered by their legal jargonThere is indeed plenty enough words in the contract and on the website to say that I SHOULD have known what I purchasedHowever, when numerous people have been duped into believing they are buying something other than what they are buying, it's obvious there is a problemCARFAX preys on the psychology of the buyerIf I am NOT the only person who has interpreted their website and advertisements this way, then there is indeed a noticeable, and potentially measurable effect on potential customersIf this measurable effect translates to sales, and sales that would have otherwise been lost had the consumers more fully understood what they were purchasing, this can be reasonably asserted to be an unethical business practiceUnfortunately, the metrics needed to make such assessment are outside my ability to quanitfy; but, anecdotally it appears there are many people who have been confused by the way the CARFAX unlimited product is marketedEverything from font choice, type size, and word order, as well as imagery layout suggests a strong bias towards implying that VIN searches are CARFAX's primary service they sellI also feel that a random sampling of potential customers would illicit an agreementFurthermore, I think if CARFAX submitted their marketing materials to marketing programs in universities, they would likely agree the content heavily emphasizes the VIN search capability My complaint stands, CARFAX is knowingly conducting a fraudulent form of businessThey are indeed covered LEGALLY, but it does not cover them ETHICALLYAs soon as my subscription ends I will fully terminate my relationship with CARFAX and encourage others to do the same Regards, [redacted] ***

The customer entered in the billing address, not CARFAX This is what they entered as a billing address: Po box [redacted] [redacted] MA [redacted] Therefore, this is where, per the customer's instructions, the invoices were sent - this was not a CARFAX error CARFAX also sent overdue notices to the billing address the customer provided The customer was using the service and not paying for it, they should have contacted CARFAX about the lack of billing CARFAX had no way of knowing the invoices and overdue notices were not arriving to the customer because CARFAX was using the billing address the customer provided Further, the contract clearly lists the price as $ If the customer has any documentation to show otherwise, we would be happy to review it However, until then, we must go by the contract that was provided to us, which was a Massachusetts billing address and a monthly minimum price of $ The customer used the service and now must pay for it, and CARFAX is not asking anything other than the unpaid balance CARFAX is not asking for late fees, collection fees, or interest

The CARFAX order page states in several places that the Unlimited plan is unlimited using the U.Slicense plate In fact, the customer is aware that it is a 60-day plan, and it states that in the same place and size/color font as it does about the license plates The order page states "Unlimited Reports by U.SLicense Plate / Valid for Days" This is also listed in the Customer Agreement on the order page, prior to purchase After purchase, these details are also indicated in the order confirmation page, the receipt email, and stated in the account upon logging in If the customer wants to discuss their account further, they may reach our customer support team at http://support.carfax.com/c_contactus

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: 1) I contacted the CAR FAX help desk via filing out a form since there wasn't a phone number to contact The response did not answer my questions pertaining to what appeared on the CAR FAX report regarding my car, nor did it allow me to view the report for free How can I claim an error if I have to pay to review a report? 2) I had interested parties in the car I had for sale, however when they reviewed the CAR FAX report they had to use what little information was contained in the report and make an "uneducated guess" as to what the report indicated They then in turn decided there wasn't enough information to consider buying my car I know for a fact the car had been in a MINOR accident, with very little damage to the car and that the repair was an easy fix However I couldn't convince the interested parties of this, and therefore they all told me they would not buy my car One party said the CAR FAX report verified an accident and as a result not recommend buying my car 3) I find it a "conflict of interest" that CAR FAX sells cars on their web site yet freely can describe my car as being in a serous accident and therefore not recommend buying my car It is clear that CAR FAX will promote cars on their web site if a person pays to run an ad, however freely report accidents, no matter how minor, on ads that are not published on the CAR FAX web site Also, I never gave CAR FAX permission to report ANY and ALL information on my car My car was being sold privately and not at a sales lot and therefore CAR FAX should have received my permission to release any information from insurance companies, collision businesses, or any company that retains car accident information on my car 4) CAR FAX's response regarding my complaint stated that my car was worth $more than *BB This was considering I ended up selling my car for $8300, which is $less than *BB Therefore I am requesting CAR FAX reimburse me $for losses due to lack of specific information in the CAR FAX report regarding my car and the minor accident that occurred Regards, [redacted]

I will need more specific information in order to respond to this complaint, including a copy of the page referencing free reports

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:On the order page of their website at the bottom left corner, it clearly states: "Money Back Guarantee if Not 100% Satisfied - No Risk!" There are no disclaimers or restrictions noted I ordered this based on the need to buy from a dealer (by VIN), not a private party (by plate #) Furthermore, this is not just 'not clear' to me, it's 'not clear' to many other purchasers according to this website of complaints from other unsatisfied customersI am respectfully requesting that they honor this statement on their website, instead of the hidden, obscure, misleading, conflicting statements of only offering a money back guarantee only if you have used or less VIN searches according to the customer agreement and or less according to the refund submission webform (error message is displayed in red after you click submit)Or, I would much prefer the option to do unlimited VIN searches for days, which is what I originally paid for and in all sincerity believed I was purchasing I would also respectfully request that CarFax make a clear statement that indicates (as they said in this response) "CARFAX does not offer or advertise an unlimited-by-VIN plan" This would be EXTREMELY HELPFUL in making a purchase decision - I would not have purchased this product if this were clearly stated exactly as mentioned in the customer service response Regards, [redacted] ***

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: While there is a "disclaimer" in the advertisement, it is buried in the "Splash" of the Ad, and in much smaller print than the wording of Unlimited Very deceitful !! Regards, [redacted] ***

The customer purchased the Unlimited CARFAX ReportsThe order page lists the plan as "Unlimited CARFAX Reports / only $/ Unlimited Reports by U.SLicense Plate / Valid for 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

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: Whatever is it, when a person buys a car from a dealer , he never goes for a third party inspection because the dealer won't allow thatMy point is just that - I paid more money for this carAnyways, am going to lodge a complaint with the State Attorney General today to see what best can be done Someone has to own for the monetary loss that I have suffered for this If that's not going to help, I will discuss this case with an attorney and take it to the small claims court as I have both the copies of the Carfax reports Regards, [redacted]

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: That business has been closed for yearsI ran it from my home which is the same addressI cannot change thatMy email has always been the same and I should not have to change that as well to suit youWhen I enter my [redacted] email your system automatically fills in the blanks not me and you know thatIt is pathetic that you would work with me on this matterI have said multiple times that you can check for an active licence for ***Therefore I am not an active business Revdex.com: What if any steps or actions can be taken next to helpThe last message I received said carfax considers this case resolved which is clearly not the caseI have provided overwhelming evidence that I am not a dealerThey have obviously taken my money and will not work with meThere is no laws stating that if I close my home based business thay I have to move or change my email accounts [redacted] @***.com has been my primary account long before I started [redacted] autoThanksRegards, [redacted]

CARFAX reviewed the customers concerns and his documentation As explaind to the customer via email on November 11, 2014, the manufacturer of the vehicle considers these repairs to be structural repairs, and therefore CARFAX must continue report the structural damage

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 damageThe 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

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: According to the FTC website ( [redacted] ) it states the following: ""Guarantees If your ad uses phrases like "satisfaction guaranteed" or "money-back guarantee," you must be willing to give full refunds for any reason."" The aforementioned is very clear The FTC states 'any reason.' Can the FTC be any more clear? The fact that CARFAX has terms and conditions that I accepted is irrelevant, since the terms must be in compliance with FTC rules I have filed a complaint with the FTC and there is an ongoing investigation Regards, [redacted]

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 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 CARFAX Reports by VIN for free, but this is a gift and is not part of the purchase

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: I don' t know where you are getting your definitionsAccording to insurance.com a "totaled" vehicle is a vehicle that the damage amount exceeds the value of the car, there fore an insurance company is not going to repair the vehicleAs I continue to explain to you, this is not the caseCan you give me a legal definiton of a totaled vehicle compared to a total loss? Your definition of totaled is different than most car dealers or insurance companiesWhen a car dealer pays for a Carfax report, which is information that your companies sells to them for a profit, the status is totaled and they inform you the price of your vehicle has gone down 5,dollars because the report says totaledWhat do you think they are interpreting? They are not looking at your report and making the determination that Oh, well I need to get the car looked at by a mechanic because a carfax report, that will follow the car from owner to owner, is just one tool Which is what your are implyingThe way you report the information comes across as the car is totaledMaybe because it is in big bold lettersAgain I ask you if this information is displayed as clearly to a dealer as you seem to think, why would they reduce the price? Again, I have proper documentation to prove your report is wrong but a dealer or anybody else interested in the vehicle will not have access to the information and therefore the re-sale value is diminishedI can proof to them that the information is but when they go to sell the vehicle themselves your report will be what they rely onThis is only one of the reasons that it needs to be correctedYour procedure for correcting this information is flawedI would really like to know how many police reports have been sucessfully changed for consumers to get this information off of your reportHow many other consumers in Virginia are in the same situation as me because they cannot get a police report changed? Are they losing thousands of dollers also? According to your represenative that I have been corresponding with Carfax is unwillingly to remove "totaled" from the vehicle report unless the police report is changedAs I have stated to you earlier the state police cannot change a report after it has been filedI contacted the Virginia State Police and was told this informationSo as a consumer I am stuck with your company reporting that the car has been totaled, which is falseSo what other steps can be taken to get it removed? You say that Carfax takes no responsibility for incorrect information that is providedAll other companies are held to a certain standard when making a profit for providing informationIf you are relying on information you should be able to back it up with factsThe facts are a police officer made a judgement call about the vehicle and placed this information on his police report and you then are reporting itThe Virginia State Police will tell you that information on the report is only an opinion of the officerThey are not trained nor do they claimed to be trained in determining whether a vehicle is totaled or not Regards, [redacted]

The South Dakota had issued a "Damage Disclosure" title on this vehicle around the time the vehicle was totaled by the insurance company The damage disclosure displayed on the CARFAX Report Due to age, South Dakota stopped reporting the damage disclosure which is how the vehicle was able to receive a clean title, but CARFAX continued to report the prior damage disclosure In 2013, a new source began reporting total loss information to CARFAX, which is why the total loss was not reported to CARFAX in Every CARFAX Report states that it can only report the information reported to CARFAX at that time, that other information including problems may not yet have been reported, and therefore the CARFAX Report should be used as a tool along with a pre-purchase inspection and test drive to assess the condition and value of the vehicle CARFAX did report the damage disclosure title, recommend a pre-purchase vehicle inspection, and gave notice that other information, including problems, has not yet been reported CARFAX was not unable to report the total loss prior to because it had not yet been reported to CARFAX Because CARFAX did not miss a branded title, and because it adequately disclosed its limitations, it cannot offer any compensation

The customer purchased a CARFAX Vehicle History Report for the subject vehicle on January 3, The website the customer visited to make the purchase, www.carfax.com, stated on each class="MsoNoSpacing" CARFAX Vehicle History Reports are based on information supplied to CARFAXCARFAX does not have the complete history of every vehicleUse the CARFAX search as one important tool, along with a vehicle inspection and test drive, to make a better decision about your next used car The order form used to make the purchase at the time stated: By processing my order, I agree to the terms of the Customer Agreement and understand that CARFAX may not have the complete history of every vehicle Make sure you read our Customer Agreement before you ask us to process your order Within the Customer Agreement, to which the customer agreed when he purchased the CARFAX Report, it states: CARFAX REPORTS ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND IN NO EVENT WILL CARFAX BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF CARFAX REPORTS The CARFAX Vehicle History Report at the time stated: No accident / damage reported to CARFAX This CARFAX Vehicle History Report is based only on information supplied to CARFAX and available as of [the date and time of the Report]Other information about this vehicle, including problems, may not have been reported to CARFAXUse this report as one important tool, along with a vehicle inspection and test drive, to make a better decision about your next used car No total loss reported to CARFAX Use this tool, along with a vehicle inspection and test drive, to make a better decision about your next used car CARFAX DEPENDS ON ITS SOURCES FOR THE ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF ITS INFORMATIONTHEREFORE, NO RESPONSIBILITY IS ASSUMED BY CARFAX OR ITS AGENTS FOR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN THIS REPORT I personally spoke with the customer and am sorry to say that his recollection of the conversation is not accurate I never stated that “this happens and they get many cases and complaints of this sort - and that I shouldn't try to resolve my issue with CarFax because the consumer never gets their rightful damages.” What I did say is that in a total loss record was reported to CARFAX When the customer ran the CARFAX Report in January of 2012, the source of the total loss record had not yet contracted to provide information to CARFAX Therefore, CARFAX fulfilled its obligation to the customer by displaying those records reported to CARFAX and available for display as of the date and time the CARFAX Report was generated, by accurately and correctly stating that no total loss had been reported to CARFAX, along with ample notices of the limitations of the CARFAX Vehicle History Report The CARFAX Vehicle History Report never stated that no total loss exists or that the vehicle is free from any damage or other negative history To the contrary, the CARFAX Vehicle History Report put the customer on notice that not all information, including problems, is reported to CARFAX, and therefore the CARFAX Report should be used along with a pre-purchase vehicle inspection and thorough test drive to check for anything not reported to CARFAX, including prior repairs and hidden damage CARFAX’s advertising speaks for itself, and if the customer would like to discuss the content of a particular ad, please provide a copy of, or link to, the subject advertisement CARFAX advertisements have never made any statements on the reliability of CARFAX Reports, and have clearly stated that a CARFAX Report can only show you information reported to CARFAX We believe a customer should obtain a CARFAX Vehicle History Report before deciding whether or not to purchase a vehicle, but the customer must read the entire CARFAX Report, including its limitations, and follow its recommendation to get the vehicle inspected The customer stated to me that he wanted to speak with a legal department for CARFAX for information on filing a lawsuit I denied the customer’s request because CARFAX cannot give legal advice to consumers Because the customer stated he had already obtained an attorney, I suggested he check with his attorney or local court clerk for legal advice I am sorry if the customer wanted CARFAX to have all information about all vehicles, but CARFAX never claimed it would, and has expressly stated that not all information, including problems, is reported to CARFAX, and therefore each CARFAX Report urges customers to use the CARFAX Report as only one of many available tools, along with a pre-purchase vehicle inspection and thorough test drive, before making their purchase decision

CARFAX receives vehicle history information reported from over 80,sources CARFAX receives the information electronically, directly from the source, and does not receive any paper documents or perform any data entry We cannot always prevent a source from reporting an error, but we do have a simple process to get an error corrected Simply complete the Data Research Request form through the link below to get the process started [redacted]