Wanted me in their preferred dealer program where I pay a discounted amount for each car. The local rep calls every 6 months to check in, and this instance I had a little more time than simply blow him off.

They created their market through advertising with used car sales stereotypes. Those commercials make people think that not providing a carfax automatically makes you a slimebag with something to hide. Their commericals also give the illusion of vehicles with an accident on the history as a reason for the seller to come down 50%... Not salvage title, just an accident.

Couple that with the ridiculous amount they charge, I only use autochecks. Unlimited reports each month for a fair price. Some people will only look at carfax because of their marketing, but I refuse to provide them. Happily provide the VIN if they want to pay $40 for 1 report.

I explained all this to the rep and replied that they don't use those commercials anymore. I just saw one today! I asked him how he could justify the ridiculous price and he didn't have a quick answer, just carfax gets more information.

I quit bothering explaining this to customers. When they say show me the carfax, I just quickly print off the autocheck and hand it to them, most don't know or care using the different brand.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

I used to use autocheck also.

Register with them and re-sell the reports online for somewhere between the "regular person" price and the discounted price?

Carfax isn't all-knowing. Someone on another forum got a deal for free carfaxes for some set number of days and invited other forum members to ask for carfaxes. My '83 came up clean, but I found out after I was rearended that the car had been rearended in the exact same spot at some previous time before I owned the car.

Edit: Exact same part of the car, not on 395S just north of U.S. 50 in Carson City where a fellow in a Chevy pickup "failed to notice traffic had stopped".

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

I've found it not entirely accurate for old cars. I wouldn't waste my time with it for anything from the 80s early 90s anymore, trusting mre in vehicle paperwork or just a good personal inspection.

I remember they listed my 220k 300D as being in an accident 5 years earlier with over 300k on it at the time. I did own a car that fit that description, but it wasn't the vin I ran, something about ownership history seemed to have ben mixed up. They were both 82 300Ds, and at one time owned at the same time by me.

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

It's not even accurate for newer cars. I bought a 2002 Ranger new at the Ford dealer and they reported the mileage as 11k so when it was first registered it was reported at 11 miles. Not an issue for me since I sold it to my brother who still has the truck but it did report on the car fax as having a rolled odometer.

Somebody has to pay for all that advertising....................hence the outrageous price.

If enough dealers think like you do...............Carfax will starve.

Reminds me of another company with outrageous fees that believes they have the corner on the market: e-bay.

car fax is a joke.
Only thing worse in the automotive biz is 99.9999 percent of the "extended warranty" companies.

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Alain
independant MBZ tech since 1981
http://www.motorsportlegendsks.com/

In my experience carfax misses a lot.

You could have a vehicle you smashed up and just paid for the repair out of pocket and it would never show up.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Well, yeah. If you didn't report it to the cops or insura-scum, then how would they have any way of knowing? Yeah, yeah, you're supposed to report damage over $500 in most states. If no one was hurt, no damage to others' property, and it was a single-car situation, I sure as hell wouldn't if I could get away with it.

You are right about that. I have seen this happen many times,,,especially with elderly folks that are worried about their kids finding out about their car crashes.

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Alain
independant MBZ tech since 1981
http://www.motorsportlegendsks.com/

Or if you paid cash for the car and don't choose to pay for the racket that's comp/collision insurance. Bad enough to be giving the insura-pigs $70/mo for liability without offering them more money.