Complaint Review: Carfax - Fairfax Virginia

"The point I'm trying to make since you clearly missed it, is that Carfax does not have the ability to guarantee anything."

If you were to click the Register Guarantee link at the bottom of the web page [that you provided the link to] you would find the following offer in large red bold print:

Please complete this registration in order to activate the CARFAX Buyback Guarantee for a qualifying vehicle.

The CARFAX Buyback Guarantee protects you from unknowingly buying a used car with DMV-reported incidents (salvage, fire, flood damage, odometer problems or lemon history). This coverage lasts one year and is transferable.

Did you complete the registration in order to activate the CARFAX Buyback Guarantee for a qualifying vehicle? Maybe the large bold print isn't large enough or bold enough for you?

So you had the vehicle inspected by a Dealer as well and even they couldn't find anything wrong.  Yet your car still fell apart the next month..umm.  Where is your RipOff report on them for not having ESP.  Heck, did they even inspect it or did they just take your money?

Here is another thought...what if the dealer showed you an old CarFax report?  What if the dealer showed you a CarFax Report for one that was close to it..after all a change of a simple digit in the VIN could turn a bad CarFax report into a good CarFax report.   Oh that's right every used car salesman is 100% truthful and honest so that can't be it.

As for the other postes postion with carfax.  If you had any reading comprehension you would realize that the person not only doesn't work for CarFax.  But the "fine print" you are questioning comes directly from their HOME PAGE..where anyone can check it out for themselves.  Including a link to a Sample Report.

One other thing.  You are also all over the place as to this guarantee.  Within literally a few sentences you go from them not being able to guarantee "Anything. Nothing. Zero. Zip". To.."Yes they can guarantee some things".

Indeed, I had the car inspected by a certified Chrysler dealer service department. They found nothing wrong with the car prior to purchase and the Carfax was "clean".

The car started falling apart a month after the purchase. The rear-end went out, the muffler and manifold on the engine had a leak, there were rattles in the car and the rearview camera went out, among other things.

I am just a lowly consumer who blindly trusted the Carfax Fox puppet on TV without reading the fine print, shame on me. But by the way, you seem to know the fine print very well so may I ask, what is your position with Carfax?

Yes, the fine print basically states, for all intents and purposes, that Carfax CANNOT guarantee the condition or history of ANY vehicle since, as you say, they do not have "ESP". I now know (but did not know) that Carfax does not have real-time reporting, since the govt. agencies may withhold a report for an extended period of time.

The point I'm trying to make since you clearly missed it, is that Carfax does not have the ability to guarantee anything. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. It’s all smoke and mirrors. They provide no value to the consumer. They're a Rip Off that leads consumers into costly mistakes.

Their promise of a guarantee for the majority of what they are marketing is a sham. Yes, they can guarantee some things, but they cannot guarantee what consumers expects based on their deceptive marketing.

The Carfax fine print is controversial because of its deceptive nature. Its purpose is to make the car buyer believe that the Carfax guarantee offers protection from inadvertently buying a vehicle that has previously been in an accident. You agree that they cannot make such claim.

Without showing the fine print on TV (at least my eyes could not read the illegible text), Carfax deceived me into believing that they could ultimately guarantee my vehicle purchase.

They deceived me by not clearly disclaiming that they could not guarantee my vehicle purchase. Their disclaimer negates their entire offer!

Let me say that again: Their disclaimer negates their entire offer - as their guarantee is implicitly all encompassing!

I was also lead to believe through the DEALER (the official or unofficial Carfax sales person, for all intents and purposes), that the car was guaranteed not to have been in an accident because the Carfax report stated so!

Carfax has been allowing dealers to deceptively market their reports to naive consumers. In fact they were sued for something related to this just a couple months ago: 

http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1083776_carfax-sued-for-50-million-by-120-u-s-dealers

150 dealers sued Carfax and I believe it’s time for a class action law suit from consumers as well.

I believe it is important for a family living on very little means to be able to know if the vehicle they are about to purchase could financially ruin them if they put too much trust in the Carfax AND inspection (as in my case).

By the very wording in the Carfax marketing and the wording in your rebuttal, one would be lead to believe that a Carfax report AND an inspection together should be an assurance that the car was not involved in an accident. It is not.

From a consumer’s perspective, inarguably, the Carfax advertisements and marketing lead consumers to believe that Carfax is omniscient about every accident report on every vehicle.

That’s what Carfax advertises by inference in its deceptive marketing campaigns.

Carfax can’t guarantee anything because they are not omniscient of every accident. But why so?

Wake up. We're living in the technology age. Something is broken with the system. Agencies should not require six months to a year in some cases for a traffic report to be released. The used car consumer is at a disadvantage.

We live in a day and age where emails and text messages can be sent and received almost instantaneously. Police dash cam images are sent electronically. Insurance companies are notified instantly. The used car buyer is left in the dark.

There is no reason for Carfax to use deceptive marketing and there’s no reason these reports can’t be released by government organizations within at least 24 hours or a week, not six months to a year.

If you refute any of this, then you're obviously working for Carfax as a sock puppet for hire. I do not have the time to reply, so fire away at yourself.

The CARFAX home page that you supplied states: CARFAX Vehicle History Reports are based on information supplied to CARFAX. CARFAX does not have the complete history of every vehicle

The sample CARFAX linked to the home page that you supplied states: This CARFAX Vehicle History Report is based only on information supplied to CARFAX...  Other information about this vehicle, including problems, may not have been reported to CARFAX. Use this report as one important tool, along with a vehicle inspection and test drive, to make a better decision about your next used car.

Did you follow their recommendation to have your vehicle inspected?

For some reason you expect the folks at CARFAX should have extrasensory perception. Well, they don't. No, I do not and have never worked for CARFAX or any auto dealer.