The last 3 cars I have bought all had clean carfax reports yet, all 3 had some front end repair. The last car, my 2000 a6 4.2, was damaged enough that one shock tower had been replaced with a junk yard part, I know this as it had numbers painted on it,, obviously from a junk yard.
So I contend that a CARFAX is a complete waste of money!!! BENG

 

Carfax can only show what was ever reported to insurance companies and DVM. If someone repairs a badly damaged car in their home shop there is no way for anyone else to know about it. Carfax will report any salvage title and mileage discrepancies, as well as work paid for by insurances. It is a half measure, and you taking the car to a mechanic for inspection is the other half.

 

I'd agree the CarFax very, very often has no complete info.

It is useful to certain degree, but 100% trust is beyond it's capabilities.

The bottom line is that there is no unified info system CarFax could take data from, but various shops, that do not communicate in a network.
What if the repairs are done by the owner, or by small shop?

CarFax warranties only in event it missed formally available data!?

In one case I know CarFax misled on ownership and location of registration....

So => use your discretion.

 

Yes you are correct, I should have clarified that in my original post! Thanks ZIPPY!
BENG

 

i didnt use carfax before buying mine, i used a DMV report, same thing as carfax, and on my report they never said it went in for 2 recalls that i had on my car i found that very odd bc when i went to the dealer to have it done they told me "its already been done in september of whatever year"

 

waste of money ... if you are trying to hide something you take measures to hide it

done a lot of buying and selling and carfax is crap ... go see the car get under it check it out inside and out ... thats the only way