l bought a car in 2006 with a clean Carfax report and now 2 1/2 years later when I am trying to sell it, it turns out Carfax shows an accident that happened in 2005 (a year before l bought it!!) and that they started reporting it in March, 2008. How crazy is that? They also do not offer a case number on the report so l can not even verify that it actually happened. l trusted Carfax when l was buying the car and now it looks like they screwed me over big time! I've been e-mailing them and l keep getting an automated answer that they are not responsible. What can l do? Has anyone had a similar experience with these crooks? I am not a sue happy person, but it pisses me off that their post with unconfirmed info will cost me money.
And l also had the vehicle inspected before l bought it - apart from some minor scratches on the hood it was fine. l just do not understand how they can post smth like on their report without a case number - noone would be able to find an accident report without the case number Carfax is supposed to make available.

Wow this is terrible, unfortunately l do not have any advice except try calling them alongside emails.

l am interested to see what evolves in this scenario. Sorry to hear the bad news though! =/

It is not their fault. If something is not reported to their system, it can not be included in a report. Did you have the vehicle inspected or did you just go off the information from Carfax? This is why it is not smart to rely only on what they say.

There is absolutely NOTHING you can do. Get over it and move on.

Carfax is not perfect, they never claimed to be perfect and they are not responsible for ANY omissions or erroneous information.

The only thing you can do is to explain the discepency to any potential buyer. Show them your copy of the Carfax from when you purchased the car and the new Carfax from recently.

Hey if an accident occurs in the woods & nobody reports it, did an accident really happen? Too many people believe Carfax has ALL accidents - that is just impossible. Think about it - there r millions of accidents every year reported to thousands of different police departments & many r not even reported!

That is why u also have the mechanic is inspection done. This is what it says on each report ''A 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 & test drive, to make a better decision about ur next used car.'' On the reports l have seen it also says ''Not all accidents r reported to Carfax.''

If the mechanic who inspected could not find obvious damage, then the accident may not have been very serious.

Move on.

Like the others said, Carfax is not the gospel. So, knowing cases like yours happen all the time, l have no idea what useful purpose the service serves to anyone.