Do most repair shops report to CarFax?

[lizpat]

I am curious about how CarFax works especially in regards to service records. We know that CarFax records accidents that have been reported to them, my guess is that they have some co-operative relationship with various police agencies around the country. If you don't report a fender-bender, it won't show, naturally. What about service records? Based on my experience, most (if not all) dealerships report to CarFax. What about independent repair shops?

Do most of them also report to Carfax? What percentage would you say?

What is their relationship with CarFax? In return for this type of record keeping, do they get certain perks in return from CarFax?

Just curious.

 

[Lubener]

Dealers generally do but not many independents report to Carfax I have noticed. If there is a police report involving an accident, it generally will appear on a Carfax.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Dealers do. Independents most do not except for inspections because they have too. You can go on the free car fax and add your own service records to your vehicle if you wanted too.

 

[wpod]

Dealers do. Independents most do not except for inspections because they have too. You can go on the free car fax and add your own service records to your vehicle if you wanted too.

Why would any one want to?

 

[Zee09]

Why would any one want to?

It is a record your car has been serviced
When people buy used from here they mention that often
I myself buy new- so I really don't care

 

[AutoMechanic]

Why would any one want to?

It’s a record. I know lots of people that do it and want it when they buy a car. I want to know everything that’s happened to a car when I bought it. I personally keep records on paper as I am not good with computers.

 

[skyactiv]

You can register and report your own maintenance And repairs you perform yourself if desired.

 

[Wolf359]

Why would any one want to?

One way to keep track of things without keeping any paper records. I put it in when I DIY my own oil changes. Otherwise where would I make note of it? Not like I'm going to write up a receipt to keep in a folder. Then I can look it up a year later to figure out what the mileage was at the time.

Also it depends on the indy. I sometimes take my car to an indy who changes the oil for $20 when I bring the oil and filter. Then I see it shows up in the carfax. The indy is a decent sized shop and they always send me flyers with various promotions. I've seen them also on websites where they give you average estimates on various repair jobs.

For accidents, Autocheck seems better at that than Carfax. Lots of times you hear of an accident on Autocheck but not on Carfax. Mine was like that too, but I knew it in advance.

 

[lizpat]

Dealers do. Independents most do not except for inspections because they have too. You can go on the free car fax and add your own service records to your vehicle if you wanted too.

You can register and report your own maintenance And repairs you perform yourself if desired.

Wow! This is news to me! This is very useful information as a DIY'er. It helps maintain the value of your car since as a DIY're you CERTAINLY take better care of your car than regular ppl.

 

[wag123]

All of the state DMVs report to CarFax and AutoCheck (that is how they get state inspection records as well), as do the new car dealers (through their auto manufacturers), also some used car dealer chains (like CarMax), and large corporate (and some smaller) body shop chains. CarFax pays for some of the information that they get, so does AutoCheck. Because of this, sometimes one of them will have information that the other one doesn't have. Contrary to what some people believe, neither one gets any information from the insurance companies.

 

[dx92beater]

I had an independent Subaru specialist report to Carfax. Without paying for Carfax, how do I know what they reported?

I received an estimate for several line items that the Subaru specialist claims are bad. I do not concur with that diagnosis.

I then went to Firestone and they came up with the same line items during their annoying little "free" inspection that they do to pad their pockets when I bring my vehicle in for the unlimited alignment that I paid for.

Does a shop like Firestone potentially pull the alleged diagnosis from Firestone?

 

[el Nuke]

I had an independent Subaru specialist report to Carfax. Without paying for Carfax, how do I know what they reported?

I received an estimate for several line items that the Subaru specialist claims are bad. I do not concur with that diagnosis.

I then went to Firestone and they came up with the same line items during their annoying little "free" inspection that they do to pad their pockts when I bring my vehicle in for the unlimited alignment that I paid for.

Does a shop like Firestone potentially pull the alleged diagnosis from Firestone?

Download and install the myCarFax app (free to sign up) to see the service history of any car in your ‘Garage’ (added by VIN).

I would be absolutely stunned if Firestone were pulling any info off CarFax for their potential service report.

 

[dx92beater]

Download and install the myCarFax app (free to sign up) to see the service history of any car in your ‘Garage’ (added by VIN).

I would be absolutely stunned if Firestone were pulling any info off CarFax for their potential service report.

Does this information end up being the same as:

CARFAX Car Care: The Best Car Maintenance App for Service Alerts

If so, I have had a free account at that link for a while with an associated VIN for the vehicle for years.

The information I get for the service done there is below and vague. I always wondered if a paid subscriber could get more information than I can. I just thought it was strange they both said the same exact thing. Maybe the vehicle does really have the same issues and I am not as good as I once was...lol!

Information below has been sanitized.

So and so shop

DATE​

xx/xx/xxxx

ODOMETER​

1xx,xxx mi

Services Performed​

• Vehicle serviced

 

[el Nuke]

Does this information end up being the same as:

CARFAX Car Care: The Best Car Maintenance App for Service Alerts

If so, I have had a free account at that link for a while with an associated VIN for the vehicle for years.

The information I get for the service done there is below and vague. I always wondered if a paid subscriber could get more information than I can. I just thought it was strange they both said the same exact thing. Maybe the vehicle does really have the same issues and I am not as good as I once was...lol!

So and so shop

DATE​

09/12/2019

ODOMETER​

1xx,xxx mi

Services Performed​

• Vehicle serviced

Looks to be the same, although I don’t know that the details are intentionally vague-ed, as I’ve seen much detail on some entries and nearly none on others. I thinks it’s all up the shop reporting the service. If they choose to be vague and just report “vehicle serviced”, that’s all that will show up.

 

[wag123]

CarFax is purposely vague about the information that they provide for free. They will also tell you that the vehicle has X number of records in the report. This is done to get you to pay for a report.

 

[el Nuke]

CarFax is purposely vague about the information that they provide for free. They will also tell you that the vehicle has X number of records in the report. This is done to get you to pay for a report.

Plenty of detail when it’s reported. Some places just don’t report many details.

 

[dx92beater]

I wonder if I can do a FOIA or the like on my vehicle based on all of this. Don't I have the right to dispute inaccurate information on my car like I do my credit report under the FCRA? I have just kind of sat on this for a while but this thread has me going.

 

[dx92beater]

More importantly, maybe someone will have mercy on me and run a free carfax VIN for me offline so I can see for myself.

 

[el Nuke]

More importantly, maybe someone will have mercy on me and run a free carfax VIN for me offline so I can see for myself.

PM me the VIN and I’ll add it to my garage and see what the service history entries look like. I can screen shot them for you if there aren’t too many, but if it’s more than a handful, it would be easier for you to just install the app and check them out for yourself

 

[Hall]

When people buy used from here they mention that often

What I've read here more often is the member here is the one selling the car and they proudly hand the buyer the service records and most act like "why do I need this?". I'd say this is the case for 90% or higher of vehicle buyers/owners too.

CarFax is purposely vague about the information that they provide for free.

Not my experience. I bought my G35 used, loaded it into My CarFax and have records from the Infiniti dealer it was serviced at and then later from the independent shop. My wife's Fusion has records from service done at Ford dealers, Valvoline Instant Oil Change, even a Blaine's Farm and Fleet that repaired a tire. Lastly, our son's Accord has plenty of records and details from a local Honda dealer and then the independent shop the previous owner switched to as soon as the warranty ended (she actually noted this in the service record booklet ).