Carfax $5000 Guarantee-did You Collect

[PFORPAUL]

READING BRYAN2BY2'S POST AND LUDS REPLY ABOUT THE
CLEAN TITLE GUARANTEE-I'm curious if anyone knows anyone
who has cashed a $5000 check from carfax.

It seems to me that if the carfax is clean then whoever paid for the report has a possible claim. Hopefully the selling dealer
paid for bryans report. Also it is a relatively simple task to get
"all" the previous title history.Each title should have a previous
title number on it-one by one you can get the info probably at a
couple of dollars for each title search

Bryan,post the vin and I bet most of your questions will be
answered.

IMO--as I have posted before--Carfax can only help you make a decision NOT TO BUY a particular car-ie:the carfax says it found
a salvage title or mileage rollback--NEVER NEVER assume the
car is ok because carfax report is clean-have it checked out
by a bodyshop and a mechanic.

AS for Bryans plight- I feel sorry for you and I hope this is the worst thing that ever happens to you in life

 

[Ojas]

I've been curious about this as well. According to the CarFax Help Center (Certified History guarantee), in order for CarFax to process a claim, CarFax needs (among a other things):

proof of the pre-existing problem title for U.S. claims or proof of a branded registration for Canadian claims. This document should be the title or registration (Canada) that you feel CARFAX should have reported on. This title or registration should have been issued before the date that you ran the CARFAX report

Even if an individual ran a CarFax report (which shows the car is clean), purchased the vehicle, and later found out (perhaps by an inspection or body shop), that the car had definately been in a serious accident (serious enough for a salvage title), how on would one be able to collect a claim if no title information was recorded (for example, no police report was filed and the owner at the time fixed it himself) or even if the title was "cleaned" within the same state?

Maybe I don't exactly understand what happens when a title is cleaned. Is a new clean title issued and all previous titles are left alone or is the existing title and all previous titles cleaned?

Anyway, I just wanted to point out: According CARFAX one is only entitled to a claim if title-related information (that is more than 60-days old at the time of the report) is missing from the CarFax report. They appear to make no guarantee about actual condition, repair, etc. of the car, itself, nor do they imply that a clean title means a "clean car."

EDIT: So in Bryan's case, he would need to produce a salvage title before CarFax would look at his claim. Even if the car had been rolled and there was major structural damage, but no salvage title was issued, CarFax would turn down his claim.

Also, $5000 is the maximum amount ("CARFAX will pay you 10 percent of the vehicle's current value up to $5,000.")

 

[PFORPAUL]

I suspect that Bryan actually got a title with some coding etc to indicate "salvage"

Carfax is overused by dealers/sellers to get you to "THINK"
the car is problem free. The dealers probably get stung very
often also.I just traded my BMW i n and the dealer made me "certify" that the car was never in an accident etc.They
gave me top dollar in real numbers so I was glad to do it

 

[Brian2by2]

CarFax's are very misleading...and I'm now learning in my state we allow "Title Washing" which really sucks!!!

I will post my VIN as soon as i get it!!

And I as well hope this is the worst thing that happens to me in my life but I doubt it!! Thanks for the concern...all in all, it's just a car and it probably won't last all the remaining years of my life anyways...

 

[JAM]

I would like to add something to this discussion because I have a little different perspective concerning buying/selling cars and the auto history check companies like CARFAX and AUTOCHECK. I have never known anyone or heard of anyone collecting any $5,000 guarantee on a car, I think they get lost in the tiny writing at the bottom of the CarFax
I own a couple businesses, one of them being an auto locating service. We locate cars specifically for customers we get through referrals, charging less than dealerships for similar cars and providing more of a one on one setting and I believe offering more of a trustful and comfortable situation to buy a car in. Trust is the key in buying any car, especially a high end car like the NSX.
As PFORPAUL said, you should NEVER ASSUME a cars history in any situation, regardless of what the seller shows you in the way of a CarFax. I have seen numerous cars at auctions that were OBVIOUSLY repaired wrecks, from poor repairs to very nice jobs ... and when they hit the block the seller through auction house rules would be forced to announce "salvage history" or "not actual mileage" because the auction's history check revealed such a problem. The announcement right after that is usually "does not show up on CARFAX..." or some other history check, directing the purchasing dealers to buy the car and push the appropriate background check (as a selling tool for that unscrupulous dealer).
IMO, when you are buying a car you should do the following:
1.) Try to see the car in person and get a feel for the seller or salesman. Do they seem to avoid anything you ask about the car?
2.) Have it checked over by a reputable shop! That doesn't always mean a dealership, because they are in the business of selling and working on cars and may have an overly judgmental opinion of the cars condition.
3.) Try to talk to the previous owner, regardless of whom you are buying the car from at that point. I have met very few people that have owned higher end cars that did not enjoy sharing a few minutes of some stories about their previous car, which sometimes ends up giving you reasons not to buy the car such as it has been wrecked, or not actual miles ... but I have also called on previous car owners and found a load of extras and records!

I hope things work out for you Brian2by2... and I can tell you as a dealer, PURSUE this in court, they will protect buyers who have had problems with dealers as long as you have not caused undue damage to the car since you bought it. Good Luck!