Carfax Accuracy?????

I don't necessarily think that few miles in a long time means a problem -- some people treat their Ferraris as garage queens, others drive 'em.

However, I do NOT trust carfax, and their data is far from complete. One of my former cars -- a Lamborghini Gallardo that was a) a rental vehicle from our fleet and b) totaled (and i mean TOTALED) in an accident in December of 2004 -- still shows a 100% clean problem-free report on carfax. 'Nuff said.

nlh

 

I believe that CarFax is a fairly reliable source for title registration and emission inspection information.

However, when it comes to accident information, CarFax is completely unreliable in my opinion. The reason for that is simple: not all accidents and insurance claims get reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles, which is where CarFax pulls its information. It is therefore perfectly possible to buy a damaged/flooded/totaled car that CarFax claims is 100% clean, as must have been the case with the Lamborghini Gallardo described in the previous posting by noahlh above.

A CarFax report I merely use as a formality; I want it to be clean in case I want to sell the car later on.

Every Ferrari owner has his reasons to let the car sit. A good reason would be a major repair bill (engine rebuild, new clutch etc.). They wait with the repair until they can take the financial hit.

Regards

 

Maybe the owner disconnected the odometer or sending unit....that is a fairly common occurance on these cars IMHO.......CARFAX/CARPROOF/et al report what data they get.......and their accuracy is unquestioned IMHO.

It is the data that is reported that should be questioned....not the reporter.

 

James, I'd try to get the name(s) of one or more previous owners. As you know by now, none of us can shut up when it comes to talking about our Ferraris.

My '87 also had a period of low miles, but then I talked to two previous owners and learned that it really had been a trailer queen, and sat in someone's car collection, for most of the late '80s through the mid '90s. I even got a written history of my 328 from the third owner.

But kds has a point, because a disconnected odometer won't show up on Carfax unless there was a rollback. You really want to try to learn the car's history.

If the car's on consignment, you might ask the dealer to correspond with the seller to learn more. It's trickier than if the dealer owned the car.

 

Carfax is an absolute scam that proves nothing. I have seen cars that were badly damaged and fixed poorly and they had a clean carfax. . It is a shame that everyone tries to base there car purchase on this pathetic service.

 

JAYF.......

These data services are just one of "many" tools available for you use when investigating a car's history during the due diligence portion of the buying process......relying "solely" on them alone is foolhardy.....but to outright dismiss them as garbage or a scam is ridiculious. If someone pays for repairs to a badly damaged car with cash directly to the body shop it may not show up......that alone does not make the report innacurate or useless.

Both services have saved my bacon many a time........but so has the good old "mark one eyeball" and my gut instinct as well.

 

You are certainly entitled to your opinion as well as myself-thanks

 

I wasn't taking a personal shot at you Jay........just pointing out that there is value in these reports..........

 

I have found Carfax to be so inaccurate in such a large percentage of cases that it only provides a false sense of security to many who subscribe.


Many cases of wrecks that go through normal channels never show up in their reports. Their data collection methodolgy leaves much to be desired.

 

Brian is correct. A clean carfax can give you a false sence of security. A good inspection by someone familiar with your model (328) is the best course to take. Invest in a proper PPI. Even then remember, these are high performance cars. A new Fcar can blow up. A new Mercedes or Lexus can have a catistrophic failure. The inspection can reveal obvious and sometimes subtle abuse. It can also give you a heads-up on future maintainence to expect. The mileage issues don't say much to me. Different owners have very different driving habits.

 

I think the key with Carfax is that you can't feel too comfortable if the car comes up clean, but it's still worth investigating on the off-chance it comes up dirty.

I was looking at a Murcielago a few months back that just seemed fishy (literally and figuratively.) Figured there was definitely something seriously wrong in its history but didn't know quite what -- carfax did the trick. Big warning: "DANGER -- THIS CAR WAS REGISTERED IN NEW ORLEANS DURING THE KATRINA STORM. BE AWARE WHEN INSPECTING" ... and sure enough, that confirmed all of my hunches. So Carfax did earn their $20 that time...

nlh

 

....and I was just pointing out the contrary. From the looks of it, I'm not alone.

 

Is there a service similar to Carfax for a Euro spec car?

 

I can give you my take on CF. I sold a car and signed the title over stating that the ODO was incorrect. The car changed hands a few times and I came across it about 3 years later. To say it was in poor shape is an understatement! I felt very sad to see her in that condition. When I owend the car it was in a front end crash. $11,000+ usd in damage including frame damage. When I ran the CF on it later, it showed no accident and no ODO problems.

Take CF with a grain of salt. Not everything is reported by every state.

 

Data sometimes takes a long time to show up. A carfax report can be clean when you buy the car, and a later show a big wreck that occurred a year before you bought it. It happened to me with a Volvo. I still use carfax to see if there are any red flags, but I don't consider a clean report worth the pixels its displayed with.

 

carfax never showed that my Ferraris were actually Fieros!!

Yes, better get a PPI for any exotic. 'Nuff said.