I'm sure this has been discussed before, but a recent topic on another forum really shows how useless a CARFAX report can really be.
Sure enough, their fine print does state...
CARFAX Vehicle History Reports are based on information supplied to CARFAX. CARFAX does not have the complete history of every vehicle.
Any smart shopper would know that and I used to roll my eyes
when I first saw those CARFAX advertisements on the TV. Personally, those services are not worth the paper they are written on.
Down to the story. A forum member bought a car in 2007 from a dealer who supplied a "clean" CARFAX. He is in the process of selling it and obtained a new CARFAX that now shows "front end damage" in 2002. It took over 5 years for that to get picked up by CARFAX???
Its possible that the dealer could have produced a forged copy of the CARFAX and if that is the case, if buyers are going to place trust in a CARFAX, they should order it themselves and not accept a dealer or customer supplied copy.
Lastly, the buyer should go over the car with a fine toothed comb themselves, if they have that ability and knowledge. If not, have an independent shop (not the selling dealer) inspect the vehicle. The damage was so obvious, I would have picked it up the first minute upon starting my inspection.
This of course applies to not just CARFAX, but any other similar service.
This very unfortunate owner now has a 1996 Porsche 993 Twin Turbo that has taken a very big hit on the selling price.