carfax blues

[930chef]

I bought a 993 coupe 6 spd about a year and a half ago. carfx doesnt show any hits, only thing that looked bad was a series of failed smog tests at 38000 miles,so the rusnak did a top end valve guide job under warranty and also new clutch. no more failed smogs.
i have the original window sticker from st.louis and a stack of invoices from beverly hills porsche rusnack and a couple of indies.
Im the 3rd driver of the car, but carfax includes dealerships as owners which there were 3.
I had a thorogh ppi done by Mike schatz in camarillo(used to run garage at rusnak), his opinion is car is perfect. i buy it with 53000 miles put on some pss9s and 18's and corner balance...best porsche ive owned.

yesterday i decide to drive a newer 911 at the dealership and i tell them my car is great bla bla. salesguy comes back with new carfax and it shows a hit in 1997 shortly after the car was purchased. but there is no evidence of any body work.
did the magnet thing on all panels all good.

then he says im the 6th owner and my car is worth 22000 to them. and he says there was a hit which really catches me offguard. this is after the general drives my car and says its fantastic.
i explain to the sales guy im the 3rd driver you are counting the dealerships as owners.

anyway i walk out with my tail between my legs because of carfax report that now shows a hit and 6 owners.

I am going to try to contact the dealership that did the repair in 1997 but the info on who did the work is vague on carfax.

it just seems wrong that a car that has been documented from the second owner on and inspected by a respected porsche mechanic and passes with flying colors should take a monstrous hit in value. i thought i was driving a car maybe increasing in value and the guy tells me no one wants it for anything over 22000.

i couldnt sleep last night. i think i need prozac or something.
anyone have experience with carfax adding stuff years after an incedent?
these are hits that take over 500 dollars to repair that are reported. $500??
thats nothing.
anyway im totally disgusted with carfax and porsche dealers right now. I love my car...looks like im keepin it.
any feedback re: carfax?
thankls kevin

[964TargaC2]

Simple..they are trying to steal/lowball

I bought my daughter a car some years back, clean carfax, etc..Two years later she goes to trade it in and carfax shows front end collision/airbag deploy and I have no doubt it was correct, whoever had the car just waited to report it to carfax (and of course it was reported outside the carfax "guarantee" period)

Carfax is better than nothing..but not by much..

I call BS, look at the prices the 993s are going for, I bet you get a line of posters offering much more for the car sight unseen, I would keep it..why go to the water side?

[crg53]

Carfax can be very inaccurate. Give "Autocheck" a try, and see what comes up.

[KNS]

As mentioned, the dealer is doing whatever they can to lowball your car.

I think Carfax has created more problems than they are worth. My 993 has been repainted (very well done, though and I could tell after looking at it for a few moments the first time). No history of it on Carfax.

My '84 Carrera Carfax was completely blank when I bought the car several years ago.

[briefescape]

Stealership is right and out of the kindness of my heart I will offer you $22100.

Cheers Guy

[dad911]

Do you still have a copy of the prior carfax that shows your car clean? I'd try to get them to straighten it out, could be an error.

In any event, trade-in is always a wholesale price, you can get much more if you sell it.

[RedCoupe]

There needs to be a procedure for straightening out car fax reports that are wrong, sort of like we can do with our personal credit reports. Have a friend who lent his Subaru outback to his daughter so she could pick up some bulky item she was buying. She gets in a left turn accident - her fault. Insurance tows the car to the dealer and the body shop starts repairing it. Meanwhile, my friend decides that he wants to buy something else and goes to the dealer where his car is being repaired, and is told that they would cut him a decent deal on another car with the Subaru as a trade in. He finds a car he likes, they agree on a price and everything is great until the salesman pulls a carfax. According to the salesman, the Carfax showed that the car was a total loss, and they wouldn't even accept it as a trade in. This was despite the fact that the insurance company did NOT total the car and the body shop of the very same dealership was just finishing the final touches on the body work. Many, many phone calls later the carfax got cleaned up, but what a mess!

[bri450sl]

My DD had a clean Carfax, but shortly after my ownership, there were obvious signs that it had been in an accident. I still like the vehicle and it looks/drives great. I do not put a lot of faith in a Carfax report.

[Merle]

$22,000 is an insult and I wouldn't ever spend a dime at that dealership if I were in your shoes.

[930chef]

Im just now able to talk to other people now. That deal at the dealership really crushed me.
I think I will buy a set of new wheels and some splitters.
Thanks for all the comments. Its ironic that a clean carfax is better than having car with a mild damage.
I had to think back when I was buying the car and it was on the lift getting the once over twice at Mike schatz shop how nice it looked and the report itself told me everything I needed to know.
He even told me ....this car is a keeper.

thanks again
kevin

[Emo993]

RedCoupe, how does Carfax collect its data.....does it come from the traffic report, dealership? Good idea Kevin, keep the car....

[RedCoupe]

I believe that CarFax gets reports from both the body shop employees as well as the insurance adjusters. In the case of my friend with the Subaru, when his car was being inspected and the repairs were being priced out, someone mistakenly selected a wrong code that showed it as a total loss. The supervisor of the insurance adjuster was the one who actually contacted a higher-up at CarFax to correct the report. If you get a CarFax or AutoCheck report, they actually show service and routine maintenance at dealers, so obviously there is some kind of a repository of information that both companies are tapping into.

[johnsjmc]

I have a 993 with a carfax mileage error warning. It seems that when in for an oil change it lost 10,000 mi and gained it all back and then some at the next oil change . Both done at the same dealer. Obviously an error was made recording the miles.

[KNS]

With so much weight being placed on a clean Carfax, if you're one who takes your car in for service it might be worthwhile to run your own Carfax post service to see if it got screwed up!

That could get pricey...