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Car History Reports May Not Reveal Accidents

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Jun 16, 2009 5:45 pm US/Eastern

Car History Reports May Not Reveal Accidents

Reporting
Yvonne Zanos
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― When you buy a used car, can you really rely on those car reports that promise to tell you if your car has been in an accident or not?

According to a Consumer Reports investigation, wrecked cars don't always show up as wrecked cars on these vehicle history reports.

Lezlie Simmons still has the Carfax report for the used car she bought last year. The Toyota Camry had a clean record. Under accidents, it stated "no issues reported." 

A week after Lezlie bought the car, though, she started having problems with it.  She soon learned it had been in an accident.

"The car had a suspension problem," said Lezlie Simmons. "It was making noises. The front axel had to be replaced."

The repairs cost $4,000 and Lezlie says the car still needs more repair work. 

A Consumer Reports investigation discovered the same thing that she learned the hard way:  You can't count on a car history report (alone) to tell if a car has been in an accident.

Consumer Reports' Anthony Giorgianni located dozens of wrecked vehicles advertised online which later came up with clean records.

"For example, here is a 2007 Acura MDX. This vehicle has been dramatically damaged," said Giorgianni. "You check on the Carfax report, it comes back as having no accident or damage report."

None of the other car history reports that Consumer Reports checked revealed the accident either.

"The Autocheck report says this vehicle checks out and then it gives the vehicle a score of 89 out of 100," said Giorgianni.

Despite these findings, Consumer Reports says checking car history reports is still worth it for what they can tell you. It's also a good idea to check several of these reports -- as one can miss what another picks up.

Besides Carfax and Autocheck, Consumer Reports recommends that potential buyers consult the free or inexpensive services, VINCheck and the National Motor Vehicle Title Information Systems; but no matter what the report says, nothing replaces having the car checked by an independent mechanic and checking it out thoroughly yourself.

Why do these car services miss accident reports? One reason is that they depend on accidents being reported to insurance companies, which does not always happen.

In light of Consumer Reports' investigation, Carfax says it will begin looking at online advertisements for wrecked vehicles to see if they can include that information in reports.

For more on the Consumer Reports investigation, click here to log on to ConsumerReports.org

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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