Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/06/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Carfax has the incorrect mileage stated in my carfax report. This gravely impacted sales prospects when we went to sell our car. I have a bunch of service records that corroborate the mileage (the report says the mileage is at 191000 kms when it is actually just over 123000 kms.
  I contacted my regular mechanic to see if his records were correct- which they were.
  He further explained that Carfax very often makes the mistake of taking kilometers (as used in Canada) and assuming that it is miles, and then converts it to kilometers, which makes the mileage appear MUCH higher. He has personally complained to Carfax multiple times about this, but it continues to happen. This is negligent and costs valuable time and money when a sale is lost or deemed undesirable due to phony high mileage. Unacceptable. People rely on the accuracy of this information to buy and sell. Carfax needs to be much more diligent in ensuring accuracy, otherwise, they should not be counted on as a trusted source.im actually surprised there hasn't been class action legal filings (if there has been, then please excuse). DO BETTER CARFAX.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 14/06/2023

  Thank you for contacting CARFAX Canada.
  
  We are proud to be the most comprehensive vehicle history
  reporting service in Canada, displaying data from billions of records through
  thousands of sources including, but not limited to; service records,
  registration history, stolen status check, police report information, estimate
  and claims data.

  We will display information available to us from
  our data sources when information has been documented on the vehicle; and we
  have a dedicated team here to investigate the data when requested.

  As per your request to our Customer Experience Team, the vehicle's history has been reviewed further with our data sources. Data sources have completed their review, amended the VHR  and an amended VHR has been provided to you.
  

  Thank you for bringing this to our attention and your patience while this was reviewed further and resolved.

  Should you have further questions/concerns please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Experience Team through existing communications or by visiting support.carfax.ca.
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/10/2022

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Hello
  
  Facts
  I purchased my 2015 ******** ATS in March of 2018. I have the clean car fax on the car. I have owned the car continuously since then. I have an insurance report showing no claims on the VIN. The car has never been in any accident since I’ve owned it. In September of this year I tried to buy a car while trading mine in. I provided the VIN to the dealer. Later that day the dealer called and informed me my car was in serious accident. Front and rear. All this according to a carfax report. The accident supposed to have happened in August 2020 reported by Peel police. I was given a report number by carfax but false information. I reached out to carfax on September 16 2022 via phone. I was given a carfax report number for my issue. A week later I was informed that data sources had confirmed that it was my VIN. I asked for data sources and was told they don’t disclose this information. I called Peel Police and was asked several questions about my information and my VIN my license and my plates were checked my responding constabulary. All proved to show no information about me. Clean records. The police then focused on the report. They said the number provided is not anything like a police report number. They asked me questions that due to carfax refusal to provide information that I was unable to give them any answer. The police officer asked me to tell my case worker to call them because they are very interested to know who said it was Peel Police who reported this. I have reached out to carfax via phone and email. In the time since I told them the police wanted a phone call I have had absolutely no contact with carfax. No response to any of my attempts at resolving this. Because carfax is ‘dirty’ I am unable to get market value on my trade. This is costing me both health wise and financially. This is unacceptable. What appears to be some kind of clerical error has turned out to be something of a cover up. I’ve ran out of characters to complete my complain

  

  Business Response

  Date: 13/10/2022

  Thank you for contacting CARFAX Canada. CARFAX Canada is dedicated to transparency, accuracy and providing the most complete vehicle history report in Canada. Our reports contain information available to us from our data sources. If the information appears on the report, it would mean it was documented on the VIN or vehicle. We have a team dedicated to investigating the data when the owner is disputing the information. In this case, we have provided additional documentation to the owner of the vehicle so they can review the police report. The information we have provided outlines that the police report was documented on the vehicle in question. At this time, if the owner believes this to be incorrect, they will need to have the records corrected with the police station in question and an amended copy of the police report provided to us so we can send to our source to further review.  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/10/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Had problems getting a Carfax Canada report on Friday, so I called in, only to find out that Carfax Canada customer support closes at 2pm PST???
  
  Then in reading the document is states that your report DOES NOT include "British Columbia Claims History", are you serious, Carfax tell customers that AFTER they purchase your report, CARFAX Canada is misleading the consumers, and giving incomplete information.
  I called in again today, Saturday, no-one answers the phone, waited 21 mins on hold.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 07/10/2022

  Thank you for contacting CARFAX Canada. Our support hours are listed for all customers on our website and can be found at https://www.carfax.ca/contact. We are proud to serve our customers Monday to Thursday 9am until 8pm EST, Friday and Saturday 9am until 5pm. For our French speaking customers, our support hours are Monday to Friday 9am until 5pm EST. We're sorry to hear we were not available at the time you attempted to contact us but in that case, we welcome you to submit a request through our customer support portal so that our agents can assist you in a timely manner. Regarding ICBC purchase, if the VIN  has been entered during the ordering process, the system will detect that it's been registered in British Columbia and will ask you in advance if you want to upgrade to include ICBC information. If the VIN is not entered upon ordering, and you enter the VIN at a later time, the system will still prompt you to upgrade the report at that time. The upgrade cost $20 as this fee goes directly to ICBC for the search of their insurance claim information. You have the option to decline or accept the upgrade but it's important to note that if you did not select ICBC search, then it will not display any claim information from ICBC.  If you did not select ICBC or the warning box is still appearing noting ICBC information has not been included, we welcome you to contact us and we can assist in upgrading your report.  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:16/09/2022

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I wanted to trade in my ****** **** at a ***** dealer. They ran the CarFax report and it shows extensive damage to my car! I had my car inspected when I bought it from ******* auto auction in ******, ******** and no such damages were discovered. As such the ***** dealer won't take my car on a trade in obviously with this severe damage. I contacted CarFax and they will not release any details about the damages, yet they often describe damages and cost for insurance claim, etc. whereupon you can find out details. In my case CarFax won't tell me anything and won't remove the damage report either. How can CarFax be allowed to do this without being able to prove or substantiate the damage? This could cost me thousands of dollars and of course no one wanting to buy my car privately will buy it with that damage report on the CarFax report. Isn't it against the law to post false statements like this?

  

  Business Response

  Date: 16/09/2022

  Thank you for contacting CARFAX Canada.
  
  We are proud to be the most complete vehicle history
  reporting service in Canada, displaying data from billions of records through
  thousands of sources including, but not limited to; service records,
  registration history, stolen status check, police report information, estimate
  and claims data.
  
  We will display information available to us from our data
  sources when information has been documented on the vehicle and we have a
  dedicated team here to investigate the data when requested.
  
  The damage information appearing on the vehicle history
  report has been verified with participating data sources as reflecting
  information recorded against the VIN.
  
  Due to our agreements with these data sources, we are
  unable to share the names of most of our data providers, disclose how/when we
  obtain this information or provide any further documentation from the source.
  Rest assured, our data sources are reputable within their industries and their
  data is tested for accuracy.
  
  Should you have any other questions, please do
  not hesitate to contact our Customer Experience Team!

  

  Business Response

  Date: 07/10/2022

  Thank you for contacting CARFAX Canada.
  
  We have requested secondary review of the data by our
  data providers. The damage information appearing on the vehicle history report
  has again been verified with participating data sources as reflecting
  information recorded against the VIN on August 5, 2018, and includes all
  information available to be shared with/by CARFAX Canada.
  
  As the data has been re-verified by data sources, the
  information cannot be removed from the vehicle’s history.
  
  Due to our agreements with these data sources, we are
  unable to share the names of most of our data providers, disclose how/when we
  obtain this information or provide any further documentation from the source. 
  All information available to CARFAX Canada about this VIN is displaying on the
  Vehicle History Report.
  
  As we suggested in the most recent response to you from
  the CARFAX Canada Customer Experience Team, we recommend that you contact the
  individual/business you purchased the vehicle from to voice your concerns with
  the information that was provided to you, by the seller, at time of purchase
  and/or to request information on what opportunity is available through them to
  resolve concerns with the disclosures.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/10/2022

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: CarFax is simply repeating some standard corporate response. They have NOT read my complaint whatsoever. So, once again, I will explain. My CarFax reports lists extensive damage on my car. Often on a CarFax report it will say what the damage is like, for instance: "Front quarter panel impact" or "collision from the rear" with a cost estimate and then the actual cost. Often times it will even say who did the repairs or the insurance company. I have been able to back track accidents solely for the purpose to understand IF the damage was professionally repaired and to what extent.

  In my case they claim that they have information from a source BUT cannot tell me what it is for damage, etc. Therefore I do NOT accept their statement that the information is accurate as they CANNOT prove it to be accurate.

  Let me restate this also, I am NOT asking NOR do I want CarFax to remove the damage report. All I want is a full disclosure of the damage and repair cost/s.

  I contacted the dealer who leased the car (Colorado, USA) and the client is no longer able to be contacted. They do NOT have any records of the car being damaged and when the car was returned at the end of the lease, it was inspected and released back to ****** USA. ****** USA will not give me any further information.

  IF CarFax is to be trusted in the future, they have to disclose more details otherwise their report is suspect to be corrupted and of no value.

  If I don't get a proper resolution to this, I will be faced with having to contact the media and explain this to them and how CarFax is arbitrarily reducing the value of my car substantially without any proof of damage or subsequent repair. If I made statements like this, I would be sued for libel. The CarFax company should not be allowed to publish car history reports without all the information to a buyer without full disclosure. As we see here, this is unacceptable.

  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  **** ********