Carfax retroactively reported damage??

[OOF_138]

If you look at my past posts I was going through a nightmare scenario with the Genesis dealership in Bayside, NY. When I purchased the car it had a clean carfax (and yes, I know they take time to update) but into my fiasco I had brought up my concern both to the dealership and to corporate that I thought the car had undisclosed damage which fell on deaf ears.

So I was checking my Geico policy on the mobile app and randomly decided to check the carfax to see if it updated finally since I bought it. And now it's showing severe damage in 2020, that was absolutely NOT there. After the dealership showed they weren't trustworthy I had purchased the carfax myself to make sure the papers they flaunted in the beginning weren't forged.

Corporate was useless pretty much the entire time I had ever spoken to them and closed my claim. When I brought up the possible pre-existing damage he said he didn't see any damage in the logs so theres nothing corporate is willing to do or fight for. I contacted Carfax to see if I can get more info about that claim and why it's only showing up now. Anything else I should do?

 

[Hueydriver]

Someone rear ended me around two months ago and had very min damage. Finally showed up on Carfax today!

 

[Volfy]

Carfax/Autocheck are good resources for used car shopping, but ultimately it's up to the buyers to do their due diligence before signing the dotted line. Used car purchase carries risks, and you'll have to be at peace with taking them, in order to save $$$ over buying brand new. That said, the risks are not without means to mitigate. If the collision damage is severe enough to involve the frame, there will be signs of it regardless of how well the repair was done. If you don't know how to spot them, you need to enlist the help of somebody that do.

Post purchase, there isn't a whole lot you can do.

 

[OOF_138]

Carfax/Autocheck are good resources for used car shopping, but ultimately it's up to the buyers to do their due diligence before signing the dotted line. Used car purchase carries risks, and you'll have to be at peace with taking them, in order to save $$$ over buying brand new. That said, the risks are not without means to mitigate. If the collision damage is severe enough to involve the frame, there will be signs of it regardless of how well the repair was done. If you don't know how to spot them, you need to enlist the help of somebody that do.

Post purchase, there isn't a whole lot you can do.

I agree with your sentiments, especially in hindsight.

Ultimately the clean carfax was never meant to be, as just 2 months after this post I had some assclown back into my car in a parking lot and left the scene (and of course the grocery store cameras couldn't spot the plate)

At the body shop I showed the owner the carfax report and asked for his 2 cents and after looking in depth at the car he doesn't think it's accurate. He said some cosmetic work sure, but nothing to the severity Carfax is claiming. (it's a overhead diagram of the car with all 4 sides and the roof colored in, basically it makes it seem like the car flipped. And even if the car did take that amount of damage, nobody would be paying that amount of repairs out of pocket and the car would have been totaled) I also want to elaborate the original damage I suspected the car had was a shoddy repair and touch up on the front bumper cover.

It'll probably sound a little farfetched but with the timing I kinda feel like the dealership fudged a report in retaliation for me posting a screenshot of their salesmen insulting me via text from his workphone.

I had previously reached out to Carfax to try and get more details on the "damage" or a reason why it showed up 3 years after the date claimed but they wouldn't budge. I searched the NY DMV records and even had a cop friend check their database to see if there was any info. But there was nothing to be found.

I had to then reach out to Carfax AGAIN when I saw they listed the January incident twice, and also tried again to see if they would look further into the retroactive damage claim or at least give details.

I did read around, and it's not unheard of for things to take years to show up but it's rare. I also read a good handful of people who had to fight tooth and nail to get Carfax to make corrections even with provided proof. I get the confidentiality of names but to me it's in pretty bad faith that the details about a claim against something YOU own are withheld. The fact they leave it vague and broad is pretty f**ked. They'll literally request documents to disprove what they claim but wont elaborate what the claim is.

Even if I am right and it's a dirtbag dealership getting even for me posting a scathing review, I would have to have an active lawsuit to subpoena the details of the damage report to even verify one way or the other. Even then, the amount I'd be paying a lawyer would probably make the entire hassle not worth it.

I definitely clowned myself and will probably be losing my shirt when I decide to get rid of this car.