Chicago area man trying to sell used car gets surprise about vehicle's past from CARFAX
LAKE ZURICH, Ill. (CBS) -- CARFAX and other similar vehicle history reporting services can be a great tool when buying a used car.
But a Lake Zurich man said he is paying the price for an update to his report that shows damage to his vehicle for which he is not responsible. In fact, the damage in question happened before he even owned the car.
Because of that, Thomas Riolo of Lake Zurich has a love-hate relationship with his 2015 Nissan Pathfinder.
"It's a nice, smooth ride," Riolo said. "You know, other than that, it's just—now I can't stand looking at it.
Riolo bought the used car in 2022, and ran a CARFAX report on the vehicle before purchasing it.
"It said, you know, no accidents, nothing major to worry about, so I went forward with the purchase," he said.
But when Riolo recently went to sell the car, he noticed a glaring issue on the CARFAX report. It now says the rear bumper had been damaged in 2021—a year before he even bought the car.
Riolo said the update to the CARFAX report dramatically reduced the resale value of the car by thousands of dollars.
"It pretty much said that my car was nowhere near worth what it was because of an accident," Riolo said. "I was like, what the heck happened? You know, like, I wouldn't have bought this car with an accident. There's got to be a mistake."
CARFAX said there was no mistake, and stands by the damage update on Riolo's vehicle history. The company called its database live and evolving.
CARFAX said in a statement in part, "We receive 6 million new records every day, and some sources of data may include historical events dating back several years in a vehicle's history."
"There's no guarantee that everything you're going to get or learn about a vehicle will be accurate and complete," said Paul Eisenstein, an automotive journalist and editor of Headlight News.
Eisenstein car history services like CARFAX should be a first step when buying a used car, but also suggests having a mechanic look at the car when possible.
"No matter what happens—no matter how good looking the report may come back from CARFAX or Vincheck, or one of the other services—it is possible there are problems," he said.
Now, Riolo wants his experience to serve as a warning to others.
"Beyond frustrating, you know? And I'm sure I'm not the only one they've done this to," he said. "I just wanted to bring it to people's attention to make sure this doesn't happen to anybody else."
CARFAX also suggested buyers start with a history report of a vehicle, but also do a thorough test drive—and take the car to a trusted mechanic—before going ahead with a purchase.
