33 captured repliesDiscussion pagination complete · Source accounts, not a confirmed diagnosis
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Discussion summary
YOUR RESEARCHCarFax
Reported or suspected cause
lot of stuff never gets reported
Reported cause
No successful repair reported for this finding.
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Reported fixes
Read evidence and context
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Discussions that report identifying a cause
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Reported cause
In theory Carfax is a great idea, the problem is a lot of stuff never gets reported to them.
Leading evidence: 'lot of stuff never gets reported' (1 discussions report identifying this cause; no attributable repair resolution). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'lot of stuff never gets reported' (1 discussions; 1 report identifying it and 0 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Check craigslist' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
The reality here is that more than likely it was replaced under warranty in 03, had roughly 4 years on the new one before you bought it, and it has given you 10 years of good service (at least I assume since you've kept it 10 years).
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed · Original poster
The replaced transmission shows up on a report 14 years after it was replaced.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed · Original poster
The replaced transmission shows up on a report 14 years after it was replaced.
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Suggestion
Seems like the odds of the bolt being wrecked by the previous repair are about the same as the bolt seizing because it has been fixed in the same position
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Suggestion
It's been all about your silly assertion that you might not have bought the car had you know the transmission had been replaced (most likely by a dealer under warranty).
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Suggestion · Original poster
Explain to me how 'silly' it would be if I had an accurate CarFax and decided not to buy the car because the transmission was replaced after two years.
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33 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
Rennlist: 1 discussions
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Generation: 20261026T144035Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources
When I bought my 996 in 2007 it had a clean CarFax report. It had been through two owners with only battery replaced and regular service and inspections. I recently sold it and the buyer had a CarFax report that showed the transmission being replaced in 2003. I recently spent a lot of money replacing the IMS bearing because the Indy had trouble removing the tranny. One of the bolts was seized and damaged the threads getting it out. In order to repair it the motor had to come out. A couple of the bolts had anti seize compound on them. Others did not. If I had known about the transmission being replaced, I may have backed off on the deal. Is CarFax a sham and do they not take responsibility for false reports? Anybody else have a problem with their reports?
Carfax is a total sham full of incorrect information and/or undocumented occurences. A total marketing scam. I cannot tell you how many cars I have owned that I've pulled the Carfax and found tons of missing information such as accidents that were reported to insurance yet Carfax lists as accident free.
In theory Carfax is a great idea, the problem is a lot of stuff never gets reported to them. Garbage in, garbage out.
1) No, it's not a sham. It may be stupid and useless, like worrying about a spare tire you'll never need because you'll trade the car in long before you actually take a 200 mile drive ANYWHERE, but it's not a sham.
2) Yes, they do not take responsibility for false reports. Why would they?
3) Yes, other people have complained about Carfax.
Seems like the odds of the bolt being wrecked by the previous repair are about the same as the bolt seizing because it has been fixed in the same position
for 14 freaking years.
As I understand it, the beef is that a bolt was difficult to remove, and this is Carfax's fault because the transmission has been working perfectly for nearly a decade and a half. Imagine how much it would have sucked if the transmission HADN'T been removed!
If you decide to sue Carfax, can you also add me as a plaintiff? My ridiculously complicated burger order @ Fuji's in Huntington Beach was
completely
wrong (there wasn't enough teriyaki sauce, and I want the diabetus NOW). I figure Carmax is at least as culpable in this situation as yours...why shouldn't I get justice?
Seriously, though...14 years is an eternity for a bolt. If the issue is that the repairs weren't reported to Carfax quickly enough, and you based your purchase decision on incomplete information, that seems more legitimate - but if the service history is so spotty that a transmission replacement wasn't noted anywhere, it's surprising that the transmission service data point ever made it to Carfax.
"If the issue is that the repairs weren't reported to Carfax quickly enough, and you based your purchase decision on incomplete information, that seems more legitimate."
Why would it take you a paragraph of sarcasm to reach my point? Are you bitter?
If you read correctly, the transmission was replaced in 2003. I bought the car in 2007. Why would a 2017 report the transmission was replaced when the 2007 report did not? And I'm not suing anybody.
And no you are wrong. If the mechanic had treated ALL the bolts with anti seize, it wouldn't matter how many years they were in place.
That was all good-natured - sorry if it came across as overt sarcasm.
If you can't understand why more information might make its way to Carfax over the course of a decade, though, I can't help - sarcasm or no.
I now understand that your mind is made up and that you were not actually asking any questions. I will not denigrate you further by attempting to answer these rhetorical-but-only-to-you questions.
I disagree 5CHN3LL, I think it is a scam.
My reasoning is because they purport themselves as an all seeing clearing house of information about a car. Yet we know plenty of stuff never shows up and we've even seen examples of false information coming up. And then they charge you money for this bad information.
On the missing information I'm willing to chalk it up to "buyer beware" as depending on the accuracy of CarFax is about as sensible as trusting the seller's claim of it being an old lady's churchmobile.
The false entries, however, have a demonstrable negative impact on the seller, yet the seller has no recourse since CF will just blow you off.
As far the OP's situation, you really want us to believe that you wouldn't have bought the car if you knew the transmission was replaced? I'm not swallowing that, but IF that is true, then you seriously bought the wrong type of vehicle.
Carfax should never be considered a complete history, far from it. Take accidents for instance. If the accident is not processed through an insurance agency and there is no police report, it's just like it never happened. My wife backed into a car, we didn't use insurance. Technically both vehicles were in an accident and repaired. Neither will show up on a car fax.
Actually that means nothing to them. Our 996 has 5 accidents, all of which went through insurance. 3 had police reports. 2 of the police involved incidents were over 10 years ago now.
Spotless CarFax report as of last year.
Guys ought to be able to look at a car and find paintwork if there is any. If you can't see it, it's probably alright/repaired correctly. The underside of the car will tell a lot about it's history as well. Your tech had the undertrays off for the PPI, right?
But Carfax does not purport to cover such things....entirely different if the accident WAS reported and it is NOT on the Carfax report or shows up 3, 7, or 10 years later.....that IS the service that they guarantee and if such info showed up a later date, you could (emphasis on could) have a claim against their guarantee.
"As far the OP's situation, you really want us to believe that you wouldn't have bought the car if you knew the transmission was replaced? I'm not swallowing that, but IF that is true, then you seriously bought the wrong type of vehicle."
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Yes, that's right. And why would Porsche be any different than any other vehicle? I spent a lot of money for what I thought was an unmolested vehicle. At least that is what the Porsche dealer and CarFax told me. The replaced transmission shows up on a report 14 years after it was replaced. CarFax is worthless.
Yeah, still not buying that you wouldn't have bought the car just because it's transmission was replaced had you known.
The reality here is that more than likely it was replaced under warranty in 03, had roughly 4 years on the new one before you bought it, and it has given you 10 years of good service (at least I assume since you've kept it 10 years).
I'll grant that you might have had your PPI look at the transmission closer, but they still wouldn't have found what you are complaining about as I highly doubt you would have paid for essentially a clutch job on a car you didn't own yet.
CarFax is crap enough without your hyperbole.
Nothing will protect you from bad things happening. My car had an excellent CarFax and an excellent AutoCheck and it was a true one owner car serviced exclusively at the same Porsche Dealer since new, and I had the last four years of service receipts, and it was a low miles example that drove better than any of the eleven other cars I considered. And eight months after I bought it the tiptronic died. And a paint meter showed that the right door had been repainted and there is no record of it anywhere. Used cars are like that.
Even new cars have had paintwork. It's well known that Porsche has repainted panels and even entire cars that were damaged during their ocean voyage to the New World.
Well I do gold plate used parts for the hell of it...
You might want to go back and comprehend the things I've said, because it hasn't been anything about the repair you had to make. It's been all about your silly assertion that you might not have bought the car had you know the transmission had been replaced (most likely by a dealer under warranty).
Explain to me how 'silly' it would be if I had an accurate CarFax and decided not to buy the car because the transmission was replaced after two years. Isn't it possible that the original owner beat the crap out of the car and destroyed the transmission. Obviously the car served me well the past ten years but I may have been lucky although in the end a faulty repair cost me. A "silly assertion" can be applied to people you know and not people you don't.
YEs, it's totally possible. It's also possible that the user was a space alien from Mars whose incredibly magnetic *** cheeks prevented chips in the transmission oil from sticking to the magnetic plug, leading to the transmission's failure and subsequent HEROIC run on the dastardly replacement transmission.
There is only one problem with this thread: everyone who is not OP is too stupid to realize that OP did not want any answers or opinions beyond "you're right. Carfax SUCKS!"
this alien with the magnetic *** cheeks - he was driving the car, correct?
if so shouldn't OP have more concerns that the car was previously owned by a being from another world that could have left traces of radiation in the car?
OP, you have to realize that carfax is not a regulated company. Let's look at my wife's Acadia, car fax shows zero history because our dealer doesn't report service. I am guessing whoever did your tranny work was the same way.
In two years if they start reporting I am guessing they would upload their whole database and BAM! We have service history. I am guessing that is what happened in your case.
carfax data is only as good as what is uploaded. Many dealers and shops choose not to report to them and that's fine, but also why it should not be a trusted source. As with most data, its partly good, partly incorrect, and partly missing
"There is only one problem with this thread: everyone who is not OP is too stupid to realize that OP did not want any answers or opinions beyond "you're right. Carfax SUCKS!""
There are only two posters on this thread that are a problem - you and the other guy. Most are reasonable and have added to the conversation. I bet your history on this board shows the same crappy attitude.
You'd think so, but given OP's thoughts as outlined above, he'd be more likely to post a thread about how much XM Radio sucks because there are martians, and their ships could interfere with satellite radio reception. OP would NEVER have bought satellite radio if he'd know that martians have magnetic asses.
Here's a Muppet news flash: I started out by trying to answer your questions. But you don't HAVE any questions, you just wanted to carp about something that does not even affect your life at this point.
There are some other threads here on RL I think you'd enjoy. One's about this cool guy who went to a car meet and shared his interaction with a Boxster driver...truly a heartwarming tale of how to demonstrate being a positive role model and never demeaning anyone for driving a "lesser" car. You might also want to look at some threads by John Ireland...each one demonstrates how a genuine gentleman never regrets a purchase, maligns one car over another unnecessarily, or loses his cool when communicating with other forum members, even those who dare share an opposing point of view.
You, sir, are no John Ireland.
By the way...if you want to quote others in your posts, just use the little quotation marks in the bottom right had corner.
Go to the post you want to quote, then click on the quotation marks. The quoted portion will then appear in your post. This way, you don't have to copy and paste or, God forbid, retype the whole thing. It's virtually foolproof...
Alas, all of us under the age of 200 probably need finishing school. Oh, wait, you said I need "
a
finishing school" - so perhaps that's more about varnishing woodwork. I think M3driver is the resident wood-polisher; perhaps you can pick up some hints.
You only THINK it's virtually foolproof. Nature is always pushing the edge of the fool envelope. It will provide new and improved fools. You'll see.
Need proof? Kim Jong Un and anything that can be traced back to Robert Kardashian's *******.
OK, that made me literally laugh out loud.
On a serious note, my experience with CarFax is that it will identify a car with a Salvage or Rebuilt title MOST OF THE TIME. Accidents some times. I was getting an alignment done on one of my vehicles a couple of years ago and there was a Nissan Maxima on the alignment rig. I mentioned to the guy who owns the shop that something didn't seem right about the car. The exhaust system looked like it had some damage and the car looked like it had some paint work. He said it was harder to align than normal and when they looked it over closely, they realized that it was two cars that had been welded together all the way around the car between the front and rear doors. He said he gets cars like this out of Georgia that have had their titles washed. Hopefully Carfax would provide some value in this situation where you would be able to tell something isn't right based on the Carfax report. In my opinion, that's about as much as you can expect out of it.
