alt Hacker News> When buying a used car, dealerships and individual buyers can access each car’s particular CarFax report, detailing the vehicle’s usage and maintenance history. Armed with this information, dealerships can perform the necessary fixes or upgrades before re-selling the car.
Dealerships in no way use those reports for that reason, nor do they contain the information that would be necessary to do so. They inspect the car to determine its mechanical condition, and query manufacturer databases to determine if recall repairs are necessary. CarFax reports are a marketing tool to assuage concerns that used-car buyers have about inadvertently purchasing a lemon.
About 8y ago we were looking at a used Mini Cooper. Car Fax reported no major problems. I went to the bank to get a loan. They reported 2 minor and 1 major accident that the car had been in that were NOT reported by Car Fax. Once we knew where to look we were able to see evidence of the damage & repairs to the car.
I think that if lending institutions don't trust Car Fax then we probably shouldn't either.