PHOENIX — Imagine you're heading to a dealership, ready to trade in your old car. However, you're hit with a surprise. A Carfax report says you've been in an accident and now the car is worth nothing.
That was the surprise Mike Ross and his husband got when they tried to trade in their leased Toyota Tacoma. The dealer pulled the report and it showed their truck had supposedly been in an accident just months after they leased it in 2017. The truck now worth thousands of dollars less.
"Me and Shane looked at each other like, 'We've never been in an accident,'" said Ross.
What they didn't know is what it would take to correct the issue.
"We contacted DPS. We contacted Phoenix police, the Sheriff's department. Nobody could give us any information about this being in a wreck," said Ross.
Mike says they couldn't get a report for something that didn't exist.
He tried Carfax directly. "We looked at Carfax. There's no phone numbers, the only thing you can do is send them a form" said Ross.
When he didn't get a response, he contacted the Let Joe Know Team. Just one day after we sent an email, the accident was removed from the report.
In an email, Carfax said, "A review of additional data supported removing the accident." They say they pull information from more than 112,000 sources and that sometimes can lead to errors.
"I get the point, you know, to see what damages are on vehicles. Like if it was in a flood or anything like that. But it's got to be accurate and if it's not accurate then it's garbage," said Ross.
So what can you do if you think a report is wrong? Ultimately, it comes down to contacting Carfax.
It could be a good idea to keep service records. If you're planning to sell, look up your car ahead of time before heading to the dealership. That way you have time to fix any errors.
