How do I remove an accident that didn’t happen from my car’s Carfax report?

When I recently tried to sell my vehicle, the dealer informed me that the Carfax (vehicle history) report shows “a police reported accident” from last year with moderate damage. It is a 2015 Volkswagen Jetta that I bought new and has never been in an accident. Carfax has not responded to a correction request I sent to them two weeks ago. I have tried calling my insurance company, a police collision center, and Service Ontario for more information, but I have had no luck. Is there anything else I can do to remove this accident that did not happen? The dealer says I could get up to $2,000 more for the car if the accident is removed from the report. – Julien, Ontario

There’s a good chance that an error in the vehicle history report won’t be fixed quickly enough to save a (pending) sale, an industry expert said.

“A professional seller then has trouble explaining to the buyer that the information is incorrect,” George Iny, president of the Automobile Protection Association, a national consumer advocacy group with offices in Toronto and Montreal, said in an email. “A private buyer would likely not purchase such a vehicle or ask a private seller for a large discount.”

A vehicle history report can include information such as collisions, service history, open recalls, and whether there is a lien on the vehicle. While there are a few companies that offer such reports, most dealers use Carfax. So how does Carfax, owned by a U.S. company, get information for its $69.95 full report?

Carfax Canada did not have anyone immediately available for an interview and referred us to its website, which states that Carfax has “access to billions of records from thousands of trusted sources across North America, including Canadian and U.S. motor vehicle departments, insurance agencies, collision repair shops, auto auctions, police departments and more.”

And if this information is incorrect? You can request a verification through the company’s website.

“Carfax … is perceived by car dealers as generally unresponsive when there are errors in the reports,” Iny said. “(Errors) can happen, and it is reasonably foreseeable that when compiling databases from a variety of sources, there will be some errors.”

Quick solution?

With the reader’s permission, we passed his name on to Carfax Canada. He received a response within hours. Kristy Pinder, a Carfax spokeswoman, said the company expedited the complaint after we contacted it.

Carfax traced the error to a 2023 Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) accident report and told the reader to call the rural police department. It turns out the original accident report had the wrong license plate number entered. The OPP told the reader it could take at least 10 days to amend the accident report, and Carfax said it could take an additional 10 days to correct the error.

We shared Carfax’s response to the reader with Iny, who called it “incomplete” because “it required follow-up by the vehicle owner.”

How long does it typically take for Carfax to investigate and correct an error?

Carfax did not directly answer our questions about how many complaints it receives or how long it typically takes for a complaint to be acknowledged and an investigation to begin.

The company’s website states that it “cannot guarantee how long it will take to complete an investigation.”

Iny said he has heard from dealers who use Carfax that errors can take a long time to fix.

“It takes a couple of weeks to get confirmation, if you get one,” Iny said. “And then another couple of weeks for the correction to happen, if you’re actually notified that one has happened.”

Shari Prymak, senior counsel at Car Help Canada, a Toronto-based nonprofit that helps drivers find cars and negotiate sales contracts, said he has not received any complaints about Carfax reports showing accidents that did not occur.

“I don’t think these types of errors are common,” Prymak said in an email. “However, we do receive complaints when it’s the other way around … (where there is) a previous accident involving a vehicle that doesn’t show up on the Carfax report.”

Typically, such errors are due to the insurance company possibly not sharing the information with Carfax, he said.

“Carfax reports don’t always tell the full story of a vehicle, but that’s more because (insurance companies) don’t file reports … than to Carfax itself,” Prymak said. “In general, a Carfax report is an extremely valuable and rich source of information that every used car buyer should definitely see. But buyers should go a step further and have an inspection done before buying a used car.”

An inspection will uncover repair problems, but it can also uncover previous collisions that may not be listed in the report, Prymak said.

Deal breakers?

A Carfax report showing an accident “absolutely” affects a vehicle’s resale value and trade-in value, Prymak said.

“Buyers are often reluctant to purchase a car with accident damage because they fear that the vehicle might cause problems later.”

While a minor accident under $3,000 shouldn’t have a big impact on the selling price, more serious accidents in the past could reduce the car’s value by “thousands,” Prymak says.

But John Wallischek, sales manager at Autolinks, a car dealership in Vaughan, Ontario, said he hasn’t “lost any sales” because of information in a Carfax report.

“Everyone thinks it’s the Bible. But it’s not,” Wallischek said in an email. “It’s the way I read (the reports) and the way I present them to clients. It’s a snapshot with limited information.”

Do you have a driving question? Send it to [email protected] and type “Driving Concerns” in the subject line. Emails without the correct subject line may not be answered. Canada is big, so let us know where you are located so we can find the answer for your city and province.