OT: Car fax - used car

[buddybikes]

Not me, fortunately, but a friend bought a BMW in Ohio (2017) and to make matters short here, the car had been found to be in previous front end collision which probably mucked up the AC. Additionally the engine just discovered is have major issue with piston 5, no pressure. Bought it about a month ago. The Carfax was clean, no accidents reported. Additionally it appears, they believe a tuning chip was added. Right now, without recourse they are out 15K or so to get back in working order. What a mess. Dumb family bought for son, as a "gift" from his grandfather's will...33k. Some sort of 340x? version with 35k on it.

is there anything they can do other than suck it up? Ohio doesn't seem to indicate any mandatory warranty laws.

thanks,

[Hellgate]

Always have a PPI done, always. Lesson learned.

[pasadena]

you can try a lawsuit but lemon laws have been gutted. Carfax has fine print- and unfortunately, carfax is not a guarantee on the history of the car. Too many ways to hide damage from the record and probably a lot more common than you think.

[ultraman6970]

That a car had damage repaired deosnt mean the guy who fixed it reported it.

Example, the dude did the repair of their own pocket and not using the insurance company. Then went to the down the street shop to get the crash fixed. Nobody told anybody and then the things did not get reported.

IMO the only thing for sure at Carfax is the owners and probably like a salvage tittle because those things pretty much are coming from the DMV.

[tiretrax]

If they paid for the Carfax, then there may be a claim process where Carfax will buyback the car - or so they advertise.

[Latestart]

If this was purchased from a dealer, you may have some recourse and can at least file BBB complaint and talk to state licensing entity for dealers. PP transactions, not so much. PPI is really critical.

[carpediemracing]

The major repair shops (dealers, corporate repair facilities) typically sell data to Carfax, so you'll see info on maintenance and non-specific notation on repairs (most things are not specified so an alternator replacement may show up as some misc repair).

However, if the shop isn't a major one, or it's a backyard mechanic, then there will be no records. Carfax can't buy records that don't exist, or from facilities that don't sell the data (or have complete data).

For example, if you look at your car repair receipt and the VIN number is wrong/missing, CarFax won't associate that receipt with your car (assuming you went to a facility that sells data to CarFax). Doubly so if your plate number is "GET" or "?", etc.

[ToonaBP]

Even dealerships hide repairs..... i found a low mileage demo FX35 in a neighboring state. Clean carfax... Called a friend that worked in a local Infiniti dealership to run the Vin. Said there was front end damage in their records. So...i called the body shop adjacent to the dealer and explained i was interested in purchasing the vehicle and wanted to know about the recent repairs. He said that it hit a deer and the front end was replaced... When the salesperson called about a test drive, i said they wanted a premium price for a car that had major repairs.... they bugged me for several weeks trying to find out how I discovered the damage...stating that they wanted to correct the problem so it didn't happen again...

[alancw3]

like others have stated I use Carfax to verify that the car is a one owner car (only used cars I will buy) and no flood or lemon law history as these are items reported by DMV or insurance company. other than that Carfax can only report what was reported to them.

[soulspinner]

Bmw 4 year 50 k warranty. If its up, contact attorney general and report all you know.

[AngryScientist]

like others have stated I use Carfax to verify that the car is a one owner car (only used cars I will buy) and no flood or lemon law history as these are items reported by DMV or insurance company. other than that Carfax can only report what was reported to them.

exactly.

since i do all the work on my own cars, for example, the carfax report would be worthless for anything i own.

a good example is the little truck i owned through college and well beyond.

by the time i got rid of it, it had >200k miles on it, been in numerous accidents that i repaired myself and of course had lots of maintenance done over the years. carfax would have said nothing ever happened or was done to the truck and of course that couldnt have been farther from the truth.

buying a used car is a risk. there are ways to mitigate that risk through things like pulling the carfax, having a private mechanic inspect the car before purchase, purchasing a warranty, etc.

the bottom line is that when you purchase a used car, you are getting exactly what is written in the contract documents. if they say "as-is" you have to accept what you bought.

[clyde the point]

The person your pal needs to speak to is an attorney. Depending on the details of the sale, which you haven't indicated here, there may be some recourse. This sounds like straight up fraud, in which case civil action might be appropriate.

[old_fat_and_slow]

Always have a PPI done, always. Lesson learned.

For the uninitiated, PPI means ?? :confused:

[clyde the point]

Pre purchase inspection

[buddybikes]

Thx will provide her the advice. This was a total loose situation.