Carfax Report - Sold At auction multiple times (lease, vehicle, 2014)

[chris_sam]

I am planning to buy a Nissan altima from a Dealer, the Carfax report shows that this Car was sold multiple times at the same Auction center, also there is not even a single Service record on the report.

Can anyone please advice if this are any risks here.

01/14/2014 - Vehicle manufactured
03/27/2017 - Vehicle Sold at auction - 32000 miles
04/02/2018 - Vehicle Sold at auction - 42000 miles

[Rabrrita]

Could have been owned by someone who used a private vehicle maintenance service that doesn't report to CarFax. Many lease returns, corporate trade ins, dealer trade ins, etc are sold at auctions. Likewise, many vehicles on dealer's pre owned lots were also bough at auctions.

[Redraven]

The Carfax report is only as good as the people who are supposed to report things.
If there are no reports, that doesn't necessarily mean that nothing was done.
I find it interesting that the vehicle was manufactured in 2014, but was never sold as a new car, and never registered.
Then it was sold at auction in 2017, but never registered.
Then in 2018 it is on the auction block again, but never registered.
IMO, that Carfax report, as stated, is meaningless. It shows nothing except a total lack of reporting.
OP, did you think that was all that was important, so you didn't list the other items in the report? I suspect that is the case.
If the report shows no major damage or repairs, IMO there is nothing to worry about. There could be a multitude of reasons why it went on the auction block twice. It would not concern me at all.

[Bummer]

CarFax is nothing more than a reporting agency . . . often referred to as "Poop In = Poop Out" type of report.

Personally, as already posted, there is something very suspicious, incomplete or possibly even "less than legal" with this report but . . .

[skinsguy37]

Seems odd, but then again, I've read some CarFax reports in the past in which things just didn't seem to add up until you read between the lines. A good rule of thumb is, if there is anything on the CarFax report that gives you an uneasy feeling, just move on to the next vehicle and let someone else deal with this particular vehicle.

[chris_sam]

Yes, sorry, I had just listed down what I was not sure off. these should be more info :

01/14/2014 - Vehicle manufactured
02/28/2014 - Title Issued/first owner reported/registered as person lease/loan-lien reported - 88 miles
03/27/2017 - Vehicle Sold at auction - 32000 miles
04/24/2017 - Title issues or updated/New owner updated/loan or lien reported
04/02/2018 - Vehicle Sold at auction - 42000 miles
04/18/2018 - Passed safety inspection, passed emissions inspection

I was more concerned on the multiple auction sales and the missing service records.

Thanks all for your quick responses.

[emsman]

The first auction was probably after the car was turned in at the end of a lease, total guess based on milage. The second, maybe a repo?

Carfax is just a tool, personally I hate Carfax, it's crap. Research some basic automotive mechanics and learning to check for body damage will help you more than anything. I've caught more vehicles with body repairs than Carfax has ever reported. And always turn on every electronical component to see if it works, especially with the large number of flooded vehicles over the last few years.

[trlhiker]

When we bought our Rav4 it showed no maintenance on the Carfax report. I then ran the VIN on the Toyota owners site and all the maintenance popped up. I am sure Nissan has something you can check online for maintenance.

[notnamed]

It's been traded in and from there it often goes to auction rather than be sold at the dealer taking the trade. No big deal. Just have it inspected like any used car purchase.

[madpaddy]

Nothing to be concerned about. Many (most?) dealers do not provide service records to Carfax.

We did for a while, but a few "fat finger" episodes when typing in mileage on a service repair order that, in the pre- Carfax era, would have been little to no deal, became huge deals when the customer later went to trade the car and Carfax tagged the vehicles for possible odometer fraud. Also, some superficial cosmetic repairs, like replacing a front spoiler, plastic rocker panel cover, or grill emblem, were picked up by Carfax as "Body Repairs" as if the cars had been wrecked. Customers later would come storming into our store, after trying to trade at another dealer, demanding to know why we "told Carfax my car had been in an accident". The benefit we got from Carfax for sharing this info was minimal, so we opted to stop doing so because the potential hassles were great.