Was just looking at some Carfax reports and they now list dates and mileage when a car went in for any type of service. Some entries also show the type of service done. Where do they get this data? Why would a dealer or service facility want to provide this data? As a car owner, can I bar the service facility from reporting data about my car to a third party?
Where does Carfax get its data?
- Thread starter gobble
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- 18 July 2005
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Wow. I'm sure the facility doing the work is reporting this data. Scary indeed. They must be getting some type of gain off providing this data because I can't imagine why anyone would take the trouble to report it for free. I thought Carfax was limited to public records.
As someone familiar with computer technology and the effort needed to support data collection, I doubt that individual dealers and service facilities would be reporting their data to Carfax. Maybe a central facility for franchise operations, with centralized data records (i.e. all Jiffy Lubes, all Toyota dealers), but not individual dealerships.
As noted above, they wouldn't. Corporations provide data to data analysis firms for a variety of reasons; in some cases, they get cash compensation, and in others, they receive the overall data back in an aggregated form that lets them analyze how their work compares with their overall industry.
You can ask your service facility to delete your VIN from your records, but this may prevent them from looking up work that has previously been done to your car - not a good idea.
The get the data where they can. Keep in mind the data varies from state to state. Some states require emissions checks to be reported to state data repositories. Most don't.
I do not believe any dealer will volunteer to report service data unless they are required to do so.
I do not believe any dealer will volunteer to report service data unless they are required to do so.
