Jim Ziegler Wants to know "Is it Time For the Retail Automotive Community to Rise Up and Give CarFax a TrueQuality Thumping?"
Enough is Enough!
Haven't you had it with all of these Data Pirates using our own customer information to defame us, lower our profits, alienate our customers... while at the same time they charge us through the nose to do us harm?
Among the worst of them in my opinion is CarFax. They even believe they have the right to price our cars and trades.... too low of course. While at the same time CarFax exploits negative stereotypes that we are crooks in every commercial the Little Car Fox Rats out the dishonest bumbling and inept idiot car sales person. They charge us to defame us.
read this article we just published in Wards Auto Magazine... "My latest article is out and it's hot.
Here are more than 250 Consumer Complaints and reviews about CarFax... look... http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/carfax_inacc.html
We have manufacturers supporting these people and requiring we do business with them. Let's get mobilized and scream at our factory representatives, reprint this article for your dealers, do press releases, and generally alert your State Dealer Associations and 20-groups.
If a consumer asks for the CarFax, tell them it's $39.00. Whoever told you it was free was lying.
I am available to perform 20-group and Dealer Association Keynote Speeches on this subject. As of right now, I am calling out the Tribe to get on this subject. JIM
Comment
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Comment by James A. Ziegler on November 12, 2012 at 12:51pm
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This blog is much different than the one we ran about TrueCar last year. The TrueCar Blog had close to if not more than 100,000 page views and mobilized a lot of overt action. This Blog is equally powerful BUT it is a different situation. All of the activity is going on in the background BUT still there's a lot happening.
A lot of people talking about CarFax and reading these Blogs. I am receiving phone calls and private messages from people who are in a position to do meaningful things on the CarFax issue BUT they are doing it in the background. We are now at more than 6000 page views on three locations. I don't know about Edmunds, I consider them to be as bad as CarFax but I have reason to believe the rumors coming from within that Cars.com, AutoTrader and several of the OEMs will probably open up to other Vehicle History Reporting Companies very soon.
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Informed rumor is saying that AutoTrader wants no part of the negative dealer sentiment that is building toward CarFax directed at them and I can predict they will do the right thing and release the CarFax exclusive. I predict AutoTrader will allow AutoCheck and others to be used at the dealers' discretion. If AutoTrader moves on and does the right thing, can we believe Cars.com will follow?
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I can tell you right now, at least three manufacturers that require CarFax are going to get an earful from Their Dealer Council Members including one who is the Chairman nationally, in coming weeks. I predict their perceived strangle hold might be coming unraveled soon.
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Comment by Jerry Thibeau on November 10, 2012 at 12:20pm
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Perhaps this has already been talked about, but here's my take. There is an easy way to kill Carfax and others. Manufacturers are installing EDR's (little black box for vehicles) in automobiles. Why not have these EDR's interact with the information panel. Consumers could pull up a vehicles history right on the dash. Not only would crash data be there, but service records as well. Consumers are then educated as to the advantages of properly maintaining a vehicle if expecting a fair trade in value. Think about what V Auto could do with this additional data. There are a lot of win win scenarios for manufacturers deploying this technology. Would certainly motivate consumers to properly maintain their vehicles. Carfax slowly fades away in this scenario.
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You got that right David Gould. What disturbs me is the first account where the people found out years later that the car had been in an accident before they purchased it although the CarFax showed nothing. Then years later CarFax shows airbags deployed before their purchase.
SO what do the people conclude in their complaint? They said that the DEALER must have falsified the CarFax report. It never even for a second dawned on them that perhaps CarFax is the screw-up that cost them thousands.
From the contents of this Blog and other research we have found that CarFax has an acute "LATENCY" problem. They sometimes don't get information until months after the accident. By that time the car is sold with a clean CarFax and the bad information is added later. These people need to get out of our lives, out of our dealerships, off of the television, and GET OUT of our computers.
Remember, step one is to get CarFax and other Data Pirates OUT of your DMS Computers.
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Comment by David T. Gould on November 9, 2012 at 6:03pm
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the Google ads inserted into the consumer content has got to be some of the most annoying ad space usage I have seen... that being said, CarFax does not appear to be interested in fixing this and similar reputation management issues. Their judgement day is coming soon... http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/carfax_inacc.html
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This is one of the first things we noticed about CarFax reputation... http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/carfax_inacc.html
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We're over 6000 page views so far on the three blogsites... a lot of people in the industry are reading this.
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Separating CarFax (their product / reputation) and your dealership (manufacturer) seems like a good idea as this momentum continues... Those that promote CarFax are likely to get hit by reputation shrapnel simply by relationship proximity. Now might not be the best time to be an "Advantage Dealer". Just thinking this out a bit further down the road. DTG
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I am not opening this by saying CarFax Sux. BUTWow! I am so pleased I posted this Blog! So much more negative information about CarFax has popped up it’s incredible. One thing I am noticing is that a lot of people are reading this BUT few are posting comments. I’d like to see that change. Get involved.
First of all a friend of mine, Cathy Nesbit wrote a blog that was a real eye opener. In the blog she claims that 23 States DO NOT report collision and other information to CarFax, or anyone else for that matter in the Vehicle History Reporting business.
23 States, nearly half of the states do not give CarFax information according to Nesbit, but they sell reports anyway and consumers believe they have accurate information. Can you say “Rip-Off”? Are they ripping off dealers and consumers? I don't know, what do you think?
Here’s a link to her blog with references . http://www.thecitywire.com/node/24949
Otay Buttwheat, here’s the second shoe dropping…
In an Associated Press released article this week, the reporter said CarFax was evidently using bogus statistics and scare tactics to sell reports (my interpretation) and charging $39.99 for these reports. (unconscionable price gouging?)
The article states in part…
..."dire predictions are being spread by a company that sells vehicle title and repair histories... CarFax, a privately held subsidiary of the R.L. Polk & Co. automotive data firm, put out a news release Tuesday speculating that Sandy's toll on cars would exceed the damage left by Katrina.
The claims aren't true "according to insurance-claims data reviewed by The Associated Press. The actual number of affected vehicles is far smaller, and some of those cars will be repaired and kept by their owners. The dire predictions are being spread by a company that sells vehicle title and repair histories..."
You can read it here … http://apnews.excite.com/article/20121109/DA2E4VC00.html
AND Fourthly... As far as all of the information being available to Vehicle History Reporting Companies, there's more they don't have that perhaps the industry would find a lot more useful to dealers and consumers.
It is part of a correspondence to me by my friend, Edie Hirtenstein.
As a Full, upfront disclosure – Edie is an executive with instaVIN, a NMVTIS-based vehicle history reporting company. Her company is a CarFax competitor using a vastly different History reporting Criteria. She begins by saying “ We love dealers and want to work with you, not against you.”
In case you don't know what NMVTIS is , it's the history report system that DMVs use when titling out of state vehicles to discover previously branded titles before they title vehicles in their own states. DMVs provide their own title data into the system very rapidly after titling. Additionally, all insurance companies, salvage auctions and junkyards are compelled by federal law to report to NMVTIS with big penalties when they don't. No other vehicle history database includes this information.
This is why California now has a law that requires CA dealers to run a NMVTIS-based report before making any used car available for sale. The law, CA AB1215, was backed by California dealer trade associations, the California DMV, and consumer advocacy groups. When was the last time these three types of groups agreed on anything? Only NMVTIS reports are accepted, not information from non-NMVTIS databases like Carfax.
That said, other things that you guys tell us is that you hate the high cost of reports, long term contracts, monthly minimums/monthly bills and "fender bender" data that doesn't supply any detail, but "ruins" a perfectly good, safe, potentially profitable car. instaVIN report prices start at $6.99 each and decrease when you buy bundles. Use your credit card and get report credits in your account, then use them as you need them. Credits never expire, so you can use them when you need them.
Right now we are offering a $.49 per report intro special -- get 20 reports for less than $10.00. Just go to our site and buy the 20-pack with no strings attached to see how you like them. No contract needed now or ever. Visit us at www.instaVIN.com to learn more.
Seems to me, the information her company offers has much more value than flawed and incomplete information you know who is selling. Whaddayathink?
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