Why would a Carfox, err, Carfax be "blank" for a few years of the car's lifetime?

This is a bit of an odd one - I'm looking at a P-Car (remotely) that ticks all the boxes apart from it not being a 911, but for some odd reason the Carfax only starts in '97 for an '88 car (and it wasn't a 0 mileage car at that point).

I would normally guess that it's because the car was imported into the US at that point, but it's a US model/US spec car that we are talking about here. The Carfox history also starts right in the middle of the car's life, with about 50k on the clock and a reported mileage.

Anybody seen this before? Benign? Run away? Pull Autocheck to see if that has more history?

The one for my MX6 doesn't start until 1995, it's a 1990 model, built in november 1989.

The weird part is... the first mileage reported in 1995 was under 1,000 miles.

I used to sell used cars and we had a mustang on the lot for 3 years. It showed the last note of the VIN history as vehicle offered for sale, so I go to show the customer this and I'm like wait, this is 3 years ago.

It turns it, its just been there that long...

Autocheck is the only one I use. I got screwed on my wife's VW by a clean Carfax, but a dealer trade-in check Autocheck report showed a wreck when the car was brand new. I was pissed.

In reply to fidelity101:

I was suspecting something like that initially, but given that it just starts in the middle of the history as if the early history has been "cut off".

I subscribed to Carfax a few years ago when I was shopping for something and just for kicks, I searched my own cars. Almost nothing came up for my Miata, which I owned for about ten years. If you do your own maintenance and don't hit anything, not much comes up on the Carafax.

Pull an autocheck to cross reference. If there is a delay in the vehicle being registered, there will be a gap in the vehicle history. This can happen for several reasons, the two most common are:

1) Someone high up at the dealership takes it as a new "demo" vehicle. This typically lasts less than a year 2) The is grey market. Either exported out of the U.S., or built outside of the U.S. and imported in.

Carfax pulls info primarily from state, police, and insurance records. The only time maintenance records will show up is if it's been maintained at a dealership that shares data with Carfax, which is rare. Autocheck does all of that, and pulls some data from wholesale auctions as well.

Shoot me a PM, I might know a guy who could look it over

I've had tons of cars with years "missing" from carfax. I live in WV and apparently WV doesn't (or at least doesn't always) report to carfax. Beyond that, all my vehicles have had "missing" years... thats when I owned them. I do my own maintenance, so if I own something for 4-5 years, unless its in an accident, its just playing its role as trusty steed. so in reality, nothing is missing, there may just be nothing to report.

fidelity101 wrote: I used to sell used cars and we had a mustang on the lot for 3 years. It showed the last note of the VIN history as vehicle offered for sale, so I go to show the customer this and I'm like wait, this is 3 years ago. It turns it, its just been there that long...

That's either a negotiation plus or minus, depending on one's point of view.

There's a lot by me that has a 635 in the back. Me want. But it's been there for close to ten years, so I'm assuming that it's either the owner's car, or they're not really in a hurry to get it off their lot. So far I haven't brought up the nerve to go in there and offer $500 for it. (What if they call my bluff and sell it to me for that price?)

Woody wrote: I subscribed to Carfax a few years ago when I was shopping for something and just for kicks, I searched my own cars. Almost nothing came up for my Miata, which I owned for about ten years. If you do your own maintenance and don't hit anything, not much comes up on the Carafax.

We're not talking about missing maintenance history here, but no registration/smog/title issued or similar records. There is really "nothing" as opposed to "no service history".

If this is going anywhere I'll cross-check Autocheck to see if they have more.

Any chance this car was registered in a state that was late to go to electronic records? Just asking based on the missing time period.

First record that shows is in Napa, CA. Not sure if that is a state that was late to electronic records or not.

In reply to BoxheadTim:

I don't think thats that unusual... I've seen many cars like that. As I said, perhaps it was in a state that doesn't provide that type of information to carfax.

Most of my cars are/have been to old for Carfax...and I'm woefully unfamiliar with the reporting procedure.

What, pray tell, gets reported; by who and how?

I don't 100% trust carfax after the shady collision repair shop I worked for that would buy cars that were most likely totaled out and would repair them to flip at auction. I took a couple of VINs and Carfax showed absolutely nothing on the cars. No accidents, nothing.

The worst was a Buick Lucerne that was two cars made into one, but the one that stands out was an '06 Mustang GT convertible, which had hit a pole hard enough that it had damaged the engine.

you do understand what carfax DOES, right? I mean if the accident and the repair aren't ever reported to police or insurance, unless the garage reports to carfax (which some do, apparently, especially dealers) then there is no way it can show up on carfax. its not magic. They just run a check to see if they get a hit on the vin in DMV, insurance, garage, or police registries. not all these registries even exist in some places, and even if they do, they aren't all accessible to carfax.

Finding an accident using carfax is like finding a phone number using the phone book. Just becuse it isn't in the book doesn't mean they don't have a phone. Maybe its in the town over's phone book. maybe its unlisted. etc.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: but the one that stands out was an '06 Mustang GT convertible, which had hit a pole hard enough that it had damaged the engine.

how did we ever get by before we had these online databases to check out cars for us?

i don't personally put any value in what a carfax report has to say. my eyeballs can tell me everything i need to know about a car. if you can't see that a car has been in a serious enough accident to worry about or that it's been poorly maintained, then you kinda deserve to get screwed over.

In reply to andrave:

And that right there is why I don't trust it. Also all the cars I put into carfax came from rental companies, so I would think that there would be something in there from the insurance at least.

In reply to novaderrik:

Well, not all of us have 100% X-Ray vision to determine if a car has been in an accident and repaired - badly or not - and in this particular case there's also the little detail that Carfax and Autocheck are a lot cheaper than a flight to see the car...

We're not quite talking hooptie P-Car here but a comparatively rare model that actually has some collector value and falls in the "buy the best you can" category.

They work well as a negative indicator, but I agree that they're not a replacement for the old Mk1 eyeball.

Carfax doesn't classify damage. An "accident" may be a little as an insurance claim for minor parking lot damage.