Dealer created Carfax accounts. What gives?

[Gorpf]

I received an email out of the blue from Carfax saying “Thanks for adding your vehicle to Carfax car care.”

I didn’t add my vehicle to Carfax. I don’t have an account with them.

Someone created an account using my info without my knowledge or consent.

Carfax has no customer service by phone, and has not responded by email.

Dealership sales manager is now aware but unable to help with anything. Dealership GM is “busy” and hasn’t responded yet.

Is there any way to remove a vehicle from Carfax? How?

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[Marlon_JB2]

Ignore it. I received the same e-mail and Carfax.com account. Carfax did this, not anyone at the dealership. It isn't hurting anything. Carfax was going to find out when you made oil changes, etc anyway.

 

[JABCAT]

I actually update the Carfax record when i perform all regular maintenance, install new tires, etc. Considering most dealerships use this service, it looks better when I go to trade in or sell a vehicle.

 

[Jim1964]

I don’t take such invasive non-consensual use of my personal information lightly. When I bought mine they had a consent form for information sharing for me to sign. I handed it back to the F&I manager marked ”Declined”. I asked them to sign it acknowledging my wishes and give me a copy, which they did.

Companies only get away with so much data mining and selling because we’ve allowed it.

 

[cbrenthus]

I actually update the Carfax record when i perform all regular maintenance, install new tires, etc. Considering most dealerships use this service, it looks better when I go to trade in or sell a vehicle.

I didn't know you could do this, I might start

 

[jlamanske]

A lot of the places, as soon as you register the vehicle, sign up for insurance, anything that puts your name on it, get the info. Not sure what the channels are. How else can you put your license plate into an insurance vehicle finder and they pull up all the info on it?

 

[Jim1964]

A lot of the places, as soon as you register the vehicle, sign up for insurance, anything that puts your name on it, get the info. Not sure what the channels are. How else can you put your license plate into an insurance vehicle finder and they pull up all the info on it?

Many states, including where I’m registered, sell DMV records for profit. That’s just wrong. Government records should not be a profit center just to make it easier for private companies to market to us. At least here, you can opt out, although most people have no knowledge this is even happening, much less how to stop it.

 

[jjvincent]

I didn't know you could do this, I might start

Plus you can just make stuff up and put it in. That way, you can make it look like you did lots of maintenance. Then you can do things like when you run into something and not cover it with insurance and pay cash to a body shop to fix it, you have no accidents to report. Carfax is great for manipulation. This is why you need to have a separate place do an actual inspection. I see this on a weekly basis and it's happening more since used cars are selling like hotcakes.

 

[Gorpf]

Ignore it. I received the same e-mail and Carfax.com account. Carfax did this, not anyone at the dealership. It isn't hurting anything. Carfax was going to find out when you made oil changes, etc anyway.

I confirmed that the dealership made the initial report to Carfax. Not a big issue in the scheme of things, but I‘m having a hard time ignoring it. The info was used without my knowledge or consent.

 

[Gorpf]

Plus you can just make stuff up and put it in. That way, you can make it look like you did lots of maintenance. Then you can do things like when you run into something and not cover it with insurance and pay cash to a body shop to fix it, you have no accidents to report. Carfax is great for manipulation. This is why you need to have a separate place do an actual inspection. I see this on a weekly basis and it's happening more since used cars are selling like hotcakes.

Got to make sure the upgraded “turboencabulator” is duly noted on the Carfax account.

 

[Jim1964]

From what I’ve gathered, the dealership made the initial report to Carfax. Not confirmed though. Not a big issue in the scheme of things, but I‘m having a hard time ignoring it. The info was used without my knowledge or consent.

It’s actually not too difficult to take action where a little bit of your time can be leveraged into wasting a lot more of their time.

For example, I’d write an email to CarFax and ask them where they obtained my name and email address, since I didn’t give it to them.

After a response I’d reply and request they delete my personal information.

Then I’d follow up with an email to whomever they identified as the source and ask them to provide documentation where I agreed they can share my email and personal information with third parties. Which they may well have, buried in all the paperwork. But it’ll cost them time and money to research it and give you an answer.

 

[garykk]

It’s actually not too difficult to take action where a little bit of your time can be leveraged into wasting a lot more of their time.

For example, I’d write an email to CarFax and ask them where they obtained my name and email address, since I didn’t give it to them.

After a response I’d reply and request they delete my personal information.

Then I’d follow up with an email to whomever they identified as the source and ask them to provide documentation where I agreed they can share my email and personal information with third parties. Which they may well have, buried in all the paperwork. But it’ll cost them time and money to research it and give you an answer.

I seriously doubt CarFax would even respond to you, they haven’t answered the op yet.

 

[Gorpf]

Carfax said they could not remove vehicle from their datatbase.

Dealership couldn’t provide documentation showing I agreed to have my information shared.

 

[ge4568]

FWIW, you can remove a car from an association with an email. This almost certainly doesn't remove the car or its data from Carfax's database, though.

When you look at the home page of your car, in the top left corner is a link "Garage". Follow it. There you can add and remove cars. AFAICT, the "address" of that "garage" is essentially your email. A car can live in more than one garage (associated with more than one email), or in no garage (no email associated).

I know that my mechanic sends a notification about services to Carfax. I know that I never gave them permission to do so. I'm ok with it, so I just go with it. But I think it's probably a hard battle to get them not to do this. At some point, someone in their operation has this set up so that it gets sent. They may even have thought of it as adding to their customer service. But I doubt that many put an opt-out procedure in place. It's not right, but it is what it is...

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