An Interesting Carfax

I traded in my '09 Jetta TDI w/DSG back in Sept. of 2011. When I found my registration for it, I had a friend run a Carfax to see what ever happened to it. What I found was very interesting.

The car had problems from day one. It was pretty much back to the dealer at least once a month for everything from the DSG banging away to the rearview mirror falling apart in my hands. There were airbag sensor problems, dead radio, etc. that would send it back to the dealer. Each time, an RO had been written.

I finally had a chance to sit down and read the Carfax. Ok, there's where I bought the car in Oct. of 2008 and next was when I brought the car back a couple of weeks later, because the trans was banging. The tech decided it needed another MU for the trans. The Carfax had that visit listed as vehicle serviced. Now next was, was, was, July of 2011?!?! What happened to 2009 and 2010 where all the other warranty returns happened? Where's the rest of 2008 and 2011? Where's the time a VW QTM took a drive with me? Where was the time a VW drivetrain engineer took a ride with me and kept the car for a day?

All the records of the problems with the car were not listed. Even when the records started again, with again another MU being installed almost two years later, it's listed as "computer reprogrammed". The records also show that from 10/22/2008 to 7/15/2011, I went 11,298 miles and from 7/15/2011 to 9/3/2011 when I traded the car in, I went 33,387 miles.

The moral of this story is, when you get a Carfax on a vehicle you're interested in, take it with a grain of salt. It's only as good as what a dealer tells them.