Why We Finally Gave Up On the Carfox

We've had a long relationship with the Carfox - that cute and lovable mascot for Carfax Vehicle History Reports.   Unless you live under a rock, you've surely seen the commercials as the fox tells innocent buyers to beware of the big, mean car dealers and make sure you ask for a "free" Carfax on every purchase.  Every reputable dealer will provide one to you!

And for several years we have provided them.  At first, Carfax signed us up with a special offer - a few hundred dollars per month for as many reports as we could run at Consumers Auto Warehouse.   And run them we did!  On our current inventory - our sold units - in the service department and even for people who were shopping other places.  It was a great gig.  Carfax provided us with marketing materials, a fancy looking format, and links on our website.

In the background, though, it always felt like they were extorting me.  They ran million dollar campaigns to paint car dealers as crooks and buffoons while jacking up my rates on an ever increasing basis.  As time has worn on, those price increases have crossed the "ridiculous" line - the last rate increase pushed us to over $11,000 per year!  Yes - and we had one of the lowest rate plans out there!

Don't get me wrong - vehicle history is important when deciding whether to buy a vehicle.  But Carfax isn't the only (or best) game in town.  We've switched to Autocheck by Experian - yes, the same folks to do credit scoring.  We've found the reports to be simple to read, easy to understand and more complete when it comes to accident data - the thing that MOST customers want to know first.  You can see all the Autocheck reports on our website at www.cawcawcaw.com by every vehicle we sell.

We may not have a mascot or funny stuffed animals now, but we've stopped paying close to $1000 per month for bells and whistles and commercials that bash us.  And when we save money - the customer saves money - without giving up the information you need to make a good buying decision.