How to tell if a CARFAX report is fake

Can a CARFAX report be fake?

Yes. The report is produced by CARFAX, but the copy you’re shown may not be what CARFAX produced. Most fakes are one of these:

• An edited PDF or screenshot. Accidents, owners or title brands taken out, the mileage changed, or the date moved.
• A real report for a different car. A clean report for another VIN, often the same make and model, passed off as this one.
• An old report. Genuine, but run before the accident, the title brand or the auction sale.
• A page that only looks like a report. A link from the seller to a site you don’t know, dressed up to look like a history report.

CARFAX’s own advice for private sales is to ask for the VIN and get a CARFAX report before any money changes hands. It says the report can often verify or discredit what the seller has told you, which only works if the report is one you ordered.

Red flags in a report you were sent

• The VIN on the report doesn’t match the car, character for character.
• The year, make, model, body or engine don’t match the car or the ad.
• The last odometer reading is higher than the dashboard shows, or dates run out of order.
• The date the report was run is months old, or cropped out of the screenshot.
• Fonts, spacing or alignment change partway down a page, or whole sections are missing.
• The seller sends only screenshots, or won’t give you the VIN so you can check it yourself.
• The seller’s name isn’t on the title. CARFAX says the name on the title should match the person selling the car, and calls reselling a car without titling it in your own name “title jumping”.

How to verify a CARFAX report

1. Read the VIN off the car. CARFAX points to the dashboard and the driver’s side door jamb, as well as the title or registration. The New York DMV says to always make sure the VIN plate on the vehicle matches the VIN on the title. Our free VIN decoder confirms the VIN belongs to the kind of car in front of you.
2. Compare the report with the car. Year, make, model, body and engine should match, and the latest reading on the report should be at or below the dashboard.
3. Check the date. A report shows what CARFAX had on the day it was run. Anything since then won’t be there.
4. Run a fresh report yourself, from a source you chose, with the VIN you read off the car rather than one the seller typed. Then compare the two line by line. If they differ, trust the one you ordered.
5. Check the title from a second source. An NMVTIS report shows title brands, total-loss and salvage history from the federal title database.

A report in your own account

When you order here, the report is delivered into your own account and by email, from our licensed data supplier, not through the seller. Most reports arrive instantly or in seconds after payment, and they stay in your account. If a report can’t be produced for the VIN, its cost goes back to your account automatically.

A CARFAX report costs $8.99 here, against $44.99 on carfax.com.

Smart VIN Check is independent and not affiliated with CARFAX, Experian (AutoCheck), Copart or IAA. We pass on the report as it’s produced and don’t edit it.

Can dealers fake a CARFAX?

A dealer’s report can be genuine and still out of date, or belong to another car on the lot by mistake. Treat it like any other copy: match the VIN, check the date, and run your own if you’re close to buying. If a dealer gives you a report you believe was altered, the FTC says to report a dishonest dealer at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to your state attorney general.