Insurance claims appear on carfax?

[irvineboy]

so my dash was scratched and the tint shop owner who did the windshield is involving his insurance. I’ve heard two sides to the story. Some auto body shops say it will show up on car fax if it’s over a certain amount. My insurance agent says because it is not collision and it is replacing the dash, it’s covered under comprehensive so it shouldn’t show up on carfax. I’m just worried that if it shows up on carfax, it could dramatically lower the value of the car.

Has anyone done interior work through insurance and got a surprise on carfax? I don’t want it to lower the value of the car. If insurance does a pay out and I don’t get it fixed, does that still count as a car fax notification? How does it work exactly?

 

[Uncle Paul]

With Carfax you never quite know for sure.

In your case probably not show up...but only probably.

Had a friend run a BMW through an auction. Got down priced because an aftermarket stereo had been added in the trunk. He then took the stereo amps out, but Car Fax had already picked up on it and it was reported.

 

[irvineboy]

So let’s say I decide to have the insurance pay me out. Does anyone have experience as to how insurance companies do that? I.e. do they meet in the middle of my quote and their low ball estimators quote? Do they go with my quote?

If they accept the quote that I have, will a pay out show on car fax?

 

[Uncle Paul]

If you are trying to make some money, take the lower cash offer. Insurance companies know that some claimants will attempt to get an extremely high quote to enhance their payout.

Having your dash removed and replaced is not that easy, and other problems may pop up.

 

[irvineboy]

So If I choose a payout, nothing shows up on the car fax?

(I am making up numbers here) So can the insurance company technically say, my estimator’s quote is $1000. Your quote through Tesla is $5000. If you want a payout, I will only give you less and not $5000, which is technically what it costs to get the work done through Tesla. However, if you want it fixed, then we will pay Tesla $5000.

 

[trm2]

The business owner is likely using his commercial insurance, not car insurance. The commercial carrier just sees a claim, not necessarily as an auto. Chances are that it will not be reported to CarFax because they simply don’t have a mechanism for reporting, but yeah, it is still possible.
The insurance company’s job is to protect the insured - the business owner. They will do this while paying as little as possible. If you demonstrate to them that it can be repaired for $1,000 or it can also be repaired for $5,000 by getting them an estimate, then what would you pay? One thousand takes care of it and at that point they are done, they don’t have a contract with you so they give you enough to fix the problem and leave the rest up to you.

 

[D.E.]

Your beef is with the company that replaced your windshield. Their insurance is paid to protect them. That insurance will pay out the minimum it can.
Since your beef is with that windshield company, you can take them to small claims or whatever court system is appropriate where you live. It’s up to that insurance company to make sure their client, that windshield company, is protected from financial loss.
You do not have to take the lowball offer, and that first offer will be lower, usually.

This doesn’t help with the Carfax issue. I went on the Carfax site last night looking for an answer to your question. They are a little nebulous about their sources. There is a form on their site that lets you offer a “correction” if there is something wrong. That might be an option if you do end up with a Carfax report. I’ve no idea how well people do with that. Since there’s no structural damage, there’s no collision, and you are putting the car back the way it was with no damage, it seems to me it should not be reported or if it is, it should be a candidate for correction in their system. I don’t know if Carfax has people you can talk to in order to find out. My opinion here counts for absolutely nothing, though.

If you can keep your VIN number off all the paperwork, maybe it won’t be reported. They seem VIN number oriented.

 

[pinball_player]

I would be willing to bet that the commercial insurance that the company has will not be reported in carfax because the claim will not have your VIN or the like. They are merely paying to repair damage done by the installer and will not capture or associate the payment with the VIN of your car which means that the carfax will not be notified.