auto appraiser Jason Phillips points out that the buyback guarantee you receive is not as it seems. “We tested this out when a client came to me after totaling their car and was $5,000 short of payoff”. The insurance adjuster on the case noted that the car had multiple previous repairs that were physically obvious, but went unnoticed by the new owner. She had purchased her used 2002 Pontiac Bonneville only 11 months earlier, and paid “all the money” for it in my opinion. She ran a CARFAX report, and the car came up clear of any major problems. Trusting this, she purchased. However, when I subpoenaed the records on the case, I found dealer from Grand Rapids Mi. had purchased it two weeks earlier, from a Michigan based dealer auction, that reports weekly to carfax. Further, the records indicate that GMAC financial announced the car on the podium AS-IS, previous repairs, and turned on the “red light”. The whole thing was recorded. to add insult to injury, we re-ran a carfax, now 14 months later, and the car was STILL coming up clean, with no bad history! So, who’s at fault here? The seller reported, the auction recorded, and the system was in place. In short, carfax denied any wrong doing. they’re response was….”well how were we supposed to report it, if nobody reported it to us?” Ultimately, the customer suffered in the end. The expense of an attorney, appraiser, fight with their insurance company, and all the lost time. Who pays for that? Unsuspecting customers that trust the system, that’s who. Their ads are cute, but very misleading. My advice….have it professionally inspected.

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