Used Vehicle History Report Comparison

Organization

Automobile Protection Association (APA)

Published

2014

Summary

Vehicle history searches are a comparatively recent innovation in the used car market. They have become nearly universal and are used by dealers, buyers and intermediaries like vehicle auction houses. Private companies aggregate information obtained from third-party databases to provide history reports for individual vehicles. The reports are sold to the general public and auto dealers on easy-to-use, web-based platforms.

A Vehicle History Report, or VHR, provides information critical to a buyer's purchasing decision. The widespread availability and use of vehicle history reports has the potential to address previously irresolvable issues concerning the inequality of the information available to the buyer and seller. There has been relatively little empirical research on the accuracy of the information provided in vehicle history reports. This APA study benchmarks CarProof and CARFAX, two private vehicle history search services, and the used vehicle report provided by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, against on-site vehicle inspections performed by an expert appraiser.

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OCA Funded Research
This research received funding support through the Office of Consumer Affairs' Contributions Program.

Contact information

Source: Consumer Policy Research Database