CarFax question -- what do they report?

[inkatouring]

My wife's wagon was hit pretty bad while being towed (tow company's fault, no issue there). The "bumper frame" was hit and bent, which is the same thing as the frame rail on our cars, only beefier and harder to tweak. The car will not be totaled but obviously has a lot of damage. I can deal with the insurance company fine (after all, I am a paid asshole -- opps, I mean attorney).

Here's my question: Since we might be selling the car if the repair is not to our (very picky) satisfaction, what gets reported on CarFax? Having looked at an old one I have around, it has a check-box for structural damage and one for accident (and one for totaled, but that doesn't apply here).

How do they differentiate between the two? Is this an accident? Anyone have experience with this type of stuff?

[eurotrash]

No specific experience to what you have mentioned, but I once bought a car with the dealer carfax as input. It actually prompted me to drive 5 hours to see it..

The carfax stated "paintless dent repair", once i got there, I quickly realized that the thing had been repainted from the glass down and the entire nose replaced. There is NO way the dealership couldn't have noticed this, and they let me drive 5 hours to find it! I ended up with a 2 yr/24K VW certification and a 2 yr paint warranty, but man. That was crap!!! Incindentally, the paint is peeling in a few areas and the warranty ends in August. Now how to get the damn thing back to Chicago!!!

[robspeed]

it will probably written up as flood damage and/or bug infestation... ;-p

[inkatouring]

it will probably written up as flood damage and/or bug infestation... ;-p

You're a real help. To someone. Somewhere. And you should leave us hard working real Americans alone until you can be a help to me. Or at least restrict your comments to FB.

[robspeed]

it will probably written up as flood damage and/or bug infestation... ;-p

You're a real help. To someone. Somewhere. And you should leave us hard working real Americans alone until you can be a help to me. Or at least restrict your comments to FB.

=p

[eurotrash]

I wish Indiana really had mountains..

[robspeed]

are you referring to my sig picture? That was taken on the side of the road in arizona or new mexico, i forget which. It was on the drive from cali to 'bama a thousand years ago before jenna's accident, before cooper was even born. drove it all the way, about 2200 miles, with the rod bolt head snapped off. i babied it the whole way and it never complained. only after i got to bama and was driving it harder (since i had arrived and wasnt at risk of being stranded in the middle of nowhere) that the rod end started opening up at higher revs and eventually prompted me to drop the oil pan and find the broken-off head in the bottom of the pan... that engine is still in bama under a tarp. all it needs is a rod and the big-end bearing! (and the bugs blown out of it)...