Carfax report

I ran a Carfax report on a car that I know was purchased as a "BMW certified vehicle" but there is no service history of the first five years.
BMW states that to qualify for the "The BMW Certified Program" they "review each vehicle's CARFAX™ or AutoCheck® report, and ensure that it has genuine BMW parts, plus an up-to-date maintenance history."

The car is model year 2004, but the CARFAX report has only two early entries
08/14/2008 32,238 miles Vehicle serviced - Maintenance inspection completed -Battery/charging system checked
01/05/2005 8,225 miles Vehicle serviced at a Service Facility

The 2008 BMW service facility is given by name, but there is no name for the 2005 service facility.
So basically I have no usable records for the first 32K miles. I don't know who owned it, I don't know how many accidents it was in, how often the oil was changed, if the standard 30,000 mile maintenance was done (coolant flush, brake flush, transmission fluid flush, belt inspected or replaced, was the battery replaced).

Is this common? Is there any alternatives?

Quote: Pacomartin

I ran a Carfax report on a car that I know was purchased as a "BMW certified vehicle" but there is no service history of the first five years.
BMW states that to qualify for the "The BMW Certified Program" they "review each vehicle's CARFAX™ or AutoCheck® report, and ensure that it has genuine BMW parts, plus an up-to-date maintenance history."

The car is model year 2004, but the CARFAX report has only two early entries
08/14/2008 32,238 miles Vehicle serviced - Maintenance inspection completed -Battery/charging system checked
01/05/2005 8,225 miles Vehicle serviced at a Service Facility

The 2008 BMW service facility is given by name, but there is no name for the 2005 service facility.
So basically I have no usable records for the first 32K miles. I don't know who owned it, I don't know how many accidents it was in, how often the oil was changed, if the standard 30,000 mile maintenance was done (coolant flush, brake flush, transmission fluid flush, belt inspected or replaced, was the battery replaced).

Is this common? Is there any alternatives?

I'd say it's reasonably common. Carfax gathers its data from various sources, including mechanic shops, auto body/collision shops, dealerships, police, insurance companies and others. Not all of the agencies/businesses opt to report to Carfax, so a lack of data about a particular vehicle does not necessarily imply accidents or neglect.

The Carfax or Autocheck reports lacking, while BMW could well have, "Certified," it anyway, it's also possible that vehicle maintenance records were kept and presented directly to the dealership on trade in or sale.

Another thing is that many car owners do routine maintenance themselves, which would generally also not be reported to Carfax.

I guess the only thing you could really do for further information is to contact the BMW dealership itself and ask what specific ccriteria were used to certify the vehicle, given that the cited reports were lacking.

Quote: Pacomartin

Is this common? Is there any alternatives?

On a 2004 vehicle I don't think CarFAX matters all that much. You can get classic plates for that in my parts. A BMW of that age is going to be a mechanical nightmare almost no matter what.

I read a lot of Carfax's in the two months I was looking for my Toyota Sienna. Very common to see gaps of 30,000 miles where nothing was reported at all. God only knows what happened during those two years.

Quote: Pacomartin

I ran a Carfax report on a car that I know was purchased as a "BMW certified vehicle"

I would be very skeptical of a BMW with missing Carfax info. For every owner who babies their BMW there is an owner who ignores it because he thinks that it's a expensive German car he doesn't have to maintain it because it's so well-built.

There are procedures that can be done to help satisfy oneself that a car without an available service history is not necessarily a lemon / money pit.

Such as: compression test; cylinder leakdown test; comprehensive test drive and inspection by someone very familiar with the car and its foibles.

No guarantee of course.

I generally lease new cars and perform almost no maintenance because I know in two or three years it will be someone elses problem. Granted, I don't drive many miles usually only about 6,000 per year.

My friend has this car (a BMW 330i) where new ones have an MSRP: from $41,250 .

Her car has less than 100,000 miles on it and she is running into some bizarely expensive failures (like complete failure of the "instrument cluster" requiring it to be replaced). It seems that she can't go to a regular mechanic, but only some very expensive BMW certified places.

Most people I know have paid a lot less money for a Japanese automobile and driven them for 100,000 or 200,000 miles without so many catastrophic failures.

Quote: Evenbob

I would be very skeptical of a BMW with missing Carfax info. For every owner who babies their BMW there is an owner who ignores it because he thinks that it's a expensive German car he doesn't have to maintain it because it's so well-built.

I ordered CARFAX for my mother's car since most of the maintenance paperwork had been discarded, but CARFAX gave me a Beta test so I added 3 other cars for free including this BMW. I was shocked to see only a single completely meaningless entry for the first 30,000 miles. It doesn't even indicate an oil change.

The emissions inspection results are not even shown. That should be the state government.

I think you may be correct because I don't get how people can spend that much money on a car, and decide to change their own oil and flush the coolant , transmission, and brake fluids.

Quote: Pacomartin

I don't get how people can spend that much money on a car, and decide to change their own oil and flush the coolant , transmission, and brake fluids.

Huh?

Are you saying you don't understand why car owners choose to maintain their own cars themselves, assuming they know how, as opposed to paying some mechanic to do it?

Or did you omit the word "not" in front of the word "change?"

Me, I have always maintained and serviced my own cars whenever possible, including a Ferrari I had for ten years.

Quote: missedhervee

Huh?

Are you saying you don't understand why car owners choose to maintain their own cars themselves, assuming they know how, as opposed to paying some mechanic to do it?

Or did you omit the word "not" in front of the word "change?"

Me, I have always maintained and serviced my own cars whenever possible, including a Ferrari I had for ten years.

I have never done any car maintenance myself. In 40 years of driving I have never changed oil, never changed a flat, and I go somewhere to have them put air in my tires.