CARFAX report devalues your car
 

When a vehicle has an insurance claim it will show up on Carfax report and will devalue the car at trade in time Correct ?????

Absolutely

Diminished value.

My 2024 Silverado was hit while parked (corner of front bumper scraped) luckily i saw it happen, and their insurance will pay to repair but when i trade it in in 2 years the dealer will see the Carfax report and what will happen to the value of the trade

You can always take a picture of the damage to document how minor the"accident" was

I believe damage that is not paid by insurance will not be reported to Carfax.

Damage was paid for by the persons insurance company that hit my truck, so who is responsible for the devaluation of my truck at trade in time, I guess i have to take the hit on it.

Yes carfax can be frustrating. When it first came out I used it to check history of used vehicles i was buying from private owners. In those cases, it did save me more than once. On the other side of it is the issue you bring up, along with numerous inaccurate reporting that show up. Getting those corrected can be brain damage. I am currently going through that now.

If it's minor damage (like what happened to your truck) and it's fixed properly, it's not going to diminish the value.

20 years ago I bought a 1985 Olds Cutlass 442 from the original owner. Seller advertised it as 60,000 original miles. Carfax showed it as 60k. After buying the car. I found service records and a mileage log in the glove box showing the car had turned over. Car had 100k put on it in the first 4 years of its life. It looked ran and drove like a 60,000 mile car.

Even minor damage properly repaired will affect the trade in value. Many new car dealers won't put a car with a CARFAX repair on their lot, they take them to the dealer auction. If you're in an accident that is not your fault, ask your dealership for a "diminished value" appraisal and negotiate.

I plan on trading in the fall of 2026 so what do I do? about the diminished value

If you do a search 'diminished value' you'll find plenty of advise. Here are a few examples.

https://www.bankrate.com/insurance/c...d-value-claim/
https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shoppin...minished-value

As said, take plenty of pictures to document the damage and present that at trade in time. Also, request a copy of the repairs done and parts installed from the paying insurance company for your records. Any dealer worth doing business with will recognize a, for example, $1,500 repair is minor and the documents will prove that. If they want to make big deal about it, go down the street. There are plenty of other Chevrolet dealers in this country to be loyal to one that won't play fair.

You could always sell it outright for more than you're going to get in trade too, but the manufacturers and dealers have convinced American sheep that they can't/shouldn't do that. I haven't traded a car in, in 40 years. I sell them right from my home.

In 2022 my daughter was driving my wife's 2022 Explorer lease car when she was rear ended on the expressway, it caused $17,000 in damage, insurance paid to repair the car, I had previously planned to purchase the car after the lease was up because it had really low miles on it as it was seldom used.
We turned it in after the lease was up in 2024 as I did not want it anymore due to the accident. About a month after turning it in I was going through photos on my phone when I ran across a pic I took of the VIN, so I Googled it, and it was for sale at a Ford dealer about 2hrs away, complete with a complementary CarFax that showed No accidents...

Great information from all who participated how many people even know about this my useless insurance agency did not let me know of this.

BLUF, Carfax is not always correct. Sometimes it goes the other way...

Years ago I ran into the back of a F-250 with my 2 year old Yukon. The damage was substantial requiring pulling the front frame section, replacing the core support and all associated grille, bumper, headlights and etc. to repair it.

When I went to sell it about 10 years later as a private seller I provided the Carfax report that reported "minor damage" as well as all meticulous service records. I was honest with the buyer and informed him of the actual damage. Being I had owned it for 10 years after the accident and that it ran and drove excellent with even treadwear he bought it anyway. I ran into the buyer several years later and he still owned it and was most happy with it.

Just like every other crime out there, Carfax reports can be "manipulated" by the pros. When looking for a car, and reading a carfax report, IF there has been 1-2 owners and there is a clear maintenance pattern with very steady dates and work performed, but then there is a "drop off" of possibly many months where nothing shows at all, then maybe picks back up again, be very careful. Pros can DELETE activity off a report but usually cannot alter it. If there is many months with "no activity" good chance "something happened" in that time frame (accident). Shady dealers do this all the time

I'm infuriated by a CF situation with my truck. The rear bumper - a bolt on part - was dented in a non moving accident. The police nor insurance were involved. I paid my body shop cash to procure a new bumper, paint, and install. The body shop gave the VIN to the dealer who they got the bumper from and the dealer software reported it to CF! I now have a mark on my CF report because of this. I'm livid and disappointed. I have a claim open with CF but their customer service is trash. Might need to come to terms and move on...

in Ohio there is a law that forces insurance companies to pay for diminished value after an accident.