Vehicle history reports, such as those from CARFAX or AutoCheck, have become an integral part of any used car purchase. These reports can provide valuable information about a given vehicle's prior history.

Currently, California law does not specifically say that a dealer must provide its customers with a CARFAX or AutoCheck Vehicle History Report. However, it is highly recommended for dealership compliance and lawsuit prevention to provide both Carfax and Autocheck to your customers. California law requires dealers to disclose important information about a vehicle that they know or should have known. Because CARFAX and AutoCheck reports are relatively inexpensive, they are used by many if not all dealerships, and they are easily available at a click of a button, consumer lawyers can claim that if a dealership did not disclose something important that was in a CARFAX or AutoCheck report, the dealer should have known about it and therefore, should have disclosed it. Doing so will help protect them against potential lawsuits and compliance issues.

For example: Let’s say your dealership only has CARFAX and not Autocheck. Before you sell the car, the CARFAX is “clean”, meaning it does not show any prior accidents or any damage. The customer buys the car and later finds out that Autocheck shows the car has prior structural damage. The customer may claim that you should have known the car had prior structural damage because it was reported in AutoCheck and therefore, were required to disclose that damage to the customer prior to sale.

Additionally, providing customers with accurate vehicle history information will help them make informed decisions when purchasing a car. With that in mind, it is clear that providing these reports to customers is highly beneficial as your dealership will ensure compliance, lawsuit prevention, and customer satisfaction.