How an Accident on Your Carfax Affects Your Car's Value

What lowers an offer isn't the accident. It's the claim amount. Two cars can both show an accident on the report and be priced thousands apart.

In our buying, it works out to roughly $1,000 off for every $5,000 of claim. Here's how that works.

How much does an accident on your Carfax lower your offer?

Take a car we'd pay $20,000 for with a clean record:

That's a rule of thumb, not a formula. It's one input alongside kilometres and condition, not a penalty added on top. Here's what else affects your car's value.

Want the number for your own car? Get a free offer. It takes about a minute.

Why does a properly repaired car still lose money?

Because the report describes the car's history, not its condition, and the history goes with the car.

We buy to resell, so we can only pay what the next buyer will. That buyer reads the same report, and nobody after you is paying for the repair.

Financing matters too. A claim can affect what the next buyer can finance the car at, however good the repair.

Repairing it was the right call if you were keeping the car. It just doesn't come back when you sell.

The report usually isn't the first clue anyway. We walk around every car first. Paint that doesn't quite match, a seam that's wider at one end, a panel sitting higher than the next one: the walk finds those, and the report confirms it.

Is there a claim amount that makes a car unsellable?

No. The last car we bought before writing this was a 2021 Mercedes C43 with a $29,000 claim. The seller had his insurance records, knew exactly what was on it, and wouldn't drop a dollar. We paid his number and were at the bank with him about 90 minutes after first seeing the car.

A big claim changes the price, not whether the car sells.

What happens if the car is salvage or rebuilt?

That's a different scale. We do buy rebuilt vehicles, at roughly half of what the same car would be worth with a clean history.

Alberta has five vehicle statuses: Active, Salvage, Rebuilt, Non-Repairable and Unsafe. A Salvage vehicle that's repaired and passes a Salvage Vehicle Inspection becomes Rebuilt, permanently.

How do you find out what your claim was actually worth?

The report says an accident happened. Your insurer has the dollar figure, and that's what sets the price.

Bring the claim record and there's nothing to argue about. The C43 seller held his price because he could show exactly what the claim was.

Is it better to disclose it or let the buyer find it?

Disclose it. We ask about claims before we come out and pull a report anyway, so it'll be found.

We've been told a car was clean and then found a total loss claim on it. Usually that isn't dishonesty. People buy cars used with claims already on them and never know. But a surprise like that is the main reason an offer changes at the appointment.

You don't need a spotless record, just an accurate one. Offers made on the car that's actually there are the ones that hold.