As many of you car dealers know, Carfax has introduced a new section to their Carfax reports called ‘Price Calculator’ and placing phrases such as …

“This vehicle is worth $310 less than the retail book value based on the information reported to CARFAX.”

 … on the vehicle reports visible to your customers.

Here is a sample report that shows this: http://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistory/p/Report.cfx?partner=DLR_3&vin=WBSNB93566B582767&zipCode

Personally, I think this is bad for the car buying customer, as it will place an unrealistic expectation for a discount off the sale price of the vehicle.  For some dealers that have padded multiple thousands in the list price, this may not be a problem, but for many of my customers, they sell for $500 to a $1000 over their cost.  With this arbitrary value placed on the report, the dealer is forced to discount the price even if the “problem” has been properly remedied by repair.

What do you think?  Let me know.