Action 9 investigates faulty car report claim

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A Lake County man claims a vehicle history report that was supposed to give him peace of mind, instead created a buyer's nightmare.

The AutoCheck report failed to reveal a bad accident before he bought the car and lost a couple thousand dollars.

The 2012 Ford Fusion looked like a great buy to John Mills, but first he paid for a vehicle history report from AutoCheck, which listed the car as accident free and gave it 93 points out of 100.

"I bought the vehicle based on that report," said Mills.

Now Mills ridicules that AutoCheck report.

"It's not worth the paper it's printed on, you know. It's no good at all," said Mills.

After buying the car, a dealer's repair shop told him the car had been in a wreck.

Mills did his own online search and within minutes verified his car had been crashed and declared a total loss.

"And I'm not a wizard, so anybody could find it if I did," said Mills.

Both Carfax and the National Insurance Crime Bureau list the collision nearly a year ago.

"When I told AutoCheck, they said, 'Well, our sources haven't told us this, so the car's alright,'" said Mills.

AutoCheck has an A rating at the Better Business Bureau, but Action 9 found many online complaints about reports missing defects.

Action 9 took Mills' case to a national auto expert, Edmunds.com and was told that it was a costly mistake.

"And that means the resale value of the car is going to be significantly less and it will be significantly harder to sell the vehicle," said Phillip Reed of Edmunds.com

AutoCheck has a reliability guarantee -- if it missed a hidden wreck from the past, it will buy back the vehicle. But there's a catch.

It will only buy back car's that have salvaged titles. Mills' title remained clean. He found out a vehicle report can't replace a mechanic's inspection to uncover a car's true past.

"They are selling things that are not accurate," said Mills.

Mills' complaint is the fourth AutoCheck complaint Action 9 has received this year.

The company said it is reviewing Mills' issue and told Ulrich that it is committed to providing as much information as possible on its reports to alert consumers and dealers.

WFTV