audijim113

Got an email from Carfax. got an account early this year when looking. The email said, "check your car for recalls" so I entered VIN and there were no recalls. However, it indicated it was overdue for an oil change. (Wrong, had it changed couple weeks ago and it was also changed in March).

It said my tires needed rotating. Wrong again, just put new set of tires on Tuesday.

Then the scary part, It showed
today's mileage" which is dam close to actual. How in the hell did it know what mi current mileage is? This is an 05 A8. Is NSA looking down from a satelite at it?

I wonder if the WIFI dongle that plugged into the OBDII is the spy?

Software on my smart phone is CARISTA, It is not Car Fax's product.
https://www.mycarfax.com/

richard-tx

Mileage close? I would say it was an educated guess.

winy68

Yeah I second that it's an estimated mileage...

That said it's unnerving the data 'they' have access to
If you take your car for a smog check and they plug into
your port - they have full access to your car's data.

Some Insurance companies even offer discounts if your plug in
a dongle that monitors your driving habits!

the_duke

My insurance would probably cancel me it I had their dongle. I suspect they frown on frequent top speed tests.

Jack88

Lol. Or testing the adhesion limits of the tires.

dvs_dave

Carfax is only as good as the data it already has. Most non dealer type shops don't report to carfax, so any work done by them of course won't be reported. Obviously the same for anything you do yourself as well.

The notices it sends you are purely predictions based on last known service or emissions test events and your calculated average mileage accrual rates from those past records. No fancy covert surveillance going on, just statistics analysis.

Pothole5000

Exactly just wait a year or two and it will be way off.

When I bought my A4 it was under factory warranty and I had lots of things done by them for free. After that expired I did my own work, but they kept sending letters with pretty close guesses to what my real mileage was.

Mister Bally

Especially when you have the speed limiter bit deleted and are only drag limited (see my Bonneville album) I'd love to plug one of those in my car and then send it to a useless insurance COmpaNy. Their reaction would be priceless. I'd tell them they were wrong and I was going at least 10 MPH faster than what they cite.

snagitseven

BTW, the Carista app or their dongle doesn't phone home or anywhere else. It's just a short range bluetooth connection between the app and the dongle.