Carfax Wrong?

[rhillig]

Problem 3: We have noticed in the last 2-3 days that VIN numbers are getting switched to another vehicle that the customer has when using the CARFAX DECODE button. I do not know if this has happened before this but this is when we noticed it. Today, I physically saw it happen. The customer has a 95 Chevy G20 Van & a 91 F150. When I hit the decode button, the G20 turned into the F150. The Vin, Make & Model, etc. The History Tickets also of course changed. So I had to pull the paper invoice to get the vehicles back in correctly in to computer. Has anyone else noticed any of these glitches while using the Decode button? As of now we have stopped using the decode button. Is Mitchell doing anything to fix this..

Problem #1 - we have solved by using the last 8 of the vin for a plate number instead of actually using the plate number. This is not repeated & also allows us to easily tell the parts guy the last 8 when ordering parts.

Problem #3 - I have had a few vehicles where the vin # has changed on it upon Carfax Decode too. I have caught it later, but cannot be sure how/why it is happening. I will try & pay more attention to it. I thought it was possibly stupid user <me> error. But actually caught it doing it today.

[liljoe]

The first problem is what makes me glad that I am in Alabama, where when you get rid of a car, the tag is to be destroyed. It does not transfer with the car, and the owner cannot transfer it to a new vehicle to reuse.

Actually, if you present proof of the trade in or sale of the previous car, you can transfer the tag to another car. Just can't do it if you do not provide proof of the sale.....

[MarionB2BAuto]

The first problem is what makes me glad that I am in Alabama, where when you get rid of a car, the tag is to be destroyed. It does not transfer with the car, and the owner cannot transfer it to a new vehicle to reuse.

Actually, if you present proof of the trade in or sale of the previous car, you can transfer the tag to another car. Just can't do it if you do not provide proof of the sale.....

Hmm. If that is true, then I am confused why none of my family has been able to retain their old tags when buying a new vehicle. My sister and mother both have tried to keep the same tag (My mom has a handicap tag) and they have told them both that state law requires a new tag to be issued to a new owner. Now maybe the officers were wrong, but we are just going by what we have been told was the law.


On a side note, with Carfax being integrated, is there a login that we have to get in? I have an email from them talking about "Carfax Service Network" and it seems like it is part of out SE integration. How can we log in to our side of the system?

[ARS]

Problem #3 - I have had a few vehicles where the vin # has changed on it upon Carfax Decode too. I have caught it later, but cannot be sure how/why it is happening. I will try & pay more attention to it. I thought it was possibly stupid user <me> error. But actually caught it doing it today.[/quote]


I have noticed this problem too... I has happened in the last 3 or 4 days... I caught it today too. I have to look up the Vin on the vehicle or from a paper history ticket. This is so frustrating. The Decode changes it to another vehicle that the customer has. It has been so frustrating!!!! The advantages of the Decode button are good but the glitch makes me not trust it or use it. If this getting fixed???

[ARS]

Having problems with problem 3 again in the last 3 or 4 days. I caught it doing the switch today. It has to do with the Decode button. It flips it to another vehicle that the customer has. & then the Invoices in history get changed too. Both situations are frustrating. I either have to go to the vehicle & reput it in the Vin or look up at paper history ticket to find the Vin. I did the paper history ticket on the one today & in August the Vin had gotten switched too but we did not catch it. I found one in May that was right. This is so frustrating because i like using the Decode button but now i do not trust it because of this glitch... is it getting fixed????

[timbre4]

A forthcoming release will soon separate CarFAX from the Decode function. Shops wishing to pursue CarFAX marketing will do so with a separate mechanism.

[ARS]

sorry... i did not see that there was a page two... i could not see my first post.... so you are saying not to use the decode button right now?

[timbre4]

You may continue using it, we need to figure out the sequence of events that is causing this issue for you. It does not appear to be widespread.

I was just advising that the VIN is changing in the near future.

[ARS]

Just letting you know that I had the Decode button switch the vin to another vehicle that the customer has again today. It switched a 06 Pontiac G6 to a 97 Geo storm... This is the first time I have had it switch on me in awhile. Just letting you know that it happened again. I am watching for the switch now.

[timbre4]

Could you please share that VIN# with me?

Trying to get the scenario straight; this 2006 Pont G6 was a NEW record ort EXISTING vehicle record? If it was an exisitng record why would you click Decode?

I'm wondering if we have some wrong VINs stored for existing vehicles and the Decode is trying to correct this.

[ARS]

VIN for G6 : 1G2ZH558964254839
Vin for Geo Storm- sorry it is a 93: J81RF2363P7524161

The G6 was a existing vehicle was an existing record. I use the Decode button to make sure the Vin is correct. The person that worked in my position did not always get the correct vins in (S or 5, I or 1 etc.). With all the ordering that we do on the computer we need to make sure the vins are correct. Plus the decode button fills in other vehicle information that we like to see.

The situation is random. I have not figured out why it switches.

When the switch happens it always changes the history too. So I have to go find the paper record to reenter the correct Vin. It would be nice if when you enter a Vin... It does not change the history records too.
Thanks

[steven kiser]

I always print a hard copy before i make any changes. Anytime a phone number is changed i write it down. A few to many times not to piss me off i've deleted and rewritten the phone number, printed a work sheet and when needed to call the number space is blank or old number is there.

I take a bunch of scrap paper and leave it next to the phone near the computer and i scribble down in my own little language what's going on and fill out the order later. I think it comes from being old school and having hand written orders for years. I still really don't trust computers.

Another thing i do when i'm greeting the customer is i print out a tech sheet and write on it, i type it in after. This way i have a hard copy with as much information as needed. want the work order to be neat and professional looking. I don't want it to look like s/l l/f, lof, ins, rot, rttl rr, etc. I can look at the customer as opposed to the computer. A bit old school, I need eye contact.

[ARS]

We also have a paper trail. We keep all of the scheduling in a schedule book along with the computer. We also have the tech. sheets that they hand write on. Then we have paper invoices that we file for each ticket made.

With all of this paper, it still does not have anything to do with the Vin's getting switched. I do have to look up the paper invoices to reenter the Vin on the computer when the glitch happens. It is just frustrating when the glitch happens. & then the History all changes too.

[steven kiser]

We also have a paper trail. We keep all of the scheduling in a schedule book along with the computer. We also have the tech. sheets that they hand write on. Then we have paper invoices that we file for each ticket made.

With all of this paper, it still does not have anything to do with the Vin's getting switched. I do have to look up the paper invoices to reenter the Vin on the computer when the glitch happens. It is just frustrating when the glitch happens. & then the History all changes too.

I agree it's frustrating and it's never a no stress time when it happens. Personally i'm neck deep in crap and really need to contact a customer or order something (the car isn't at the shop, it's at college with a child ) and wham, all is lost. I back up the back up and still feel the Sword Of Damaclies is following me around. I assume it's going to happen and cover myself with a paper trail. I have a file with a lead sheet for every vehicle we work on. The sheet has any and all information i need such as filter #'s for construction equipment, modifications, etc. I'm able to look up in my paper world anything i need. I keep track of receipt #'s in the file to make warranty issues easier as well as locating the supplier i purchased the parts from. At one time it was primary in the computer until my not so well maintained tower (main frame) over heated and i lost 3 months worth of stuff. Now things are cross referenced by my bookkeeper every Friday, set aside until the monthly back up is done then shredded. I back up daily, weekly, monthly. The monthly discs are marked and filed. At the end of the year after my yearly back up i destroy all but the discs that have my quarterly information. They are stored in a fire proof safe at my home. Again, being old school keeps me on the edge. When the systems go down and i use the old work orders (hand written) i kind of freeze and need to remember how to use them. I kind of chuckle remembering when i first started using the computer. I would sit in the chair with the intensity of going against a Bear with a butter knife, palms sweating and wiggling in the chair so much it would start to smolder .

[timbre4]

It seems my last reply didn't make it for internet outage. Sometimes the simplest answer is correct.....

VIN for G6 : 1G2ZH558964254839
VIN for Geo Storm : J81RF2363P7524161

My theory is that a user that added the Pontiac G6 did not create a new vehicle record as required and instead typed it into the EXISTING vehicle record where the Geo Storm was previously, without updating the VIN. Then at a later date when you clicked the Decode button "to make sure it was correct" it flipped back to the 1993 Geo Storm because it had to.

[ricmorin]

Interesting theory. If that were true, one could click on the History tab and look at the vehicle column to see if there was a change somewhere, yes?

[ARS]

I do not think your theory is correct. Because it happens when I have entered the vehicle also. And you can not look in the history to see if there were any changes made because the history changes to the incorrect vehicle. I have to find a paper trail (actual paper to see what the correct vin is)....

[timbre4]

That is true; SE does change the vehicle displayed in History records so cannot be used as a guide.

Would you say that you *always* click NEW to enter a new vehicle and *never* re-use an existing vehicle record?

[ARS]

Yes, I always click new.... I do not save the existing record... because that was causing problems too.. so I click no... & then a blank screen pops up. The other vehicle is still in tact... nothing happens to it.

Here is the process I do. On the WIP screen I click New. Type in the Customer name... open their account... Check to see if the vehicle is there. If it is then, I open the vehicle... Look to see if the decode button is hit & check the Manf. date & inspection date are filled in. I hit the decode button if it is not hit to check if the vin is correct (because as I said before... the person before me got them wrong most of the time) if is correct, then i move on. If not, then I make a note to recheck vin when the vehicle comes in. Unless the Vin switches it to another vehicle, then i have to go find the paper trail. I also fill in the manf. date when the vehicle comes in... Then i move to the order screen.

If the vehicle is new, then i go to the WIP screen, check new, type in customer name. open their account. Open any vehicle, then click the new button on the vehicle screen... sometimes it asks if you want to save the other vehicle information.. i click no (because then we noticed issues which the accounts right away)... then a blank screen appears for the vehicle & i add the new vehicle in & hit the decode button. then move on to the order screen.

Then switch always happens when the vehicle has already been entered a previous time & when there are multiple vehicles on the account. but other than that i do not have a good idea when it is going to happen. Still random but it happens at least every other day.

It would really help the situation if SE would not change the history... just saying

[timbre4]

Okay, thanks for clarifications. We'll have to keep watching for a pattern.

SE History looks the same phyically but is not the "snapshot" behavior of 5.9 in this regard and that's not expected to change.