Car Buyers Beware: This Inspection Site Prolonged the Slugged Feeling in My Stomach
Written: Oct 03 '06 (Updated Oct 05 '06)
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Against my better judgment, my husband bid on and won a car on eBay recently. We still haven’t seen the car since we’ve run into a bit of a jam with CarChex, a car inspection place. Immediately after he won the bid, my husband decided to check what Carfax (an online service that compiles a report about a car’s past doings based on its VIN) had to say about his new baby. He had waited because the reputable eBay seller reassured him that it had never been damaged and also because we weren’t sure how reliable Carfax information is. Well, it turns out the new baby was in an accident that caused “frame damage” a few years back, according to Carfax. So the reputable eBay seller agreed to wait on the deposit until we could have the car looked at. He seemed as dismayed as we were about the report but still didn’t sound like he’d wait forever to receive payment. Since the car is several states away, we turned to an online car inspection service, namely CarChex.
THE BASICS
CarChex is a nationwide, online car inspection service. They have ASE-certified inspectors throughout the country who will provide 155-point vehicle inspections that include a two- to five-mile test drive, body and paint inspection, testing of electrical items, and photos. They say that most inspections occur within 24-48 hours of processing the request and the report is e-mailed to the customer. A sample is viewable on their site and seems to provide an adequate amount of information. In fact, their reports look more in-depth than a couple of other places I’ve since checked. Forms can be submitted 24/7 online and there is a “chat with a live representative” option. There is also a toll-free number.
THREE LEVELS OF ON-SITE SERVICE AND A QUICK SEARCH
CarChex offers three levels of inspection: silver, gold, and platinum. The Silver Package costs $99.95 for standard cars and $149.95 for exotic cars (which includes our new luxury Audi) and performs the full 155-point inspection report. The Gold Package costs an additional $20 and includes a Carfax report, which we had already purchased separately. The Platinum Package is only available for standard cars with under 150,000 miles and costs $299.95. It includes the 155-point inspection report, the Carfax report, and a 90 day/3000 mile limited warranty that covers the engine, water pump, and transmission. I noticed a link in my Carfax report that offered me a $100 discount off of a CarChex warranty. I’m not sure if that’s the same as the Platinum Package or if they offer a separate warranty to customers who do not want the inspection.
You can also do a quick search of their database using the car’s VIN to see if they’ve previously performed an inspection on that particular vehicle. If they did, that report can be purchased for a mere $24.95. Alas, our car was never inspected by them.
NAVIGATION
Navigation of this site is very easy. It’s much more fluid, and professional looking, than some other car inspection sites I’ve looked at. Tabs run along the left-hand side with options such as “Order an Inspection,” “View a Sample Report,” “Order Status,” and “Car Buying Resources” (seemingly advertisements for related services). A few of the left-hand menu tabs move around. On the home page, the “Check for Previous Inspections” (with a field to enter the VIN) is less visible and appears on the right-hand side. It is not boxed off or highlighted. In fact, since that’s the side where “recent new” about cars appears, I didn’t even notice it until today. But it does appear in the left-hand menu on other pages of the site.
The other odd thing is the “Inspector Coverage” tab in the left-hand menu. To me, that would mean what the inspector certifies about the inspection. But it actually provides a regional map to show locations where there are inspectors. When you take the “Online Tour,” it refers you to the “Inspector Locations” button on the home page, which doesn’t exist. This little mix-up could’ve solved my problems before they started. Though the city where our car is located is not listed in their “Inspector Coverage” map, it is listed in the drop-down menu on their Inspection Order Form. In fact, at the time of writing, there are five cities listed for the state where we needed the inspection done but that state does not appear in the “Inspector Coverage” map/chart. Plus, the seller of our car has dealt with CarChex in the past. Oh how I wish I had checked out that map beforehand!
The checkout process is pretty intuitive. I clicked on the Silver Package for exotic cars and then clicked on the checkout button. That led me to the form that asks for vehicle information such as seller’s name, vehicle inspection location, vehicle location, auction item number if applicable, Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), etc. It also asks for purchaser information such as name, address, phone number, and credit card information. They accept American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa.
MY EXPERIENCE
We found CarChex through eBay. I assume they pay for their space on car ads, but I’ve seen their icon at the bottom of all of the car ads I’ve looked at recently. I’ve also seen it embedded in our Carfax report. It was actually the seller who pointed out that we could contact CarChex. He said he’d used them before and they usually generate the inspection reports in 24 hours. Maybe that wasn’t the best way to find a car inspector, but I figured since CarChex deals with eBay shoppers often and they can provide a quick turnaround, we could resolve this quickly and I could rid myself of the slugged feeling I had in the pit of my stomach ever since reading the Carfax report. Besides, my husband was anxious to see his baby in person.
I was right about the dealing with eBay shoppers often since they ask for the auction item number. The form was quick to fill out and I was happy to see that the location where our car is was listed in the Vehicle Inspection Location drop-down menu in the Order Form. I filled it out on 9/27/06 and my credit card was deducted accordingly that same day. The transaction went through quickly (I’ve had no problems with the site loading) and I later received a confirmation number via e-mail. I reported back to the seller that we had put the inspection into motion and everyone was happy. When I checked the site the next morning, the status of my order showed that it had been assigned the same day I made the transaction and was now pending. The pending status offered a brief explanation about possible reasons why it could be in limbo. They could be waiting for payment to go through, they might not have someone available in the area for the inspection, and I believe there was one other option. This made me nervous, so I called up the toll-free number. I got their voicemail and left a concerned message. I mentioned my name, phone number, the order number, and asked what I could do to expedite the order. I never got a call back.
In all, I called three times (different times of day but between 10 am and 4 pm EST), one of which I left a message. The other times I got the voicemail but decided to try back later. I also tried the live online support button once and got forwarded to an e-mail form, which I filled out and sent to them asking for an update. I never got an answer to the message I sent through that medium. My husband called four times. He left two messages, one being a rather distressed one. On his fourth call, he finally got a live person and was told that CarChex does not have anyone in the area to look at our newly purchased car. This was yesterday (10/2/06), almost a week after we had ordered the service online. We were never sent an e-mail or given a phone call giving us this explanation. Instead, our calls and e-mails went unanswered and the online status search we performed simply said assigned and pending. The person my husband spoke to said they had sent an e-mail but we never got it. I checked our inbox, our deleted mail, and even our spam folder. And even if they did, they should’ve returned at least one of our distressed calls that clearly implied we never had received notice of a problem.
My husband asked them to cancel the order yesterday and I’ve since found a new online car inspector. Hopefully that one will work out. I checked the CarChex site after my husband’s cancellation and the order status was indeed cancelled. Now I just need to make sure they credit back our $149.95. I checked my credit card information today and the charge from 9/27 is still there without any credit. Out of curiosity, I also clicked on the live support icon yesterday. It was working in the afternoon. Just my luck.
OVERALL
This was so frustrating. The original online order said the inspection usually occurs within 24-48 hours of the order confirmation. We had waited almost a week to be told they couldn’t do it. Of course, our payment was accepted immediately. Thankfully, when my husband finally got a hold of a live person by phone he was able to easily cancel the order. Now I just need to make sure they refund us our $149.95… and I still need to get this car inspected! I hope I have better luck with the next service I find. The seller is getting impatient and so is my husband.
This service was a dud. Their site is misleading and contradictory about the nationwide locations, their customer service is impossible to reach, and they did not reply to any of our phone or e-mailed messages. Although our order status appears as “cancelled” on the Web site, our money has not yet been returned. I’ll be a little patient and give them a couple days for that, but you can be sure their rating will drop down to one star if it’s a hassle to get my $149.95 back.
Thank you amykhar and joubert for adding this site so quickly! I really felt the need to get the word out.
**************UPDATE 10/5/06****************
I just spoke to someone at CarChex and they credited the money back to my charge card the same day my husband cancelled the service. The funds showed up in my charge card's unbilled summary today. Yeah!
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