Are you looking for a platform that can help you in finding a vehicle’s history? In this guide on BeenVerified Vs. CARFAX, we will compare the two based on features, price, accuracy, etc., and will try to find out which one is a better choice.
You will also get to see an overview of these two services and will get a glimpse of how the customer service of the two platforms compares.
| Based On | BeenVerified | CARFAX |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $1 & $5 seven-day trials | |
| Reports | VIN Search, Address, phone number, email lookup, city, state, criminal record, sex offenses, bankruptcies, court judgments, birth records, genealogy records, social media profiles, assets, marriage & divorces | Vehicle history report |
| Payment Method | Visa, PayPal, Mastercard, American Express, Discover | Paypal, Debit & Credit Card, Google Pay, Amazon Pay |
| Features | Mobile-friendly website, iOS & Android app | Mobile-friendly website, iOS & Android app |
| Customer Support | Email, on-call, Twitter, Facebook, Live chat | Email & Fax |
BeenVerified Overview
Founded in 2007, BeenVerified is a trusted site that is known for its background check services.
With more than a decade in the business, BeenVerified has become a go-to source for those looking to find information such as criminal records, marriage records, educational background, family history, etc.
BeenVerified also offers VIN lookup that allows a person to find out a vehicle’s history with or without a VIN number.
You can either use BeenVerified just to find out a vehicle’s history, or you can subscribe to their complete background check pack.
CARFAX Overview
CARFAX, on the other hand, started with the vision of providing vehicle history information to buyers and sellers of used cars, but now, it offers the most comprehensive vehicle history database in North America.
This platform has access to more than 139,000 data sources, including U.S. and Canadian provincial motor vehicle agencies, auto auctions, police and fire departments, fleet management, rental agencies, etc.
One can access CARFAX vehicle reports for all light trucks and used cars from the model year 1981 or later.
Now that you have looked at a brief overview of CARFAX and BeenVerified let us compare the two and find out which one is a better platform for finding vehicle history information.
BeenVerified Vs. CARFAX Comparison
Features
BeenVerified Features
- VIN number lookups
- Theft records lookups
- Accident & salvage lookups
- Sales & background searches
- Specifications & equipment details
- Title checks
- Market values & ownership cost
- Multiple ways to search. Search people, addresses and more!
CARFAX Features
- Accident and damage indicators
- Title information, including salvaged or junked titles
- Point of impact and a severity scale for damage events
- Flood damage history
- Odometer readings
- Total loss accident history
- Number of owners
- State emissions inspection results
- Lemon history
- Service records
- Vehicle use (taxi, rental, lease, etc.)
- CARFAX buyback guarantee
The advantage of BeenVerified is that apart from vehicle search history, it also offers other background check options.
However, CARFAX is a platform dedicated solely to vehicle history, and in that department, it distinguished itself from BeenVerified by offering a wider range of features.
As such, CARFAX is better in terms of features.
Winner: CARFAX
Ease Of Use
People of all age groups use such platforms. Hence it is important to look at the interface and how easy these platforms are to use.
BeenVerified
As soon as you open the dashboard or website of BeenVerified, you will see an option for vehicle search right at the top right corner of the search bar.
Once you click on that, you get two options to run a search- VIN number and license plate. You simply need to put in either of the two numbers in the search box and click on search.
Once you do this, BeenVerified will take a minute or two to generate a report. It will then ask you to enter your email ID and will give you two affordable plans to choose from.
Once you make the payment, you will be able to access the vehicle check report.
BeenVerified’s dashboard is pretty straightforward to use. All the options are right there, so you can run a vehicle check or even a background check with no confusion.
CARFAX
As soon as you enter CARFAX’s website, you see two options to do a search, the first one is “Get CARFAX reports,” and the other one is the “Find a used car” option. You can choose either of the two options and start looking for a vehicle’s history.
CARFAX’s dashboard is also quite simple and straightforward. If you scroll down on their website, you will find options to explore used cars for sale, among other things.
We feel both BeenVerified and CARFAX are equally easy to use, and we will leave it to you to decide which one is better.
Price & Plans
CARFAX offers three kinds of plans and BeenVerified offers two kinds of plans; let’s look at them:
BeenVerified Price & Plans
| Plan | Price |
| 7-day trial membership | $1 for 100 reports |
| 7-day trial membership | $5 for 100 reports (For more detailed report) |
CARFAX Price & Plans
| Plan | Price |
| 1 CARFAX report | $44.99/report |
| 3 CARFAX reports | $64.99 |
| 5 CARFAX reports | $99.99 |
As you can see BeenVerified is very cheap compared to CARFAX. Even though CARFAX offers a much more detailed report, paying $44.99 a report might be a lot, especially when compared to paying $1 for running 100 reports.
If you want a basic vehicle history report, then using BeenVerified is a smart choice; however, if you want a detailed report, then you will have to go with CARFAX.
We also reviewed Intelius, which is a comprehensive background check platform, but it also offers VIN checks for an affordable price.
Winner: BeenVerified
Reports & Accuracy
BeenVerified
BeenVerified allows you to run a hundred vehicle checks just by paying $1. The best part is that they also update you every time new information is added to the report you searched for.
Since BeenVerified collects information from publicly available sources, the information you find might not be 100% accurate, or the details might not be detailed for all the searches you make. The information this site offers is contingent on the information available in the public records.
CARFAX
The same is the case with CARFAX.
However, since CARFAX is a platform dedicated to only vehicle search, it has access to a much wider database, including U.S. and Canadian provincial motor vehicle agencies, police and fire departments, fleet management, rental agencies, etc.
Although the reports offered by CARFAX might not be 100% accurate as well, they do, however, offer a much more detailed report.
And because of this reason, CARFAX is a better choice than BeenVerified.
We also reviewed TruthFinder and saw that even that offers a detailed VIN Report.
Winner: CARFAX
Sign Up Process
BeenVerified
So BeenVerified’s sign-up process is quite straightforward. Once you visit the website, all you need to do is click on the “Sign up” option appearing in the top right corner of the screen, select a suitable plan, make payment by entering your details, and that’s pretty much it.
CARFAX
To sign-up for CARFAX, you simply need to go to their website and click on the “sign up” option appearing on the top right corner of the screen. After this, you simply need to enter your email ID, enter your password, and voila, your CARFAX account will be created.
You can access a free vehicle history report after sign-up on CARFAX, and after that, you will have to pay for reports.
The sign-up process for both platforms is easy; however, since in order to create an account, you do not directly have to pay first on CARFAX, we find it a much better choice.
Winner: CARFAX
Opt-Out Process
To avoid cancellation or refund difficulties, it is important to see the opt-out process of a company.
BeenVerified
The opt-out process of BeenVerified is easy, and you can do this in two ways. You can either contact its customer service in order to opt-out, or you can opt-out yourself by submitting a cancellation request on their website.
CARFAX
To cancel your CARFAX membership, you can get in touch with CARFAX’s customer service, and they will do it for you.
Opting out from both platforms is easy, but since there are two ways to opt out of BeenVerified, it is a better choice.
Winner: BeenVerified
Customer Support
BeenVerified
You can get in touch with BeenVerified’s customer support in three ways: email, call, or live chat anytime between 6 am – 11:30 pm EST.
For any general queries, you can simply scroll to the bottom of their website and can access many articles on various common topics related to BeenVerified.
CARFAX
CARFAX does not offer chat or call support. You can get in touch with them via email or fax. Additionally, you can also go through the FAQ section on their website to see answers to common queries.
Since BeenVerified offers a live chat and call option, its customer service is much more convenient compared to CARFAX.
Winner: BeenVerified
BeenVerified Vs. CARFAX: Winner?
After comparing BeenVerified Vs. CARFAX, on the basis of seven parameters, we have found that BeenVerified is a much better choice than CARFAX.
BeenVerified offers decent information in their vehicle search report.
They offer a $1 seven-day trial, unlike CARFAX, which charges $44.99 for a single report. BeenVerified also offers customer support via chat and call. All this makes BeenVerfied a better choice compared to CARFAX.
We also compared BeenVerified with Instant Checkmate and with Intelius and were shocked to find how it peformed compared to the two.
FAQ
Is CARFAX free of cost?
CARFAX offers one free vehicle check report once you sign up; however, after that, you will have to choose one of three plans it offers and pay for it to access vehicle reports.
Does BeenVerified and CARFAX gives 100% accurate results?
Both BeenVerified and CARFAX collect and present information from different publicly available sources. Since the information available with these resources are not 100% accurate, the reports generated by BeenVerified and CARFAX are also not 100% accurate always.
Is vehicle history reliable?
A vehicle’s history report can give you a glimpse of the age of the vehicle, how it was maintained, how many owners it had, any accidents registered in its name, etc. However, there might be a chance of inaccuracies in these reports.
Shefali Jain is a Content Writer & Editor at USWorkforce.org
After completing her graduation in hospitality, Shefali decided to follow her passion and started writing. Shefali has been writing for two years now and contributes to our website as a skilled editor and content writer with strong research skills. Writing product and service reviews, biographies, and book reviews are some of her key areas, among many others in which she specializes. In her time at the organization, she has written and edited content on a range of topics, including employment law, human resources, and business management.