Carfax email received today

[MurphyMurph]

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but I received an email from Carfax this morning that seemed odd. It references my dealer, Elliot Bay Auto Brokers, lists my vehicle as Fieldmaster but it’s a Trialmaster, and lists the exact mileage of my vehicle at the time the email was sent, which was while I was driving to work…

The odd thing is I have not had the vehicle in for service anywhere so it would seem that the vehicle is pushing data to Carfax or Ineos somehow.

Has anyone else received an email like this before?

 

[terdrocket]

Did your dealer hide a GPS tracker in the truck? It would have to be plugged into the ODBII port for the ODO information.

 

[Krabby]

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but I received an email from Carfax this morning that seemed odd. It references my dealer, Elliot Bay Auto Brokers, lists my vehicle as Fieldmaster but it’s a Trialmaster, and lists the exact mileage of my vehicle at the time the email was sent, which was while I was driving to work…

The odd thing is I have not had the vehicle in for service anywhere so it would seem that the vehicle is pushing data to Carfax or Ineos somehow.

Has anyone else received an email like this before?

So since you picked up your truck it has not been to any service centers - IA or otherwise? And the milage from CF was up-to-date accurate? That's scary.

 

[MurphyMurph]

Did your dealer hide a GPS tracker in the truck? It would have to be plugged into the ODBII port for the ODO information.

Nothing plugged in there. Be had to use my code reader on the past so it’s never had anything plugged in besides mine.

 

[MurphyMurph]

So since you picked up your truck it has not been to any service centers - IA or otherwise? And the milage from CF was up-to-date accurate? That's scary.

Correct. I’ve done a couple oil changes myself and completed the (very long winded) 5-tire rotation but I’ve never even driven it back to the dealer.

Very strange…

 

[Cheshire cat]

Are not all modern cars fitted with SIM cards via which dealerships may be able to harvest such info?

 

[ryket]

Try looking under the trim panels where the OBD2 port is. It's possible that a tracker is hidden there - or somewhere else in the car. In principle a tracker could have been plugged into the original OBD2 cable which is then hidden, and then a split/extension is run down to the original socket location, so you could still plug in code readers and never know the difference.

I would also ask the dealer.

 

[anand]

Are not all modern cars fitted with SIM cards via which dealerships may be able to harvest such info?

In the US we don't have the eCall function activated; although, data being sent back to the mothership regarding mileage isn't surprising; as you stated, nearly every new vehicle does this to some extent

 

[Cheshire cat]

In the US we don't have the eCall function activated; although, data being sent back to the mothership regarding mileage isn't surprising; as you stated, nearly every new vehicle does this to some extent

In the UK I believe you can request this facility to be disabled. It would mean losing the emergency call feature.
If people want to fiddle their mileage, this is something the clockers would do. No doubt a red card to the dealership.

 

[TJ D]

I got the same email from Elliot bay. They have my trialmaster listed as a fieldmaster base, and have the mileage wrong by a couple thousand. I think you must just be exactly average in miles driven!

 

[MurphyMurph]

So I check out the Carfax and it includes an entry from October when I had the Exo Shield installed. Mileage was entered so it’s possible I have just kept the same average mileage up and it’s estimated was spot on. It just seems too accurate to be a guesstimate.

After work I’ll pop under and have a look at the upstream cabling for the OBD2.