Insurance claim records appearing on a CARFAX Canada Vehicle History Report reflect insurance claim data made available to CARFAX Canada from participating data sources.


Claim records will identify the recorded incident date (date damages occurred or were reported to an insurance company), the claim classification used by the insurance company and the dollar amount associated with the claim.


For more information on claim amounts, please see: Insurance claim amount


The claim classifications reported to us reflect the claim classifications used by the insurance company in accordance with their classification standards/criteria. Some examples of claim codes that may appear on a CARFAX Canada Vehicle History Report include:


  • Collision - vehicle was involved in a collision with another motor vehicle, property (i.e. collided with a building or fence) and/or nature (i.e. collided with a tree or was damaged by going into a ditch), while being operated on a public road.
  • Damage (to vehicle) - vehicle was damaged while stationary or while operating on a non-public road. This can include parking lot incidents and/or being damaged by another motor vehicle while parked. This may also be used when claim is processed as a Total Loss claim by the insurance company and/or when the insured was deemed "not at fault" (not applicable in all provinces)
  • Hail - vehicle was damaged by hail
  • Windstorm - vehicle was damaged as a result of high winds
  • Theft (of entire vehicle) - vehicle was stolen from its rightful owner. Claim amount will one of the following at any given time, depending on when the Vehicle History Report is run:
    • Cost to repair damages exclusively from the act of stealing the vehicle
    • Cost to replace the vehicle for the rightful owner (Note: a waiver of depreciation endorsement on the policy will affect the replacement amount)
    • The recovery amount which represents the cost paid by an owner's insurance to resolve the claim, minus the dollar amount later recovered by the same insurance company
  • Theft from the vehicle - vehicle was damaged and/or parts of the vehicle were stolen. The claims do not include dollar amounts for theft of personal items (i.e. laptops, golf clubs, etc...) from the vehicle
  • Miscellaneous - vehicle was damaged in a way for which there is no specific classification. Typically these claims can involve comprehensive damages/claims, vehicle colliding with an animal and/or weather-related damages that were not hail or windstorm-based


We are not able to obtain nor provide further details pertaining to the claim or reasons a specific classification was applied to the claim.


Before you buy a used car, we recommend that you get a CARFAX Canada Vehicle History Report, take a thorough test drive and have the vehicle inspected by a qualified mechanic and/or auto technician to make sure the vehicle is functioning properly.