State Farm uses Carfax to locate owners

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- State Farm Insurance, which sold thousands of wrecked vehicles in the United States without disclosure, has contracted with Carfax to locate the owners.

The insurance company said it is using Carfax to locate thousands of car owners that it sold wrecked cars to since 1997 without the salvage titles required by law, reported the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Tuesday.

Carfax may house the largest collection of vehicle histories outside of any government agency.

The private company, owned by the R.L. Polk Co. with its headquarters in Fairfax, Va., routinely gets information from approximately 7,000 sources, including dealerships, auto body shops, law enforcement agencies and car repair shops.

"In many cases, we have a complete service history on a car that's been manufactured within the last four years," said Gerry Bayer, Carfax vice president for data.