CARFAX has new data that provides insights into where accidents happen around the country, including the states with the most and the fewest accidents per 1,000 registered vehicles in each state.
Georgia tops the list for the most, and several other southern states had high rates as well.
Top 10 States With the Most Accidents
1. Georgia
2. Kentucky
3. South Carolina
4. Louisiana
5. North Carolina
6. Alabama
7. Rhode Island
8. New Jersey
9. Indiana
10. Tennessee
"Several southern states suffer from higher accident rates," said Patrick Olsen, executive editor at CARFAX. "But when we look at the states with the fewest accidents, Oregon tops the list followed closely by several other western, mountainous states. It's interesting to see there is some regionality to the accident rates nationwide."
Top 10 States With the Fewest Accidents
1. Oregon
2. Hawaii
3. Alaska
4. California
5. Vermont
6. Pennsylvania
7. Maryland
8. Virginia
9. Montana
10. Washington
Accident history is the No. 1 thing used-car shoppers look for in a vehicle's history. CARFAX estimates the average impact on value for a vehicle with damage in its past is almost $400 on the wholesale price and more than $500 on the retail price. Those numbers jump to an average of nearly $2,000 for wholesale and $2,700 for retail if the vehicle has sustained severe damage.
CARFAX estimates as many as 40% of vehicles on U.S. roads today have some damage in their history; that's about 110 million cars. Dealers can use the CARFAX Vehicle History Report to see if there has been damage reported to CARFAX, and also get help in determining where the impact was and the severity of the damage.
"I love what CARFAX has done over the years to get more data and to provide more detailed accident information," said Vaida Presniakovaite, president of Midway Autohaus in Bridgeview, IL. "I can usually tell whether it was a minor fender-bender with cosmetic damages or severe damage and the vehicle was towed. Or maybe it'll even tell me if the vehicle just hit a deer while it was driving down the road."
"Oftentimes CARFAX vehicle history reports will actually show an accident where others won't," said Jesse Eiermann, used car manager at Empire Chevrolet in Huntington, NY. "That really does put an impact on the value of the vehicle. If you're not paying attention or you don't have CARFAX as a tool, you're going miss out and then run into some trouble later down the road."
CARFAX data shows one in four cars are sold within a year of being in a damage-causing incident.
Source: CARFAX
Abby Andrews